ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet Innovation in Sustainability Award
Jennifer Watt is the 2024 ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet Innovation in Sustainability Award recipient.
About the Award
ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award recognizes the vision and commitment of individuals, programs or institutional teams that demonstrate innovation in education by implementing sustainability topics into ABET-accredited programs.
EOP seeks to ensure future graduates from all ABET-accredited programs learn the fundamental skills and principles of social and environmental sustainability.
2024 Winner
Jennifer Watt
For implementing innovative strategies to advance sustainability education across campus and the broader education community and motivating transformation in engineering disciplines and beyond.
Jennifer Hoyt Watt is an assistant professor in the School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability at the University of Utah. Her research training is in paleoecology, specifically, using lake sediment cores to investigate past climate and fire regimes, and bark beetle outbreaks.
Watt’s interests in forest disturbance (fire and beetle outbreaks) are focused in the Northern Rockies, USA. She studies the frequency of forest disturbance over time and assesses the impacts of climate change. Additional research interests include evaluating the impacts of climate in Baja California on different communities and wetlands over time. The best part of her career is working with undergraduate and graduate students.
As the director of Sustainability Education at the University of Utah, Watt is tasked with integrating sustainability topics into curriculum across campus. She creates and offers different programs for faculty to participate in that help meet the University of Utah’s goal of five additional STARS points in the education category.
Award Benefits
- Recognition at the ABET Awards Celebration in the fall.
- $10,000 cash prize
- Recipient and their work will be featured on the award page, recognized in a press release, ABET news announcement and ABET social media pages.
The Nomination Kit
ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award is given to a nominee selected by their peers. To learn more about the process and criteria involved, or to nominate one of your peers, please review our nomination kit. The deadline for nominations is April 20, 2025 and only complete nominations with references will be accepted.