Preparing the Skilled Technical Workforce in Controlled Environment Agriculture

到2050年，世界人口预计将增加一倍以上。随着传统农业的生产力受到城市化和气候变化的影响，需要新的粮食生产方法。受控环境农业（CEA）是一门新兴学科，它在当地社区内促进全年粮食生产，同时减少用水和运输成本。 然而，由于技术熟练的劳动力有限，该行业一直难以蓬勃发展。拟议项目旨在通过为就读于农业，自动化和机器人，商业和创业，和/或计算机技术副学士学位课程的学生创建跨学科证书来满足CEA行业的需求。为此，项目团队将开发四门新的CEA课程，并为提升教师技能的专业发展提供技术，使CEA与传统农业区别开来。这一努力将得到一个代表园艺业、推广专家和经济发展专家的行业委员会的支持。该项目预计将开发一个强大的CEA课程，以满足劳动力需求，并建立在有针对性的推广，包括代表性不足的少数民族，妇女和农村高中学生。 因此，该项目可以帮助确保国家保持一个准备充分，多样化的CEA劳动力。该项目旨在为新兴的CEA劳动力创造一个受过良好教育的技术人员管道。 熟练的技术劳动力对于CEA行业的成功至关重要，一位专家预测未来十年需要10万名工人。 该项目开发了水生植物和鱼菜共生，自动化和智能技术，综合设施管理和基于项目的研究课程。这些课程将使用高等教育教学法，促进“定义不清的问题”的跨学科参与，以帮助学生发展解决复杂问题，更高层次的思维和创造性思维技能。基于项目的学习将使学生接触到智能工厂自动化，罗非鱼生长以及远程数据收集和分析的实际应用。一个虚拟的物联网教学平台，利用网络广播设备进行在线学习和远程访问，用于自动化系统的数据收集和监控，将为学生在进入CEA员工队伍时提供具体的优势，这些技术在其中发挥着核心作用。这四门新课程将与常春藤科技社区学院系统的农业课程相结合，以创建跨学科的CEA证书。专业发展将旨在提高教师的技能，他们将在印第安纳州常春藤科技社区学院、K-12合作伙伴和全国其他社区学院教授这些新的相关课程。 所有项目产品都将通过项目网站和国家会议专题介绍加以传播。 该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

The world's population is expected to more than double by 2050. As the productivity of traditional agriculture becomes compromised by urbanization and climate change, new methods of food production are needed. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an emerging discipline that fosters year-round food production within local communities while reducing water use and transportation costs. However, the industry has struggled to thrive due to a limited skilled technical workforce. The proposed project aims to meet the needs of the CEA industry by creating an interdisciplinary certificate for students enrolled in agriculture, automation and robotics, business and entrepreneurship, and/or computer technology associate degree programs. To do so, the project team will develop four new CEA courses and provide professional development to upskill faculty in the technologies that set CEA apart from traditional agriculture. This effort will be supported by an engaged industry board representing horticulture industries, extension specialists, and economic development experts. The project expects to develop a strong CEA curriculum that is responsive to workforce needs and builds on targeted outreach that includes underrepresented minorities, women, and rural high school students. Consequently, the project can help ensure that the Nation maintains a well-prepared, diverse CEA workforce.The project is designed to create a pipeline of well-educated technicians for the emerging CEA workforce. A skilled technical workforce is critical to the success of the CEA industry and one expert has predicted the need for 100,000 workers in the next decade. This project develop coursework in Aquaculture and Aquaponics, Automated and Smart Technologies, Integrated Facilities Management, and Project-based Study. These courses will use higher learning pedagogy that fosters interdisciplinary engagement of "ill-defined problems" to help students develop complex problem solving, higher-level thinking, and creative thinking skills. Project-based learning will expose students to real-world applications of smart-factory automation, growth of tilapia, and remote data collection and analysis. A virtual Internet of Things teaching platform utilizing webcasting equipment for online learning and remote access for data collection and monitoring of automated systems will give students a concrete advantage when entering the CEA workforce, where these technologies play a central role. The four new courses will be paired with agriculture classes already part of the Ivy Tech Community College system to create an interdisciplinary CEA Certificate. Professional development will be designed to upskill faculty who will teach these new and related courses at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, K-12 partners, and other community colleges across the country. All project products will be disseminated through a project website and national conference presentations. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.