Education and Workforce Development for DIRE-FEWS
Convergence science and engineering target a complex compelling problem that drives the deep integration of diverse disciplines while transcending traditional disciplinary siloes. For Disaster Resilient Food Energy Water Systems (DIRE-FEWS), there is a need for engineering disciplines to work together to solve these convergent scientific challenges, while strong integrative and interdisciplinary research is required to determine the optimal ways of implementing the research outcomes. Our education program intends to infuse and impact the full scope of knowledge pipeline: K-12 educational outreach, undergraduate, graduate, and professional education.
DIRE-FEWS Education and workforce development have the following targets:
- Incorporate systems thinking and develop convergent educational practices – DIRE-FEWS Webinar Series will bring diverse perspectives for “systems” and how various entities view systems differently.
- Implement innovative pedagogy that emphasizes active, experiential, inquiry-based learning and real-world problem solving – Student Contests, Design and co-development of Ideas, Integration with existing disciplinary domains, creation of new domains for knowledge are expected for DIRE-FEWS.
- Add to the body of knowledge about what works in SRS education – Peer reviewed literature and book series, articles, concept notes, workshop reports, and education modules are expected outcomes from DIRE-FEWS.
We also realize that education is a key component for stakeholder engagement, where early interest can be ensured by demonstrating our key offerings. Our focus for the planning phase of DIRE-FEWS includes emphasis on K-12 engagement to create interest in our education pipeline, infuse DIRE-FEWS systems thinking perspectives through student contests (at local, regional and international levels), and engagement of communities through workshops and webinars. In the longer term, we intend to extend this to full curriculum development and inclusion in interdisciplinary domains.
If you are an undergraduate educator, K-12 STEM teacher, and/or community college faculty and interested to learn more about education and workforce development opportunities please register here to express interest in Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) or other collaborative educational component development activities. More information about TEES Education and Workforce Development programs can be found here and Texas A&M Energy Institute education programs can be found here.