Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award

About the Award

The 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.

2026 Winner

Dalya Ismael

For significant contributions to advancing sustainability in engineering education and practice through leadership in strengthening how engineers make decisions under real-world constraints through community-engaged, applied learning.

Dalya Ismael is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University, where she directs the Resilience and Decision Engineering Lab. Her research examines how engineers make design decisions and builds immersive XR and AI-enabled tools that help them choose more resilient, sustainable solutions for infrastructure and the built environment. That work extends directly into the classroom, where she is a leader in weaving social and environmental sustainability into engineering education. Through an ASEE Engineering for One Planet Mini-Grant, she integrated the EOP Framework across four disciplines and helped establish ODU’s Engineering Solutions for Climate Adaptation and Resilience minor, developing new courses for it. Her research spans design cognition, coastal resilience, and entrepreneurial mindset, supported by nearly $1.5 million in external funding. She has published widely across these areas. Ismael is known for turning emerging technology into hands-on learning that prepares engineers to design for a changing planet. 

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.

Past Winners

2025: Matthew Heun