Northwestern University Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience
Life Cycle Assessment Workshop
Professor Jennifer B. Dunn
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and (by courtesy) Mechanical Engineering
Director, Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience
August 24-26, 2026
Evanston Illinois
Description: This workshop will provide an overview of the fundamentals and applications of life cycle assessment. LCAs assess the total environmental impact of a material or process over the course of its existence, including the impacts of raw material extraction, processing, transportation, use, and end-of-life, including recycling. Subjects can then be directly assessed against each other for overall environmental impact, as well as relevant tradeoffs in assessment categories of particular interest.
Target audience: Graduate students (PhD, MS) in engineering and the sciences who envision applying LCA as part of their graduate research.
Objective: Participants will have the foundation needed to apply LCA as part of their graduate work.
Cost: Accepted applicants are responsible for
- $100 registration fee
-
Lodging, Transportation, Expenses
-
Breakfast and lunch will be provided Monday, August 24th through Wednesday, August 26th
-
Accepted applicants will be sent a link for registration as well as information on obtaining NU’s negotiated hotel rates by August 3, 2026
Key Dates
-
Applications due by Friday, July 31st, 2026
-
Accepted applicants notified by Monday
- Registration and workshop fees for accepted applicants due August 7th, 2026
Apply Here
Preliminary Schedule
| Monday, August 24th | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 am | Arrival and Breakfast |
| 9:00 am | Life cycle assessment and sustainable systems |
| 10:00 am | LCA foundations: Four phases, functional units, and system boundary |
| 12:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:00 pm | Life Cycle Inventory Analysis: Mass and Energy Flows |
| 3:00 pm | Two foundational systems: Electricity and Natural Gas |
| Tuesday, August 25 th | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 am | Arrival and Breakfast |
| 9:00 am | Generating LCA results |
| 11:00 am | Multifunctionality, co-product handling |
| 12:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:00 pm | Multifunctionality continued |
| 2:00 pm | Life Cycle Impact Assessment |
| 3:00 pm | Life Cycle Interpretation |
| Wednesday, August 26th | |
|---|---|
| 8:30 am | Arrival and Breakfast |
| 9:00 am | Careers in Life Cycle Analysis |
| 9:30 am | Review, Q & A |
| 10:00 am | Interpretation |
| 11:00 am | LCA tools and data sources, models |
| 12:00 pm | Boxed Lunch To-Go & Conclusion |
Questions?
Please reach out to engineeringsustainability@northwestern.edu for assistance
August 9th-11th, 2022
The Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience (CESR) hosted a three-day workshop on Life Cycle Assessment in August 2022. The event brought together graduate students and early career researchers from 15 institutions, providing the foundation needed to apply life cycle assessment as part of their ongoing research.
“I left the LCA workshop feeling not only equipped to begin using LCA in my research, but excited about it. I'm grateful to have gained a fundamental understanding of LCA in its implementation and its utility in the span of three days. Would highly recommend attending!” (Participant feedback, 2022)
