{"id":54471,"date":"2026-01-23T14:04:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/case\/?post_type=news&p=54471"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:04:39","slug":"magdalena-klemun-to-teach-new-course-on-developing-sustainable-systems","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/case\/news\/magdalena-klemun-to-teach-new-course-on-developing-sustainable-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Magdalena Klemun to Teach New Course on Developing Sustainable Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

This spring, the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering will offer a new course taught by Assistant Professor Magdalena Klemun<\/a>: Analytical Approaches for Sustainable Systems<\/a>. Designed for students who want to make a measurable impact on sustainability across energy, infrastructure, and climate, the course blends technology-focused modeling with systems-level policy analysis to develop sustainable systems.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, the department has been teaching students to use scientifically grounded analysis and state-of-the-art tools to drive decision-making and innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this course, I want students to understand how abstract societal goals translate into technology-level impacts and decision-making,\u201d says Klemun. \u201cWe set emissions targets at the level of an entire country, with the Paris Agreement as one example, but emissions are influenced by individual behaviors and technologies that shape sustainability outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students enrolled in the course will learn how to apply evaluation methods to better understand the sustainability impacts of physical and digital infrastructure. Evaluation methods include life cycle assessment (LCA), which considers environmental impacts across materials, supply chains, use-phase, and decommissioning, and techno-economic analysis (TEA), which Klemun describes as metrics and models to quantify cost drivers, assess the economic viability of technologies, products, and services, and examine how cost structure shapes future opportunities for cost improvement.<\/p>\n

The other major component of the course is systems-level policy analysis, which explores how policies shape technology costs and environmental outcomes such as carbon emissions, water use, and toxicity. Klemun will guide students in applying policy analysis frameworks to compare policy designs and assess outcomes across different assumptions and scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnecting the technology level to the systems level is really important if you want to have an influence on economic and environmental impacts,\u201d Klemun says. \u201cStudents will learn to develop meaningful \u2018what if\u2019 scenarios and to frame analyses, including assumptions and system boundaries, for different audiences and decision contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The course will be based on real-world technology development and policy challenges and will incorporate Klemun\u2019s own research, which studies how energy technologies and systems change as a function of investments in technological innovation, and the relationships between technology design and performance evolution.<\/p>\n

While energy technologies will be a focus due to their role as a major contributor to climate change, students will have the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to a topic of personal interest, such as microchips or autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quantitative methods and conceptual frameworks are broadly applicable across technologies and contexts, so there\u2019s a lot of flexibility to tailor coursework to student interests,\u201d says Klemun.<\/p>\n

The course is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Engineering majors interested in sustainability, data-savvy students who enjoy modeling, and those studying public policy, environmental science, or economics will find the course valuable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe methods taught in this course are often applied at the development stage, once lab work is complete and you\u2019re looking to operate at scale or evaluate supply chain choices or locations that may influence design,\u201d says Klemun. \u201cThe approaches identify leverage points of interest when you have the time to change your decisions to influence future technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-54471","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-department-news","news_categories-student-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMagdalena Klemun to Teach New Course on Developing Sustainable Systems - Department of Civil & Systems Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/case\/news\/magdalena-klemun-to-teach-new-course-on-developing-sustainable-systems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magdalena Klemun to Teach New Course on Developing Sustainable Systems - Department of Civil & Systems Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This spring, the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering will offer a new course taught by Assistant Professor Magdalena Klemun: Analytical Approaches for Sustainable Systems. 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