Preparing the Skilled Technical Workforce in Controlled Environment Agriculture

培养受控环境农业的熟练技术劳动力

• 批准号: 2100166
• 负责人: Deborah Pitzer
• 金额: $ 56.97万
• 依托单位: Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100166&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Preparing; Skilled; Technical; Workforce; Controlled

The world's population is expected to more than double by 2050. As the productivity of traditional agriculture becomes compromised by urbanization and climate change, new methods of food production are needed. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an emerging discipline that fosters year-round food production within local communities while reducing water use and transportation costs. However, the industry has struggled to thrive due to a limited skilled technical workforce. The proposed project aims to meet the needs of the CEA industry by creating an interdisciplinary certificate for students enrolled in agriculture, automation and robotics, business and entrepreneurship, and/or computer technology associate degree programs. To do so, the project team will develop four new CEA courses and provide professional development to upskill faculty in the technologies that set CEA apart from traditional agriculture. This effort will be supported by an engaged industry board representing horticulture industries, extension specialists, and economic development experts. The project expects to develop a strong CEA curriculum that is responsive to workforce needs and builds on targeted outreach that includes underrepresented minorities, women, and rural high school students. Consequently, the project can help ensure that the Nation maintains a well-prepared, diverse CEA workforce.The project is designed to create a pipeline of well-educated technicians for the emerging CEA workforce. A skilled technical workforce is critical to the success of the CEA industry and one expert has predicted the need for 100,000 workers in the next decade. This project develop coursework in Aquaculture and Aquaponics, Automated and Smart Technologies, Integrated Facilities Management, and Project-based Study. These courses will use higher learning pedagogy that fosters interdisciplinary engagement of "ill-defined problems" to help students develop complex problem solving, higher-level thinking, and creative thinking skills. Project-based learning will expose students to real-world applications of smart-factory automation, growth of tilapia, and remote data collection and analysis. A virtual Internet of Things teaching platform utilizing webcasting equipment for online learning and remote access for data collection and monitoring of automated systems will give students a concrete advantage when entering the CEA workforce, where these technologies play a central role. The four new courses will be paired with agriculture classes already part of the Ivy Tech Community College system to create an interdisciplinary CEA Certificate. Professional development will be designed to upskill faculty who will teach these new and related courses at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, K-12 partners, and other community colleges across the country. All project products will be disseminated through a project website and national conference presentations. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

预计到2050年，世界人口预计将增加两倍以上。由于城市化和气候变化造成了传统农业的生产率，因此需要新的粮食生产方法。受控环境农业（CEA）是一门新兴的学科，促进当地社区的全年粮食生产，同时降低用水和运输成本。 但是，由于熟练的技术劳动力有限，该行业一直在努力发展。拟议的项目旨在通过为参加农业，自动化和机器人技术，商业和企业家和/或计算机技术副学士学位计划的学生创建跨学科证书来满足CEA行业的需求。为此，项目团队将开发四个新的CEA课程，并为将CEA与传统农业区分开来为UPSKILL教师提供专业发展。这项工作将得到代表园艺行业，推广专家和经济发展专家的参与行业委员会的支持。该项目预计将开发出强大的CEA课程，该课程对劳动力的需求有响应，并以目标外展为基础，其中包括代表性不足的少数民族，妇女和农村高中生。 因此，该项目可以帮助确保国家维护着充分准备，多样化的CEA劳动力。该项目旨在为新兴的CEA劳动力创建受过良好教育的技术人员的管道。 熟练的技术劳动力对于CEA行业的成功至关重要，一位专家预测，未来十年中有100,000名工人的需求。 该项目开发了水产养殖和水产品，自动化和智能技术，集成设施管理以及基于项目的研究的课程。这些课程将使用高等教育的教学法，从而促进“不确定问题”的跨学科参与，以帮助学生发展复杂的问题解决，高级思维和创造性的思维能力。基于项目的学习将使学生接触到智能基本自动化，罗非鱼的增长以及远程数据收集和分析的现实应用程序。使用网络广播设备用于在线学习和远程访问以进行数据收集和监视自动化系统的虚拟互联网教学平台，将在进入CEA Workforce时为学生提供具体的优势，这些技术在其中起着核心作用。这四个新课程将与农业课程相结合，已经是Ivy Tech Community College系统的一部分，可以创建跨学科的CEA证书。专业发展将旨在为自己将在印第安纳州常春藤科技社区学院，K-12合作伙伴以及全国其他社区学院教授这些新课程的新教师。 所有项目产品将通过项目网站和国家会议演讲进行传播。 该项目由先进的技术教育计划资助，该计划的重点是推动国家经济的高级技术领域的技术人员的教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的审查标准通过评估来通过评估来支持的。