Collaborative Research: Challenging Anti-Black-Racism in Civil and Environmental Engineering Curriculum

该项目旨在通过建立STEM教育实践来改善土木和环境工程课程，为与社区合作促进关键基础设施的公平发展的学生服务，从而为国家利益服务。美国环境保护署成立于50年前，目的是确保所有美国人免受人类健康和他们生活、学习和工作的环境所面临的重大风险。然而，低收入的有色人种社区仍然不成比例地暴露在空气和水污染中。暴露于空气和水污染方面的差异导致了关于环境正义原则的学术研究，这些研究认为，社区有权平等地受到环境和公共卫生法律法规的保护。专业学会和国家科学院积极参与这些讨论。例如，美国土木工程师协会（ASCE）关于正义、公平、多样性和包容性的声明呼吁与工程和非工程组织建立互利的伙伴关系，并推进以公平和包容性工程教育、研究和实践为中心的研究议程。环境工程面临的首要挑战是教育改革，以确保整体解决方案建立在与社区利益相关者的真正伙伴关系基础上，特别是那些在环境决策方面历来受到限制的机构。项目小组计划合作编制课程，重点是公平对待和社区平等参与关键基础设施的规划和设计。该项目的目标是为土木和环境工程本科生开发和实施一套综合的、跨学科的、社区参与的、反黑人种族主义的培训机会，以培养他们应对我们这个时代复杂而相互关联的挑战的能力。本科土木与环境工程和人类学培训的新课程旨在解决与城市基础设施有关的反黑人种族主义问题，同时与当地实体合作建立公平的社区。坦帕湾和旧金山湾区的非裔美国人社区将成为学术教育工作者/研究人员、社区成员和实践者开始创建和实施五门工程课程的创新课程材料的融合空间，这些课程将帮助学生实现ABET认证的学生学习成果。该项目的目标是让这两所大学的其他教员也加入进来，他们表示有兴趣参加该项目的研讨会，这将影响到额外的工程课程。拟议研究的结果将通过各种渠道传播给多所大学的不同利益相关者，包括教师讲习班/研讨会、社区会议和一年一度的黑人生活研究所会议，该会议侧重于社区参与的伙伴关系和奖学金。项目成果将在由环境工程与科学教授协会、美国工程教育学会会议和美国教育研究协会等协会召集的全国性会议上与STEM教育工作者分享。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing STEM education practices to improve civil and environmental engineering curriculum for students working with communities on the equitable development of critical infrastructure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established 50 years ago to ensure that all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn, and work. However, low-income communities of color continue to be disproportionately exposed to air and water pollution. Disparities in exposure to air and water pollution have led to scholarship on environmental justice principles, which asserts that communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and regulations. Professional societies and national academies are actively involved in these discussions. For example, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) statement on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion calls for building mutually beneficial partnerships with engineering and non-engineering organizations and advancing a research agenda centered on equitable and inclusive engineering education, research, and practice. An overarching challenge for environmental engineering is educational reform to ensure holistic solutions that build on authentic partnerships with community stakeholders, especially those whose agency has historically been limited in environmental decision making. The project team plans to collaborate on the development of curriculum that focuses on fair treatment and equitable involvement of communities in the planning and design of critical infrastructures.The goal of this project is to develop and implement a suite of integrated, interdisciplinary, community-engaged, anti-Black-racism training opportunities for civil and environmental engineering undergraduates to build capacity for addressing complex and interconnected challenges of our time. The new curricula for undergraduate civil and environmental engineering and anthropology training is intended to address anti-Black-racism as it relates to urban infrastructure while partnering with local entities to build equitable communities. African American communities in the Tampa Bay and San Francisco Bay regions will serve as the convergence space where academic educators/researchers, community members, and practitioners begin to create and implement innovative course materials in a set of five engineering courses that will help students achieve ABET accredited student learning outcomes. The project aims to include additional faculty at the two institutions who have expressed interest in participating in the project’s workshops that would impact additional engineering courses. Results from the proposed research will be disseminated through channels to reach diverse stakeholders at multiple universities through faculty workshops/seminars, community meetings, and an annual Institute on Black Life conference that focuses on community engaged partnership and scholarship. Project results will be shared with STEM educators at national conferences convened by societies such as the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, American Society of Engineering Education conference, and the American Educational Research Association. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.