Adjunct Professor David Hood, who is a member of QUT's Institute for Sustainable Resources, has been elected chairman of the Australian College of Environmental Engineers and is working to integrate sustainability thinking throughout the tertiary curriculum.

Hood said sustainability was too often regarded as an elective topic when it needed to be incorporated into all undergraduate teaching.

He said engineers of the future would be responsible for correcting existing damage, as well as ensuring future engineered solutions delivered profits while enhanced natural and social capital.

"Future engineers must contribute to rectifying the lost natural and social capital from our past high-impact development culture," Hood said.

"To do this, engineering education must be re-framed with sustainability as an all-pervading priority."

Hood said the engineering education revolution should contain climate change impact and mitigation strategies, and include the role of engineering in society as well as the history and philosophy of technology.