A op-ed commentary regarding the University of Michigan's newest dual-degree program - in Engineering Sustainable Systems - appeared today in The Detroit News.

The commentary was written by Rosina M. Bierbaum, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and David C. Munson, Jr., the Robert J. Vlasic dean of the College of Engineering.

College environmental efforts get a boost

President Bush recently signed the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, which has far-reaching effects on higher education nationally and in Michigan.

Part of the legislative package included a promised $50 million for a University Sustainability Grants Program. The secretary of education will offer competitive grants to help universities establish sustainability research programs, develop more degree programs and extend practices on sustainability.

The University of Michigan and many other higher education leaders have long been making investments in cutting-edge and responsive environmental degree programs and sustainability efforts. U-M earlier this month welcomed the inaugural class in the country's first Engineering Sustainable Systems dual-master's degree program -- a program between its College of Engineering and School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Engineers are critical players in determining whether sustainability practices will become a working part of our culture. Depth in engineering and breadth in sustainability analysis will let graduates evaluate and adapt the design of technologies in ways that improve the quality of life for all.

As a result, they will be ready to address global climate change, energy security, ecological degradation, environmental threats to human health and resource scarcity.

Sustainable technologies have become critical to the growth of business. There is nothing sustainable about products that don't sell or are not compliant with the regulatory environment.

Our new crop of students will have the know-how to make sustainable design a profitable activity and contribute to economic transformation. Our graduates will go beyond modeling the benefits of biofuels and renewable energy to examine the big-picture challenges of new technologies such as plug-in hybrid vehicles. They will understand the impacts of intermittent renewable electricity integration into the grid; land-area requirements for biofuels production; and the life-cycle environmental impact for the production, use and retirement of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, including their batteries.

As U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, acknowledged, "For the nation to remain competitive in this global world of increasingly limited natural resources, higher education institutions need to take immediate steps to create new research, education and technology development that reflect the framework of sustainability."

That's a sentiment worth sustaining.

í‚  (To learn more about the new dual-degree program, visit http://snre.umich.edu/degree_programs/engineering.)