Workshop to Develop a Framework for Community-Engaged Environmental Engineering Research

在过去的十年里，包括某种社区参与工程研究在内的赠款提案的数量大大增加。尽管对“公民科学”有很大的兴趣，但目前还没有有效协调社区参与的工程研究的指导方针。本次研讨会的目的是汇集工程，社区关系和道德方面的专家，以确定社区参与工程研究的框架。研讨会的参与者将研究工程研究人员参与社区的最新历史和实践，重点是有效和道德的研究合作。这次研讨会的成果将是社区参与研究实践的新框架。通过这些努力，该研讨会有助于推动STEM研究为美国公众服务。为了最大限度地扩大政策影响，讲习班将在哥伦比亚特区华盛顿举行。来自联邦STEM机构和专业协会的工作人员将被邀请参加。社区参与的研究为公众创造了直接参与形成研究问题的机会，参与与社区相关的研究活动，并获得主题技术专业知识。然而，如果没有实践标准，社区参与的研究会给工程研究人员带来风险，更重要的是，他们所参与的社区也会面临风险。本次研讨会的目的是通过定义社区参与工程研究的工作框架来纠正这种情况。研讨会将包括工程、社区关系和道德方面的专家，以及来自联邦STEM机构和工程专业协会的代表，以最大限度地扩大对利益相关者的影响。该研讨会将借鉴从涉及人类受试者的研究中吸取的重要经验教训，以适应社区参与研究的不同情况。研讨会的参与者将研究工程研究人员参与社区的最新历史和实践，目的是建立一个新的参与框架。这是更好地了解社区成员和研究人员在参与社区参与研究时所需保护的关键一步。该框架的制定将促进有效合作，以产生科学上可辩护的结果，并通过参与社区推进STEM研究的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The number of grant proposals including some sort of community engagement in engineering research has vastly accelerated in the past decade. Despite this great interest in "citizen science", there are currently no guidelines for effective coordination of community-engaged engineering research. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together experts in engineering, community relations, and ethics to define a framework for community engagement in engineering research. Workshop participants will examine the recent history and practice of engagement in communities by engineering researchers with a focus on effective and ethical research collaboration. The outcome of this workshop will be a new framework for the practice of community-engaged research. Through these efforts, the workshop contributes to the advancement of STEM research in service of the American public. To maximize policy impact, the workshop will be held in Washington, DC. Staff from Federal STEM agencies and professional societies will be invited to attend.Community-engaged research creates opportunities for the public to be directly involved with forming research questions, participating in research activities of relevance to the community, and acquiring subject-matter technical expertise. However, without standards of practice, community-engaged research poses risks to both engineering researchers and, even more importantly, the communities they engage. The purpose of this workshop is to remedy this situation by defining a working framework for community engagement in engineering research. The workshop will include experts in engineering, community relations, and ethics, as well as representatives from Federal STEM agencies and engineering professional societies to maximize outreach and impact to stakeholders. This workshop will draw on the critical lessons learned from research involving human subjects to adapt to the different situations of community-engaged research. Workshop participants will examine the recent history and practice of engagement in communities by engineering researchers with the purpose of producing a new framework of engagement. This as a critical step in developing a better understanding of the protections community members and researchers need when participating in community-engaged research. The development of this framework will facilitate effective collaboration to produce scientifically defensible results and advance STEM research impact through engaged communities. As such, it will improve the scientific literacy of the Nation and increase public understanding of engineering science.public understanding of engineering science.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.