NRT-INFEWS: Graduate Student Education: Reducing Energy Barriers For Novel Water Supply Use in Sustainable Agriculture

干旱、过度使用水资源、水质恶化和气候多变，正在导致农业日益频繁、有时甚至是永久性的缺水。这是一个主要问题，因为灌溉农场贡献了美国大约一半的作物销售、更高的作物产量、减少贫困、负担得起的食物以及积极的健康和营养结果。仅靠节水是不够的。必须使用非常规水资源，但最大的障碍是能源成本。由于纳入了可再生风能和太阳能，能源部门正在经历重大变革。有机会越来越多地使用可再生能源，为缺水的农田提供廉价而充足的水。这项授予德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的国家科学基金会研究培训(NRT)奖将培训新一代学生，通过利用可再生能源的电力和从“脏”水中回收含能源的资源，开发变革性的和全球相关的解决方案，将非常规水资源用于农业。仅有技术技能不足以推动这些努力，因此将教导受训者批判性思维，了解技术实施面临的技术、财政和社会挑战，并在适当水平上与各行各业的利益攸关方自由交流复杂的想法。该项目预计将培训来自工程、地球科学和公共事务的三十六(36)名硕士和博士生，其中包括十八(18)名资助的实习生。项目目标是开发STEM教育的新模式并使之制度化，该模式直接支持研究活动、专业发展和社会进步，并为其提供信息；通过跨学科研究为农业开发变革性的水解决方案；以及提高研究生和劳动力的多样性。新的教育模式由五个计划要素组成：(1)四门核心课程加上一个食品-能源-水系统(FEWS)研讨会，(2)在沟通、管理、创业和就业准备方面的个性化职业发展活动，(3)双师型和校友指导学员，(4)与食品-能源-水系统(FEWS)相关的实习，以及(5)当地公共服务。课程和研讨会将通过新的FEWS证书计划制度化，专业发展活动将通过组合计划成为永久的机构要素。培训的一个重要创新是通过实习和公共服务，将课堂知识与体验式学习相辅相成。这项研究工作将推动新材料、水处理工艺和可再生能源领域的颠覆性技术开发；能源和水处理工艺集成的决策支持建模；以及政策和技术传播的全球评估。通过在德克萨斯州四所为少数群体服务的机构进行外展和招聘，以及通过与Prairie View A&Amp；M大学的直接合作，学员将与教职员工和本科生进行可持续农业领域的实地工作，多样性将得到加强。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的STEM研究生教育培训模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合实习生模式，在高度优先的跨学科研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Drought, the overuse of water resources, deteriorating water quality, and climate variability are contributing to increasingly frequent and sometimes permanent water shortages for agriculture. This is a major concern because irrigated farms contribute to approximately half of US crop sales, greater crop yields, reduced poverty, affordable food, and positive health and nutrition outcomes. Water conservation alone is not enough. Unconventional water resources must be used, but the overwhelming barrier is energy cost. The energy sector is undergoing a significant transformation as a result of the incorporation of renewable wind and solar energy. There is an opportunity of increasingly available renewable energy to provide inexpensive and plentiful water for water-stressed agricultural lands. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Texas at Austin will train a new generation of students to develop transformative and globally relevant solutions to use unconventional water resources for agriculture by harnessing power from renewable energy and recovering energy-containing resources from "dirty" water. Technical skills alone are insufficient to advance these efforts, so trainees will be taught to think critically, understand technical, financial and societal challenges to technology implementation, and communicate complex ideas freely, and at the appropriate level, with stakeholders from all walks of life. The project anticipates training a diverse cohort of thirty-six (36) MS and PhD students, including eighteen (18) funded trainees, from engineering, geosciences, and public affairs. Project goals are to develop and institutionalize a new model in STEM education that directly supports and informs research activities, professional development, and societal improvement; to develop transformative water solutions for agriculture through interdisciplinary research; and to enhance graduate student and workforce diversity. The new educational model consists of five program elements: (1) four core courses plus a food-energy-water systems (FEWS) seminar, (2) personalized professional development activities in communication, management, entrepreneurship, and job preparation, (3) dual-faculty and alumni mentoring of trainees, (4) FEWS-relevant internships, and (5) local public service. The courses and seminar will be institutionalized through a new FEWS certificate program, and the professional development activities will become a permanent institutional element through a portfolio program. A key novelty of the traineeship is complementing classroom knowledge with experiential learning through internship and public service. The research effort will advance disruptive technology development in new materials, water treatment processes, and renewable energy sources; decision support modeling for integration of energy and water treatment processes; and global assessment of policy and technology diffusion. Diversity will be enhanced by outreach and recruiting at four minority-serving institutions in Texas, and through direct collaboration with Prairie View A&M University, where trainees will engage with faculty and undergraduates to do field work in sustainable agriculture.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.