IRES: US-Brazil International Research Experience for Students: Sustainability Research: An Integrative Undergraduate Experience

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0623539BeckmanIn this International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project supported by the Office of International Science and Engineering, Dr. Eric J. Beckman, University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues will establish an international research-experience program for 22 U.S. undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh and at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The focus will be on the complex engineering issues that advance greening the built environment and the more sustainable use of water. Next-generation design of building components and water-use technology will need to be sustainable to continue the advance in global quality of life. This three-year program will give students summer internships at the University of Pittsburgh's Mascaro Sustainability Initiative (MSI), followed by a rotation in Brazil at UNICAMP. U.S. undergraduate students in the early stages of their engineering careers will be selected on a competitive basis from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and the University of Texas, El Paso. The objectives are to teach undergraduate engineering students to incorporate sustainability as a design constraint, to work in design teams and how to function in cross-cultural environments.This IRES activity should develop a cadre of talented young researchers, from a variety of backgrounds, with international experience and connections. The U.S. undergraduate students, drawn from groups traditionally underrepresented in science, are at a formative phase in their careers, when they are still developing their research skills and defining their research direction and questions. This IRES project will offer an international, collaborative research opportunity to U.S. students at a point in their education when such international mentorship and professional relationships can have the greatest impact on the selection of research questions, research design, study systems, and study locations.