IGE: Stakeholder-Driven Sustainable Development Experiences for Enhancing STEM Graduate Education

IGE：利益相关者驱动的可持续发展经验，以加强 STEM 研究生教育

• 批准号: 2105726
• 负责人: Rachel Brennan
• 金额: $ 45.82万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2105726&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IGE; Stakeholder; Driven; Sustainable; Development

Graduate students trained in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are essential for supporting innovation in sustainable development strategies, particularly for enhancing resiliency to unprecedented global challenges such as climate change, human migration, and pandemics. However, there is growing concern that STEM graduate education may be falling short on preparing the nation’s workforce to face these global challenges. Equipping students with transformative skills in STEM is necessary for their future success, and for the sustainable development of society. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Pennsylvania State University will engage underrepresented graduate students in real-world international experiences. Students will develop creative solutions to complex sustainable development challenges as an integral part of team working in close collaboration with local communities. Each year, a cohort of 12 graduate students will advance technical, ecological, and social strategies for sustainable development in 1- to 6-month research internships at different sites around the world. To empower them to effectively and compassionately advocate for change where it is needed most, participants will also receive modular professional development training in science communication, multiculturalism, global leadership, and environmental justice. As a result, students will be better prepared to pursue diverse professional careers in sustainable development, increasing the capacity of the future workforce to solve important environmental challenges. The overarching goal of this IGE project is to improve the scientific basis of environmental decision-making, and increase the likelihood of successful implementation of sustainability strategies now and into the future. To meet this goal, this program aims to advance project-based learning through hypothesis-driven contextual systems research in sustainable development. Collaborative, stakeholder-driven research topics intersect at the water-energy-food nexus and include: water treatment and reuse; renewable energy production; nutrient management; sustainable agricultural systems; reducing air pollution and carbon emissions; remote sensing for environmental impact assessment; and climate change mitigation. Sustainable development provides a unifying and motivational theme under which faculty and students can work together across traditional academic boundaries, providing inherent opportunities for teamwork and transdisciplinary collaboration. This initiative is strategically designed to train and empower students that are members of underrepresented groups to develop and mobilize sustainable development solutions together with stakeholders and leading experts. Further, this project will build the foundational principles of transformative graduate education in sustainability that can be replicated at community-engaged institutions everywhere. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.

在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）培训的研究生对于支持可持续发展战略的创新至关重要，特别是对于增强应对气候变化，人类移民和流行病等前所未有的全球挑战的弹性。然而，人们越来越担心，STEM研究生教育可能无法为国家的劳动力做好准备，以应对这些全球挑战。为学生提供STEM变革技能对于他们未来的成功和社会的可持续发展是必要的。这个国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖给宾夕法尼亚州立大学将从事代表性不足的研究生在现实世界的国际经验。学生将开发创造性的解决方案，以复杂的可持续发展的挑战，作为与当地社区密切合作的团队工作的一个组成部分。每年，12名研究生将在世界各地的不同地点进行为期1至6个月的研究实习，以推进可持续发展的技术，生态和社会战略。为了使他们能够有效地和富有同情心地倡导最需要的变革，参与者还将接受科学传播，多元文化，全球领导力和环境正义方面的模块化专业发展培训。因此，学生将更好地准备追求可持续发展的多样化职业生涯，提高未来劳动力解决重要环境挑战的能力。政府间专家组这一项目的总体目标是改善环境决策的科学基础，提高现在和今后成功实施可持续性战略的可能性。为了实现这一目标，该计划旨在通过假设驱动的可持续发展背景系统研究来推进基于项目的学习。合作性的、由业主驱动的研究课题在水-能源-粮食关系方面相互交叉，包括：水处理和再利用;可再生能源生产;营养管理;可持续农业系统;减少空气污染和碳排放;遥感用于环境影响评估;以及减缓气候变化。可持续发展提供了一个统一和激励的主题，教师和学生可以跨越传统的学术界限一起工作，为团队合作和跨学科合作提供了固有的机会。这一举措的战略目的是培训和增强代表性不足群体的学生的能力，使他们能够与利益攸关方和主要专家一起制定和动员可持续发展解决方案。此外，该项目将建立可持续发展的变革性研究生教育的基本原则，这些原则可以在世界各地的社区参与机构中复制。研究生教育创新（IGE）计划的重点是研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试验、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。