Collaborative Research: Conference: Electricity Access and Sustainable Business Model Educators Workshop

该项目将召集约50名教育工作者、从业人员、政府和非政府组织以及电力供应和相关可持续商业模式开发领域的其他利益攸关方，举办为期两天的讲习班。该研讨会建立在由国家科学基金会于2022年赞助的能源获取教育工作者研讨会的成功和兴趣的基础上。电力供应是指为目前没有电力的7亿多人提供电力。尽管大多数在电力供应方面挣扎的人都在撒哈拉以南非洲和南亚，但在美国，成千上万的家庭没有电力。对于任何可扩展的技术解决方案来说，至关重要的是一个随之而来的可持续商业模式，该模式考虑如何回收生产电力的成本，以及如何有效地利用电力以实现最大的经济影响。这些主题在美国的工程课程中几乎找不到。然而，学生可以从参与这些主题中受益匪浅。学生更有可能表现出兴趣，并坚持在工程，如果他们接触到工程的应用方式，改善生活和生计的人在边缘化，资源不足，或处于危险之中的社区。不幸的是，目前，活跃在电力接入和可持续商业模式方面的教师数量相对较少，并且没有专门为这些教育工作者服务的场所，专业协会或基础设施。因此，这些主题的教育质量和数量受到影响，社区建设，学术交流和教师之间的合作机会受到抑制。该研讨会将于2023年10月在维拉诺瓦大学举行，紧接着IEEE全球人道主义技术会议。研讨会议程包括有针对性的讨论、小组讨论和网络会议。将给予充分的时间进行开放式讨论。在研讨会期间，与会者将分享最佳做法，经验教训和创新的想法，课程，课外活动有关的技术和商业方面的电力接入。互动会议将探讨主题，如确定教育材料，从大学管理部门获得支持，有效地参与跨学科合作，建立当地的合作伙伴关系，并获得资金。经验丰富的从业者和教育工作者将进行精选的主题演讲。研讨会的每一天都将以总结当天讨论要点的汇报会议结束。将在讲习班前后进行调查，以初步了解电力普及教育的状况，制定讲习班议程，并评估讲习班在实现其目标方面取得的成功。讲习班的主要结论将通过出版物和专题介绍加以综合和传播。该研讨会将导致未来活动和基础设施的路线图的发展，如额外的研讨会，电子邮件列表，课程材料和资源的共享，以及合作教学或应用研究，以创建一个长期合作的兴趣社区的目标。与会者还将集思广益，通过其他筹资模式，在未来几年中使这一讲习班永久化。 研讨会的参与者将从各种高等教育机构中招募，特别是在Priestival本科院校，部落学院和大学，以及历史上的黑人学院和大学。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是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的支持。

This project will convene approximately 50 educators, practitioners, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in the domains of electricity access and associated sustainable business model development for a two-day workshop. The workshop builds on the success and interest from the Energy Access Educators Workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation in 2022. Electricity access is concerned with providing electricity to the over 700 million people presently without it. Although most of the people that struggle with electricity access are found in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, within the United States tens of thousands of homes do not have electricity. Crucial to any scalable technological solution to providing electricity access is an attendant sustainable business model that considers how the costs of producing electricity are recovered, and ways to productively utilize the electricity for maximum economic impact. These topics are scarcely found in engineering curricula in the United States. However, students may greatly benefit from engaging with these topics. Students are more likely to show interest in and persist in engineering if they are exposed to the application of engineering in ways that improve the lives and livelihoods of people in marginalized, under-resourced, or at-risk communities. Unfortunately, at present, the number of faculty active in both electricity access and sustainable business models is relatively small, and there is no venue, professional association or infrastructure dedicated to serving these educators. As a result, the quality and quantity of education in these topics suffers, and community building, academic exchange, and opportunities for collaboration among the faculty is stifled. The workshop will be held in October 2023 at Villanova University, immediately preceding the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference. The workshop agenda includes targeted discussion, panel, and networking sessions. Ample time will be given for open-ended discussion. During workshop sessions, participants will share best practices, lessons learned, and innovative ideas for curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities related to technical and business aspects of electricity access. Interactive sessions will explore topics such as identifying educational materials, gaining support from university administration, effectively engaging with cross-disciplinary collaboration, establishing local partnerships, and acquiring funding. There will be selected keynote presentations from experienced practitioners and educators. Each day of the workshop will conclude with a de-brief session that summarizes the day’s discussion points. Pre- and post-workshop surveys will be given to create a preliminary snapshot of the state of electricity access education, shape the workshop agenda, and assess the success of the workshop in meeting its aims. The key findings of the workshop will be synthesized and disseminated through publications and presentations. The workshop will lead to the development of a roadmap of future activities and infrastructure, such as additional workshops, email lists, sharing of course materials and resources, and collaborative pedagogical or applied research with the goal of creating a community of interest for long term collaboration. Attendees will also brainstorm ways to perpetuate this workshop in future years through alternative funding models. The workshop participants will be recruited from a variety of higher education institutions, with particular emphasis on Primarily Undergraduate Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.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.