Collaborative Research: Conference: Electricity Access and Sustainable Business Model Educators Workshop

合作研究：会议：电力接入和可持续商业模式教育者研讨会

• 批准号: 2320089
• 负责人: Henry Louie
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: Seattle University
• 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: 2023-06-15 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320089&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Conference; Electricity; Access

This project will convene approximately 50 educators, practitioners, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in the domains of electricity access and associated sustainable business model development for a two-day workshop. The workshop builds on the success and interest from the Energy Access Educators Workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation in 2022. Electricity access is concerned with providing electricity to the over 700 million people presently without it. Although most of the people that struggle with electricity access are found in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, within the United States tens of thousands of homes do not have electricity. Crucial to any scalable technological solution to providing electricity access is an attendant sustainable business model that considers how the costs of producing electricity are recovered, and ways to productively utilize the electricity for maximum economic impact. These topics are scarcely found in engineering curricula in the United States. However, students may greatly benefit from engaging with these topics. Students are more likely to show interest in and persist in engineering if they are exposed to the application of engineering in ways that improve the lives and livelihoods of people in marginalized, under-resourced, or at-risk communities. Unfortunately, at present, the number of faculty active in both electricity access and sustainable business models is relatively small, and there is no venue, professional association or infrastructure dedicated to serving these educators. As a result, the quality and quantity of education in these topics suffers, and community building, academic exchange, and opportunities for collaboration among the faculty is stifled. The workshop will be held in October 2023 at Villanova University, immediately preceding the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference. The workshop agenda includes targeted discussion, panel, and networking sessions. Ample time will be given for open-ended discussion. During workshop sessions, participants will share best practices, lessons learned, and innovative ideas for curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities related to technical and business aspects of electricity access. Interactive sessions will explore topics such as identifying educational materials, gaining support from university administration, effectively engaging with cross-disciplinary collaboration, establishing local partnerships, and acquiring funding. There will be selected keynote presentations from experienced practitioners and educators. Each day of the workshop will conclude with a de-brief session that summarizes the day’s discussion points. Pre- and post-workshop surveys will be given to create a preliminary snapshot of the state of electricity access education, shape the workshop agenda, and assess the success of the workshop in meeting its aims. The key findings of the workshop will be synthesized and disseminated through publications and presentations. The workshop will lead to the development of a roadmap of future activities and infrastructure, such as additional workshops, email lists, sharing of course materials and resources, and collaborative pedagogical or applied research with the goal of creating a community of interest for long term collaboration. Attendees will also brainstorm ways to perpetuate this workshop in future years through alternative funding models. The workshop participants will be recruited from a variety of higher education institutions, with particular emphasis on Primarily Undergraduate Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.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.

该项目将方便地方便地方便地进行50名教育工作者，从业人员，政府和非政府组织，以及电力访问领域的其他利益相关者以及为期两天的研讨会的相关可持续业务模型开发。该研讨会基于国家科学基金会在2022年赞助的能源访问教育工作者研讨会的成功和兴趣。尽管在撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚地区发现了大多数与电力斗争的人，但在美国，成千上万的房屋没有电。对于提供电力访问的任何可扩展技术解决方案至关重要的是一种随之而来的可持续业务模型，该模型考虑了如何回收电力成本，以及有效利用电力以获得最大的经济影响的方法。这些主题在美国的工程课程中几乎没有发现。但是，学生可能会从参与这些主题中受益匪浅。如果学生接触工程学的应用，以改善人们在边缘化，资源不足或处于危险中的社区中的生活和生计的方式，更有可能表现出对工程的兴趣和持续存在。不幸的是，目前，电动通道和可持续商业模型中活跃的教师数量相对较小，并且没有专门为这些教育家服务的场地，专业协会或基础设施。结果，举办了这些主题中教育的质量和数量，社区建设，学术交流以及教师合作的机会。研讨会将于2023年10月在IEEE全球人道主义技术会议之前在Villanova大学举行。研讨会议程包括针对性的讨论，小组和网络会议。开放式讨论将有足够的时间。在研讨会期间，参与者将分享与电力通行技术和业务方面有关的课程，课外活动和课外活动的最佳实践，经验教训和创新思想。互动会议将探讨诸如识别教育材料，获得大学管理的支持，有效地参与跨学科合作，建立当地合作伙伴关系和获得资金等主题。经验丰富的从业者和教育者将选择主题演讲。研讨会的每一天都将包括一个脱颖而出的会议，总结了当天的讨论点。将进行工作前和工厂后的调查，以创建电力访问教育状况的初步快照，塑造研讨会议程，并评估研讨会在实现其目标方面的成功。研讨会的关键发现将通过出版物和演示综合和传播。该研讨会将导致发展未来活动和基础设施的路线图，例如其他研讨会，电子邮件列表，分享课程材料和资源，以及协作教学或应用研究，目的是为长期合作创建感兴趣的社区。与会者还将通过替代资金模型来集思广益，以在未来几年中延续该研讨会。研讨会的参与者将从各种高等教育机构招募，特别是主要是主要是本科机构，部落学院和大学以及历史上的黑人学院和大学。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为值得的支持。