Addressing Water Security: towards Student Retention, Improved Relevance, and Increased Readiness

解决水安全问题：提高学生保留率、提高相关性和提高准备度

• 批准号: 2247900
• 负责人: Howard Marquise
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Northwest Vista College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247900&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Addressing; Water; Security; towards; Student

San Antonio is one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation and represents an urban center whose natural resources are struggling to keep up with the demand. In Texas, total water demand is predicted to increase by 17% between 2020 and 2070. Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMU-SA) is a burgeoning Hispanic-Serving university, with a rapidly increasing enrollment despite decreasing national trends. It has a unique water resources program that aims to generate graduates capable of responding to the region's water security challenges. This project will help increase student recruitment to this signature STEM program supportive of diverse students, including those currently employed in the water sector, to tackle water-related issues in the region. Importantly, this project will generate data that will be broadly useful in understanding factors that can increase enrollment in these types of degrees across the country. This data will be of use to other programs with a focus on water across the country as well as those serving a post-traditional student population.The goal of this project is to address three challenges associated with the Water Resources Science and Technology (WaTR) program at TAMU-SA. First is low enrollment in the program, particularly of women. Second is the opportunity to integrate consideration of local water issues into the existing WaTR and STEM curricula. Third is limited access to opportunities for pre- and in-service professional and career development for students and current water professionals. This project will promote water workforce readiness and advancement for those currently employed in the water workforce. It will improve recruitment by working with admissions personnel and through outreach activities at high schools and community colleges. The project team will work alongside local water utility providers and stakeholders and utilize peer mentoring by current students and alumni of the program, and current graduate students enrolled in the M.S. degree component. The project leaders will develop a sustainable educational pathway of enhanced courses that is amplified through connecting coursework to issues of local concern; student engagement with cutting-edge and emerging water science technology; culturally relevant, context-based pedagogies; field experiences and tours of local plants; and internships with water-related collaborators. Lastly, the project will promote readiness for all students, through community science programs, high-impact projects, classroom-based undergraduate research experiences, and new or revised research-intensive courses to lay the groundwork for research careers and training. Through recruitment, relevance, and readiness, the project seeks to diversify the pre- and in-service professionals addressing water issues in regional, state, national, and international contexts, and to respond to the local pressing issues of water access, protection, and conservation. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity of transformational improvement at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) on developing understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.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.

圣安东尼奥是美国增长最快的地区之一，代表了一个城市中心，其自然资源正在努力满足需求。在德克萨斯州，预计在2020年至2070年之间，总水需求将增加17％。德克萨斯州A＆M大学桑·安东尼奥（Tamu-Sa）（Tamu-sa）是一所新兴的西班牙裔美国人大学，尽管国家趋势下降，但入学率迅速增加。它具有独特的水资源计划，旨在产生能够应对该地区水安全挑战的毕业生。该项目将有助于增加学生招聘该签名STEM计划，以支持各种学生，包括目前在水部门雇用的学生，以解决该地区与水有关的问题。重要的是，该项目将生成数据，这些数据将在理解可以增加全国这类学位的入学率的因素方面非常有用。该数据将用于其他计划，重点是全国水以及服务于后学生人口的水域。该项目的目的是解决与Tamu-SA的水资源科学技术（WATR）计划相关的三个挑战。首先是该计划的入学人数低，尤其是女性。第二是将考虑当地水问题考虑到现有的WATR和STEM课程的机会。第三是为学生和现有水专业人士提供前和服务专业和职业发展的机会的机会有限。该项目将为当前在水员工中使用的人提供水费的准备和进步。它将通过与招生人员合作以及在高中和社区大学的外展活动来改善招聘。项目团队将与当地水电提供商和利益相关者一起工作，并利用该计划的当前学生和校友的同行指导，而现任硕士学位的现任研究生则参加了硕士学位。学位成分。项目负责人将开发一种可持续的教育途径，以增强课程的可持续性教育途径，通过将课程与当地关注的问题联系起来，可以放大；学生参与尖端和新兴水科学技术；具有文化相关的，基于上下文的教学；当地植物的实地经验和游览；以及与水有关的合作者实习。最后，该项目将通过社区科学计划，高影响力项目，基于课堂的本科研究经验以及新的或修订的研究密集型课程来促进所有学生的准备，从而为研究职业和培训奠定基础。通过招聘，相关性和准备就绪，该项目旨在多样化在地区，州，国家和国际环境中解决水问题的前和服务专业人员，并应对当地的水上访问，保护和保护的问题。 HSI计划旨在增强本科STEM教育，扩大对STEM的参与以及建立HSIS转型改进的能力。鉴于HSI的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进有关敬业的学生学习的基础研究（i）（ii），（ii）关于有效多样化和增加参与STEM的参与以及（iii）在此方面授予该计划的统计和统计数据的理解，并且（iii）的统计数据是，该计划的统计数据是在HSIS中的统计数据，并且是对HSIS的统计。认为值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的评论标准来评估值得支持。