Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Ozbay, G.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY
1200 NORTH DUPONT HIGHWAY
DOVER, DELAWARE 19901

MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL STUDENT EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WITH OUTREACH TRAINING ON WATER, CLIMATE, FOOD SECURITY, AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The proposed program is an integrated multi-institutional teaching and extension project with the primary program code forteaching (EP). The need areas addressed by this program are STEM education, preparation of diverse, well-qualified workforceand prepare students with leadership skills and knowledge for agricultural related careers. This program also focuses onextension program development support systems and extension delivery and methodology. Program priority areas include waterquality, global climate change, food safety, global food security, agricultural biosecurity, sustainable agriculture, and youthdevelopment.Our primary goal is to prepare future workforce on national and global climate change issues and enhance theirknowledge, social, intellectual, and leadership skills so they can be better prepared and adapt changes. Undergraduatestudents, precollege students, and youth in agriculture and natural resources disciplines will be better prepare as a futureworkforce through environmental and climate change formal education coupled with experiential learning opportunities. Programgoal will be achieved by the following objectives:(a) Curricula Design and Materials Development with enhanced laboratory and hands-on activities, including SWAT modeland geospatial technology training for studying impacts of climate change.(b) Student Experiential Learning through summer internships, workshops, and international climate change field class.(c) Precollege Students and Youth Development in STEM Disciplines by providing internships to high school students andcamps for youth to improve their knowledge, social, and intellectual skills.(d) Climate Change Teachers' Workshops to the local middle and high school teachers. Teachers will have hands-on heavy training opportunities including greenhouse gases, CO2 emission, carbon-cycle, hydrological cycle, sea level rise, public health...etc.

OBJECTIVES: The overall goal of this integrated teaching and extension project is to prepare the future workforce on national andglobal climate change issues and enhance their knowledge so they can be better prepared and adapt changes. It isalso our goal to strengthen emerging instruction on climate science and its impacts via various learning modules. An integratedapproach will be helpful to address this issue as the project provides hands-on activities for participants to better interpretclimate change issues and engage them with research based communication tools on how climate change affects water quality,environmental health, food security, and sustainable agriculture. The main objectives of this proposal will be achieved throughcase studies, field experiences, interactive classroom tools, and international experience with significant numbers ofunderrepresented minority students. The first objective of this multi-institutional project is to design curricula andinstructional materials with enhanced laboratory and hands-on activities that will enhance student learning and theirmotivation. This will help increase the quantity and quality of educational opportunities for minority undergraduates, betterprepare them as a future workforce through formal and informal education, and help establish a network of confidentprofessionals to approach traditional barriers with productive solutions. The second objective is to provide experientiallearning opportunities to students by training them on water quality and soil health assessment techniques, research basedfield trips to local and regional wetlands and estuaries to explore environmental health along with international field class to have a global perspective on climate change driven environmental issues. The third objective includes providing hands-oninteractive training to precollege students and youth in STEM disciplines via high school internships and summercamps Undergraduate and high school interns trained through experiential learning will assist as mentors during a 1-weeksummer camp for middle school students (youth); this will improve the leadership skills of precollege students while preparinghigh school and middle school students in STEM disciplines. The fourth objective is to provide climate change workshopsfor middle and high school teachers from science/agriculture and biotechnology areas. Participants will be introduced tovarious teaching tools and will explore ways to better communicate climate change related issues with the students. This willalso help participants to develop professionally. The project concentrates on STEM education and leadership skills developmentwith the primary need area of 'Student Experiential Learning' in the 'Teaching category' along with Curricula Design andMaterials Development, Faculty Preparation and Enhancement for Education, Instructional Delivery Systems, ScientificInstrumentation for Education and Student Recruitment and Retention Precollege Activities. For the 'Extension category' thisproposal focuses on 'Extension Delivery/Methodology' through summer camps, community based programs, and increasingoutreach training of summer interns. This integrated proposal includes the delivery of instruction and extension in the CapacityGrant's (CBG) 5 Program Priority Areas: (1) Global Climate Change, including Environmental Science (2) Water Quality, (3)Sustainable Agriculture, (4) Food Security, and (5) Youth Development.Delaware State University (DSU) will lead a consortium of minority serving institutions around the Chesapeake Bay region:Virginia State University (VSU), Morgan State University (MSU), and other non-funded collaborating institutions Coppin StateUniversity (CSU), Delaware Technical and Community College, and Wesley College to establish a Delmarva Partnership forEnhanced Student Experiential Learning and Outreach for Climate Sciences Education. This regional partnership willprovide integrated, cohesive and innovative education with research capabilities to minority students on climate change drivenwater quality, food security and sustainable agriculture issues. This is essential for our nation's food security and environmentalsustainability.