Catalyst Project: Integrating Water-Energy-Food-Climate Nexus into Undergraduate Engineering and Science Education

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Catalyst Projects provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to work towards establishing research capacity of faculty to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education and research. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, improve research and teaching at the institution, and involve undergraduate students in research experiences. The University of the District of Columbia seeks to develop and implement a multi layered innovative model to engage undergraduate students and train next generational workforce in Civil Engineering and other STEM majors giving exposure to novel courses, research, and outreach activities on the water, energy, food and climate nexus.The objectives and activities have been designed to meet the goal of the project by 1) Integrating interdisciplinary knowledge, hands-on exercises, and skills related to the water-energy-food-climate nexus into Civil Engineering (CE) and other STEM programs; 2) Enriching the undergraduate research experiences of CE and additional STEM disciplines through creation of an interdisciplinary year-round research program related to the water-energy-food-climate nexus; and 3) Increasing enrollment and retention of students in CE and other disciplines by engaging high school and community college students through engineering design. This project will create well versed students with a wide variety of multidisciplinary design tools prepared for 21st-century challenges and careers in the water-energy-food-climate nexus.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.