IGE: Stakeholder-Driven Sustainable Development Experiences for Enhancing STEM Graduate Education

IGE：利益相关者驱动的可持续发展经验，以加强 STEM 研究生教育

• 批准号: 2105726
• 负责人: Rachel Brennan
• 金额: $ 45.82万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 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: 2021-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2105726&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IGE; Stakeholder; Driven; Sustainable; Development

Graduate students trained in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are essential for supporting innovation in sustainable development strategies, particularly for enhancing resiliency to unprecedented global challenges such as climate change, human migration, and pandemics. However, there is growing concern that STEM graduate education may be falling short on preparing the nation’s workforce to face these global challenges. Equipping students with transformative skills in STEM is necessary for their future success, and for the sustainable development of society. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Pennsylvania State University will engage underrepresented graduate students in real-world international experiences. Students will develop creative solutions to complex sustainable development challenges as an integral part of team working in close collaboration with local communities. Each year, a cohort of 12 graduate students will advance technical, ecological, and social strategies for sustainable development in 1- to 6-month research internships at different sites around the world. To empower them to effectively and compassionately advocate for change where it is needed most, participants will also receive modular professional development training in science communication, multiculturalism, global leadership, and environmental justice. As a result, students will be better prepared to pursue diverse professional careers in sustainable development, increasing the capacity of the future workforce to solve important environmental challenges. The overarching goal of this IGE project is to improve the scientific basis of environmental decision-making, and increase the likelihood of successful implementation of sustainability strategies now and into the future. To meet this goal, this program aims to advance project-based learning through hypothesis-driven contextual systems research in sustainable development. Collaborative, stakeholder-driven research topics intersect at the water-energy-food nexus and include: water treatment and reuse; renewable energy production; nutrient management; sustainable agricultural systems; reducing air pollution and carbon emissions; remote sensing for environmental impact assessment; and climate change mitigation. Sustainable development provides a unifying and motivational theme under which faculty and students can work together across traditional academic boundaries, providing inherent opportunities for teamwork and transdisciplinary collaboration. This initiative is strategically designed to train and empower students that are members of underrepresented groups to develop and mobilize sustainable development solutions together with stakeholders and leading experts. Further, this project will build the foundational principles of transformative graduate education in sustainability that can be replicated at community-engaged institutions everywhere. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.

接受了科学，技术，工程和数学培训的研究生（STEM）对于支持可持续发展策略的创新至关重要，特别是对于提高对空前的全球挑战的弹性，例如气候变化，人类移民和流行音乐。但是，越来越担心的是，STEM研究生教育可能不足以准备国家的劳动力面对这些全球挑战。为学生在STEM方面的变革技能装备对于他们的未来成功和社会的可持续发展是必要的。这项国家科学基金会在研究生教育（IGE）奖上获得宾夕法尼亚州立大学的创新将与代表性不足的研究生参与现实世界的国际经验。作为与当地社区密切合作的团队不可或缺的一部分，学生将开发创造性的解决方案，以进行复杂的可持续发展挑战。每年，一组12名研究生将在全球不同地点进行1到6个月的研究实习，以提高技术，生态和社会策略的可持续发展。为了使他们能够有效，有同情心地倡导大多数需要的变革，参与者还将接受科学传播，多元文化主义，全球领导力和环境正义方面的模块化专业发展培训。结果，学生将为从事可持续发展方面的潜水专业职业做好准备，从而提高了未来劳动力的能力来解决重要的环境挑战。这个IGE项目的总体目标是改善环境决策的科学基础，并增加现在和未来成功实施可持续性战略的可能性。为了实现这一目标，该计划旨在通过可持续发展中的假设驱动的上下文系统研究来推进基于项目的学习。合作，利益相关者驱动的研究主题在水能食品Nexus上相交，包括：水处理和再利用；可再生能源生产；营养管理；可持续农业系统；减少空气污染和碳排放；对环境影响评估的遥感；和气候变化。可持续发展提供了一个统一和动机的主题，在该主题下，教师和学生可以在传统的学术界限上共同努力，为团队合作和跨学科合作提供固有的机会。该倡议在战略上旨在培训和赋予人数不足团体成员的学生与利益相关者和领先的专家一起开发和动员可持续发展解决方案的学生。此外，该项目将建立可持续性转型研究生教育的基本原则，这些原则可以在各地的社区参与机构中复制。研究生教育（IGE）计划的创新侧重于研究生教育研究。 IGE的目标是试点，测试和验证创新方法来研究生教育，并产生将这些方法转移到广播员社区所需的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准通过评估来评估的。