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Students in a Duke course recently got a hands-on look at campus infrastructure that most people never see, turning campus systems into a living learning laboratory.
Rachel Beaudoin, adjunct assistant professor at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, debuted her Energy Transitions course (CEE 690.03) in fall 2025, co-taught alongside Jeff Hughes, Climate Leader in Residence in the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. The course examined how energy systems function and evolve across technical, policy and operational dimensions. Students explored the layers that must work together to power a modern institution. Bridging the gap between Duke’s campus infrastructure and real-world challenges, Beaudoin connected her students directly with the facility engineers who manage the energy systems that power campus every day.
In November 2025, in coordination with Duke Facilities Management (FMD), Beaudoin and her students visited three sites that are central to Duke’s energy operations: one of Duke’s three chiller plants responsible for cooling most campus buildings; one of Duke’s two steam plants which provides heat across facilities; and, the stormwater reclamation pond which captures and recycles water on site.
These field trip visits formed the basis for a course assignment that challenged student teams to develop a theoretical decarbonization proposal for the university based on their observations and learnings.
When visiting the chiller plant, students told Beaudoin that what they learned in class was much more substantial when seen in person.
“These are such major and critical systems...to physically see them was impactful,” Beaudoin said.
Jack DuPuy was one of the students in the course who found the hands-on experiential learning valuable.
“You realize very quickly that engineering isn’t just about finding the most efficient solution on paper. It has to fit within an operating system that’s expected to be reliable every day, often for decades,” said DuPuy, a Master of Engineering candidate in Climate and Sustainability Engineering.
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Central to the learning experience was Cody Stevens, PE, operations engineer for FMD, whose deep technical expertise in sustainable infrastructure provided students with insightful takeaways. Stevens guided the students behind the scenes of Duke’s campus facilities with care and intentionality that only comes from years of managing systems of such scale. For Beaudoin, his willingness to connect sincerely with her students was what set the experience apart.
“Cody was willing to answer any questions that the students had. He was so patient and kind in explaining not only the physical pieces of equipment, but the system architecture and how it all works together,” Beaudoin said.
With 40,000 people on campus daily, Stevens is one of the engineers on call for Duke’s central utility system. He understands firsthand the operational realities, challenges and trade-offs involved in managing one of the most complex energy infrastructures in the region. It was that real-world knowledge that Beaudoin set out to bring into her classroom.
With the intent to develop new ideas, students worked in teams to propose decarbonization solutions for the university based on what they saw during the energy field trips. Students engaged directly with Stevens as a stakeholder at their final presentations. Stevens shared the operational realities of what decarbonization at large institutions like Duke truly looks like. For Beaudoin, Stevens’ honesty helped the students navigate complex topics.
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“Cody was very transparent in identifying where the rubber meets the road,” she said.
One student team proposed a wastewater recovery plan, a process that captures heat from wastewater and repurposes it as an energy source. Stevens offered insights from Duke's institutional history, providing students with context that comes from years of supporting Duke’s systems. Through the conversation, Stevens was able to share instances where similar ideas had already been explored at Duke although they were not feasible within existing constraints.
“I think that was so valuable to the students, because the reality is, when you work as a consulting engineer, you could never possibly know everything that’s happened and all the decisions that have led a company toward decarbonization at that point,” Beaudoin said. Stevens’ willingness to share his institutional knowledge gave students a candid look at how ideas translate into real-world applications.
Stevens explained, "Students are often not aware of how close they are to an amazing set of resources that demonstrate the common efforts of dozens of engineers, scientists, and operational staff to run an efficient and sustainable process. Every opportunity to learn with these resources not only creates an appreciation for what is here [at Duke]; it can scale to countless other systems they will encounter in their careers."
Through the field trips that Stevens led, the students enjoyed having very practical examples of some of the broader, wider-ranging concepts we discussed during the course. The course represents a model for preparing the next generation of sustainability professionals, placing students directly within active systems, and providing expert voices to guide them through the complexities of the real world.
This article is part of the SCALe Spotlight series hosted by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. The Sustainability and Climate Applied Learning (SCALe) Spotlight stories celebrate Duke students, staff, faculty, and community partners who demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and climate education through applied teaching, learning, and action.
Nominate someone today to shine the SCALe Spotlight on them!
Article by Andy Kavul, 2026 Charmaine McKissick-Melton Communications Fellow