Susan E. Powers, associate director for sustainability at the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, is a Spence Professor of Sustainable Environmental Systems at Clarkson University. In the wide range of classes that she has taught, Powers focuses on teaching the process of engineering problem solving in a real-world environment.
Her education and scholarly work are integrated through research on aspects of engineering and broader STEM education. She has had several education-oriented research grants, including the NSF Director’s Award as a Distinguished Teaching Scholar. Among these efforts, she has promoted and assessed the value of utilizing relevant project-based experiences to improve energy and climate change literacy of middle school, high school and college students.
Her current research is especially focused on defining and quantifying metrics that can be used to assess the energy and environmental benefits and liabilities associated with energy systems.