REU Site: Globalization and Community Health: Combining Social Science and Engineering

REU 网站：全球化与社区健康：社会科学与工程学的结合

• 批准号: 1156735
• 负责人: Nancy Romero-Daza
• 金额: $ 41.86万
• 依托单位: University of South Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-15 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1156735&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Globalization; Community; Health

The REU Site "Globalization and Community Health: Combining Social Science and Engineering" provides undergraduate students with intensive interdisciplinary methodological and ethics training, mentorship, and practical experience in the conduct of community-based health research that brings together social sciences and civil and environmental engineering (CEE). The program is conducted in Monteverde, Costa Rica, a region that is undergoing rapid changes associated with globalization in general, and tourism specifically, and where the PI-team has worked for the past ten years in close association with the Monteverde Institute and a variety of local stakeholders. Each year the program involves 10 undergraduate students from CEE, medical anthropology, public health, and other health-related fields. Intellectual merit: The program is unique in bringing together medical anthropology and CEE, two disciplines that have, for the most part, been isolated from each other, but that can be combined effectively to address issues of community health in a culturally appropriate and sustainable way. The program also fosters critical thinking skills and community engagement among participants, and contributes to the scientific understanding of the impact of globalization and tourism on the health of rural communities. The program combines six weeks of interdisciplinary methods training with four weeks of research on health-related issues that have already been identified by local communities and that can be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. Two such projects are 1. the involvement of the local community in the identification of potential sources of drinking water contamination and the treatment of polluted water through BioSand filters (BSF) that remove turbidity, natural organic matter and pathogens from drinking water in households that obtain their water from sources other than the national aqueduct (e.g., rivers and springs) and 2. the establishment of key hole gardens and other forms of sustainable food production at the household and community levels, to respond to the rising problem of food insecurity and associated health impacts such as increases in overweight and obesity in adults and children.Broader impacts: This project contributes to NSF's efforts to increase research capacity among undergraduate students. It provides students with valuable interdisciplinary hands-on experience useful for future graduate studies addressing global issues from multiple perspectives. In order to contextualize their training and research, students first become familiarized with the historical and present political, socio-economic, and environmental conditions of the host communities, with the main health related issues that affect the population, and with the local health care system. Students carry out their research in small teams under the guidance of faculty members and graduate mentors from the University of South Florida departments of Anthropology and CEE. In addition, each team works closely with community advisors (i.e., local residents with expertise in the issues to be addressed) to ensure that the research is culturally appropriate and responsive to local needs and desires. The students present the results of their research to community members and to the collaborating institutions. The program also includes a community health fair during which students collect a variety of data related to physical health, environmental conditions, demographics, etc., conduct water testing, take basic nutritional anthropometry measures (e.g., stature, weight, skinfolds), perform simple tests such as blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol, and provide health education.The site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.This site is also co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering via its Global Venture Fund.

REU 网站“全球化与社区健康：社会科学与工程学的结合”为本科生提供密集的跨学科方法和伦理培训、指导和实践经验，以进行基于社区的健康研究，将社会科学与土木与环境工程结合起来（中东欧）。该项目在哥斯达黎加蒙特维多进行，该地区正在经历与全球化、特别是旅游业相关的快速变化，PI 团队在过去十年中与蒙特维多研究所和各种机构密切合作。当地利益相关者。该项目每年都有 10 名来自中东欧、医学人类学、公共卫生和其他健康相关领域的本科生参与。 智力价值：该项目的独特之处在于将医学人类学和中东欧这两个学科在很大程度上相互隔离，但可以有效地结合起来，以文化上适当和可持续的方式解决社区健康问题。该计划还培养参与者的批判性思维技能和社区参与，并有助于科学理解全球化和旅游业对农村社区健康的影响。该计划结合了六周的跨学科方法培训和四个星期的健康相关问题研究，这些问题已经由当地社区确定，可以从跨学科的角度进行处理。其中两个项目是： 1. 当地社区参与识别潜在的饮用水污染源，并通过生物砂过滤器（BSF）处理污染水，去除获得饮用水的家庭饮用水中的浊度、天然有机物和病原体。 2. 在家庭和社区层面建立钥匙孔花园和其他形式的可持续粮食生产，以应对日益严重的粮食不安全问题以及相关的健康影响，例如成人和儿童超重和肥胖的增加。更广泛的影响：该项目有助于 NSF 提高本科生研究能力的努力。它为学生提供了宝贵的跨学科实践经验，有助于未来研究生学习从多个角度解决全球问题。为了将他们的培训和研究结合起来，学生首先熟悉所在社区的历史和现在的政治、社会经济和环境条件，影响人口的主要健康相关问题，以及当地的医疗保健系统。学生们在南佛罗里达大学人类学和中东欧系的教员和研究生导师的指导下以小组形式进行研究。此外，每个团队都与社区顾问（即在要解决的问题上具有专业知识的当地居民）密切合作，以确保研究在文化上适当并满足当地的需求和愿望。学生们向社区成员和合作机构展示他们的研究成果。该计划还包括一个社区健康博览会，在此期间，学生收集与身体健康、环境条件、人口统计等相关的各种数据，进行水质测试，采取基本的营养人体测量措施（例如身高、体重、皮褶），进行简单的测量血压、血糖和胆固醇等测试，并提供健康教育。该网站由国防部与 NSF REU 计划共同资助。该网站还由 NSF 国际科学办公室和 NSF 共同资助工程通过其全球风险投资基金。