Development and Porting of iCons III: Student-Designed Labs in Renewable Energy

要实现太阳能和生物燃料等可再生能源的潜力，面临着艰巨的技术挑战，这需要科学、工程和社会科学领域的领导者之间的合作。尽管有多学科整合的需要，大学科学教育仍然牢牢扎根于独立的竖井中。马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校(UMassusetts Amherst)正在通过综合科学(ICONS)计划解决这一问题，这是一种新的全国性综合教育模式，设立了多学科的学生团队，致力于解决当前的社会问题，如可再生能源。霍利约克社区学院也同样开发了自己的两年制综合清洁能源项目。他们共同开发了一门可再生能源实验室课程。该课程训练学生在藻类生物燃料、塑料太阳能电池和新型节能建筑材料等主题上设计和进行独特的实验。这一新的合作伙伴关系培养出在清洁能源问题上具有领导力和实验室经验的学生，能够跨越学科界限寻找有用的解决方案。由此产生的实验室单元将在全国和全球范围内传播，以产生最广泛的影响。这一合作关系为肝细胞癌的学生提供了转到四年制课程的新途径。最重要的是，UMASS/ICON和CC项目培养出具有解决我们国家面临的固有的多学科技术问题所需的态度、知识和技能的下一代科学领袖。

There are daunting technological challenges in bringing the potential of renewable energy such as solar energy and biofuels to fruition, requiring collaboration among leaders in science, engineering, and social science. Despite this need for multidisciplinary integration, university science education remains firmly rooted in separate silos. The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) is tackling this issue through the Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) program, a new national model of integrative education that sets multidisciplinary student teams to work on current societal problems such as renewable energy. Holyoke Community College (HCC) has likewise developed its own integrative 2-year clean energy program. Jointly they develop a renewable energy laboratory course. The course trains students to design and carry out unique experiments on subjects such as algae biofuels, plastic solar cells, and new energy-efficient building materials. This new UMass/HCC partnership produces students with leadership and laboratory experience in clean energy problems, able to cross disciplinary boundaries in search of useful solutions. The resulting laboratory modules will be disseminated nationally and globally for broadest impact. The partnership produces new pathways for HCC students to transfer to 4-year programs. And most important, the UMass/iCons and HCC programs produce the next generation of leaders in science with the attitudes, knowledge, and skills needed to solve the inherently multidisciplinary technology problems facing our nation.