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

催化剂项目为历史上的黑人学院和大学（HBCU）提供支持，致力于建立教师的研究能力，以加强科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）本科教育和研究。预计该奖项将进一步提高教师的研究能力，改善研究和教学机构，并参与本科生的研究经验。该哥伦比亚特区的大学旨在开发和实施一个多层次的创新模式，以吸引本科生和培养下一代劳动力在土木工程和其他干专业给予曝光新颖的课程，研究和推广活动的水，能源，粮食与气候的关系。项目的目标和活动旨在通过以下方式实现项目的目标：1）整合跨学科知识，实践练习，以及与土木工程（CE）和其他STEM课程的水-能源-粮食-气候关系相关的技能; 2）通过创建与水-能源-粮食-气候关系相关的跨学科全年研究计划，丰富CE和其他STEM学科的本科生研究经验;以及3）通过工程设计吸引高中和社区学院的学生，增加CE和其他学科的学生入学率和保留率。该项目将培养精通各种多学科设计工具的学生，为21世纪的挑战和水-能源-食品-气候关系方面的职业做好准备。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智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.