Preparing the Skilled Technical Workforce in Controlled Environment Agriculture

预计到2050年，世界人口将增加一倍以上。由于传统农业的生产力受到城市化和气候变化的影响，需要新的粮食生产方法。控制环境农业(CEA)是一门新兴学科，在减少用水和运输成本的同时，促进当地社区的全年粮食生产。然而，由于熟练的技术劳动力有限，该行业一直难以蓬勃发展。拟议的项目旨在通过为注册农业、自动化和机器人、商业和创业和/或计算机技术副学士学位课程的学生创建跨学科证书来满足CEA行业的需求。为此，项目团队将开发四门新的CEA课程，并在使CEA有别于传统农业的技术方面为高级技能教师提供专业发展。这一努力将得到一个积极参与的行业委员会的支持，该委员会代表园艺行业、推广专家和经济发展专家。该项目预计将开发一个强有力的CEA课程，以满足劳动力需求，并建立在包括代表性不足的少数族裔、妇女和农村高中生在内的有针对性的外联基础上。因此，该项目有助于确保国家保持一支准备充分、多样化的CEA劳动力队伍。该项目旨在为新兴的CEA劳动力培养一支受过良好教育的技术人员管道。熟练的技术劳动力对CEA行业的成功至关重要，一位专家预测，未来十年需要10万名工人。该项目开发水产养殖和水产养殖、自动化和智能技术、综合设施管理和基于项目的研究的课程。这些课程将使用高等教育教学法，促进跨学科参与“模糊问题”，以帮助学生发展复杂的问题解决、更高水平的思维和创造性思维技能。基于项目的学习将使学生接触到智能工厂自动化、罗非鱼生长以及远程数据收集和分析的真实应用程序。利用网络广播设备进行在线学习以及远程访问数据收集和监控自动化系统的虚拟物联网教学平台将在学生进入CEA劳动力市场时获得具体优势，这些技术在这一领域发挥着核心作用。这四门新课程将与已经是常春藤科技社区学院系统一部分的农业课程配对，以创建一个跨学科的CEA证书。专业发展将被设计为提高教师的技能，他们将在印第安纳州常春藤科技社区学院、K-12合作伙伴和全国其他社区大学教授这些新的和相关的课程。所有项目产品将通过项目网站和国家会议发言进行传播。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The world's population is expected to more than double by 2050. As the productivity of traditional agriculture becomes compromised by urbanization and climate change, new methods of food production are needed. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an emerging discipline that fosters year-round food production within local communities while reducing water use and transportation costs. However, the industry has struggled to thrive due to a limited skilled technical workforce. The proposed project aims to meet the needs of the CEA industry by creating an interdisciplinary certificate for students enrolled in agriculture, automation and robotics, business and entrepreneurship, and/or computer technology associate degree programs. To do so, the project team will develop four new CEA courses and provide professional development to upskill faculty in the technologies that set CEA apart from traditional agriculture. This effort will be supported by an engaged industry board representing horticulture industries, extension specialists, and economic development experts. The project expects to develop a strong CEA curriculum that is responsive to workforce needs and builds on targeted outreach that includes underrepresented minorities, women, and rural high school students. Consequently, the project can help ensure that the Nation maintains a well-prepared, diverse CEA workforce.The project is designed to create a pipeline of well-educated technicians for the emerging CEA workforce. A skilled technical workforce is critical to the success of the CEA industry and one expert has predicted the need for 100,000 workers in the next decade. This project develop coursework in Aquaculture and Aquaponics, Automated and Smart Technologies, Integrated Facilities Management, and Project-based Study. These courses will use higher learning pedagogy that fosters interdisciplinary engagement of "ill-defined problems" to help students develop complex problem solving, higher-level thinking, and creative thinking skills. Project-based learning will expose students to real-world applications of smart-factory automation, growth of tilapia, and remote data collection and analysis. A virtual Internet of Things teaching platform utilizing webcasting equipment for online learning and remote access for data collection and monitoring of automated systems will give students a concrete advantage when entering the CEA workforce, where these technologies play a central role. The four new courses will be paired with agriculture classes already part of the Ivy Tech Community College system to create an interdisciplinary CEA Certificate. Professional development will be designed to upskill faculty who will teach these new and related courses at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, K-12 partners, and other community colleges across the country. All project products will be disseminated through a project website and national conference presentations. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.