The Environmental Project Management Academy (EPMA): An Interdisciplinary Project-Based Experience

雇主们担心，STEM毕业生虽然精通自己的学科，但缺乏在工作场所取得成功所必需的关键技能。此外，许多非STEM专业的学生没有培养出能够帮助他们在工作中取得成功的基本科学素养。为了满足这些需求，研究人员将设计和测试一种基于项目的跨学科体验--环境项目管理学院(EPMA)，在该学院中，攻读STEM或商业专业的大二和大三学生将共同开展一个为期一学期的服务学习项目。该计划将把现有的100级环境科学课程(环境科学原理)与由商学院教师设计并教授的新的200级项目管理课程(项目管理原理和实践)结合起来。通过EPMA，学生将与社区利益相关者合作，将环境科学知识和项目管理整合到一个涉及与该地区相关的环境问题的项目中，如太阳能、资源商业化和雨水花园。EPMA将帮助培养具有商业能力的STEM毕业生，他们了解重大的环境挑战，以及应对这些挑战所需的跨学科思维和项目管理技能。EPMA课程将把服务学习和基于项目的学习的已知好处融入跨学科STEM和商业教育。其目标是(1)让每组20名本科生(在整个项目期内有60名)参加一个侧重于满足社区需求的服务学习项目的“分组课程”；(2)建立一个有效的跨学科STEM教与学环境，在这种环境中，每个组85%的学生展示出科学素养、项目管理技能、跨学科思维以及团队合作和领导力等无形技能；以及(3)确定这一创新教育模式是否可以扩展并长期在财务和后勤方面保持下去。项目设计和评估将在一名专业评估员和一个顾问委员会的合作下完成，顾问委员会包括在商业环境中从事科学实践的专家。该项目的广泛适用成果应包括(1)基于项目的跨学科学习模式，其中STEM和非STEM专业的学生在基于STEM的项目上进行合作；(2)将项目管理技术纳入STEM课程的模式。

Employers express concerns that STEM graduates, while proficient in their disciplines, lack the critical skills necessary for success in the workplace. In addition, many non-STEM majors do not develop the basic scientific literacy that could help them succeed in the workplace. To address these needs, the investigators will design and test an interdisciplinary, project-based experience, the Environmental Project Management Academy (EPMA), in which sophomore and junior undergraduates pursuing either STEM or business majors will work together on a semester-long service learning project. The program will combine an existing 100-level environmental science course (Principles of Environmental Science) with a new 200-level project management course (Principles and Practices of Project Management) designed and taught by faculty in the School of Business. Through the EPMA, students will collaborate with community stakeholders as they integrate knowledge of environmental science and project management in a project involving environmental issues relevant to the region, such as solar energy, resource commercialization, and rain gardens. The EPMA will help develop business-competent, STEM-literate graduates with an understanding of significant environmental challenges as well as the interdisciplinary thinking and project management skills required to address them.The EPMA program will weave the known benefits of service learning and project-based learning into interdisciplinary STEM and business education. The objectives are (1) to engage 20 undergraduate students per cohort (60 over the entire project period), with STEM and business majors equally represented, in a "cluster course" that focuses on a service learning project addressing a community need; (2) to establish an effective interdisciplinary STEM teaching and learning environment in which 85% of each cohort demonstrates competence in scientific literacy, project management skills, interdisciplinary thinking, and intangible skills such as teamwork and leadership; and (3) to determine whether this innovative educational model can be scaled and sustained long-term, financially and logistically. Program design and evaluation will be completed in collaboration with a professional evaluator and an advisory board, including experts practicing science in a business setting. Broadly applicable results from this project should include (1) a model for interdisciplinary project-based learning in which STEM and non-STEM majors collaborate on a STEM-based project and (2) a model for the incorporation of project management techniques into STEM coursework.