The Institute for Shipboard Education is pleased to announce “Engineering a New Tomorrow,” the first short-term Semester at Sea voyage. Open to participants of all majors the program will explore key global issues during an intensive 26-day shipboard and field-practice curriculum developed in partnership with the University of Virginia.

The academic program is based on the global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including sustainable development, food security, energy, water, population, species and ecosystems, and the international economy.

Although engineering programs often address the technical aspects of humanitarian problems, Institute for Shipboard Education Senior Academic Officer Rosalyn Berne and a 12-member planning committee have designed an interdisciplinary program that will visualize the “socio-technical” issues and integrate multiple disciplines, considering culture, economics, history, politics, and economics.

“A lot of good engineering projects have failed because they didn’t consider issues such as religion, the role of women, or the way land is understood,” Berne said. “Practically speaking, it’s more likely that engineering projects will be successful if they have the perspective of other ways of understanding. Semester at Sea provides the learning environment for accomplishing this.”

The inaugural short-term program will sail May 20 through June 15 and enroll participants from colleges and universities around the country. Lifelong learners (adults over age 40) may also apply. The program is suited to all majors and may be of particular interest to students focused on business, commerce, and environmental studies.

During the voyage, participants will enroll in courses aboard the MV Explorer, ISE’s floating university campus. They will examine key issues through field studies, service learning, and team projects in Port of Spain, Trinidad; Cristobal, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Puerto Cortes, Honduras; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala; and Belize City, Belize. Particular emphasis will be placed on the Panama Canal Expansion project — one of the largest scale engineering projects of the modern era.

“This short-term voyage is the perfect integration of study abroad, service learning, preparation for engineering or any other kind of humanitarian work in a developing community,” said Dana Elzey, associate professor of materials science and engineering in U.Va.’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Elzey will serve as academic dean of the voyage.

“You have faculty, all expert in their given areas, who can speak to all the problems that are the theme and focus of the U.N.’s New Millennium Development Goals,” Elzey added. “I can’t imagine a greater purpose for teaching, or a greater opportunity for learning and scholarship.”

Core courses (three credits) will be taught by engineering faculty with the support of faculty from the humanities and social sciences. Additional contextual courses (three credits) will explore and develop the context of the core.

All students will attend a Voyage Seminar (one credit), with ten lectures taught by pairs of engineering and social science/humanities faculty. Those lectures will cover themes such as Understanding Poverty Through Clinical Economics, The Energy Challenge We Face, Assessing Community Need, Central America — Past and Future, Engineering a New Tomorrow — A New Path for Engineering a Sustainable Future for Humanity, Water for the World, and Service in Developing Communities — Ethics Considerations.

Within the International Field Program in each port, faculty-directed practica will reflect seminar topics, with visits to successful and failed NGO projects in various ports of call. Excursions will include examining the natural asphalt lake in Trinidad, learning the eco-function of mangroves and rainforests in Costa Rica, and taking part in service learning activities.

J.P. Mohsen, president of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Louisville, describes the Engineering a New Tomorrow voyage as “an invaluable experience for any student.”

“What Semester at Sea brings to life is a first-hand exposure to what needs to be done in other countries to introduce sustainable design,” said Mohsen, a member of the voyage planning committee. “In this very short period of time, students will learn lessons that they can extend to the rest of their lives–both professionally and personally.”

The inaugural voyage will include 22 faculty members from schools including U.Va., the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Louisville, and the University of Pittsburgh.

“The core mission of the Semester at Sea program is to educate individuals with the global understanding necessary to address the challenges of our interdependent world,” said Les McCabe, president of the Institute for Shipboard and Semester at Sea. “This voyage presents an unprecedented opportunity to investigate today’s most pressing areas of global need.”

Graduate students pursuing careers in energy, policy, science and environmental matters are being encouraged to submit applications for Technology and Policy Tools for Energy in an Uncertain World, a week-long summer institute at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. The program will take place Aug. 7–12 and is open to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals.

Twenty students will be selected to participate. Applications are due by Mar. 15 (see http://www.sandia.gov/summer_institute for details and the online application).

Participating students will collaborate in small teams, working side-by-side with leading Sandia scientists and researchers at the lab’s world-renowned Combustion Research Facility (CRF) and other cutting edge Sandia facilities.

“A summer institute for graduate students is one of many ideas we are pursuing to increase awareness and collaboration with our staff,” said Bob Carling, director of Sandia’s Transportation Energy Center. Carling says Sandia/California has an ongoing interest in exposing a variety of outside scientists and engineers – including students – to the lab and its new open access.

Carling said he hopes the experience will help persuade participating students to consider Sandia as a future place of full-time employment. “We also hope they will spread the word back at their home institutions of the importance of the work we do at Sandia and the high quality of our staff and facilities,” he said.

Students will select from the following technical focus areas:

• Uncertainty Quantification in Predictive Simulation – Focus on Chemical Systems – Participants will work on the development and testing of uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods for chemical systems of relevance in combustion. The work will involve algorithmic research on Bayesian inference and Polynomial Chaos UQ methods.
• Measurement Uncertainty with Imaging Detectors – Focus on Optical Engine Diagnostics – Students will explore uncertainty in measurement of in-cylinder soot using 2-color optical pyrometry imaging in a heavy-duty optical engine. In addition, they will run the optical engine and intensified cameras and develop Matlab scripts for soot temperature and volume fraction imaging.
• Measurement of Uncertainty in Biological systems – Focus on Biomass-to-Biofuels processes – Students will explore variability and uncertainty in the various steps for biomass-to-biofuels conversion. Participants will develop biochemical assays and measure the conversion of biomass to fermentable sugars. They will then consider how the variability of sugar production impacts biofuels economics.
• Managing Uncertainty in Policy Decisions – Focus on Electric Vehicle Adoption Drivers – Participants will develop computer models for consumer adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Students will then use these models to explore key technology and policy drivers of vehicle adoption and sensitivity of their results to underlying uncertainties.

Institute participants will be provided housing at a Livermore suites hotel located near Sandia. Transportation and meals will also be provided.

Sustainability is one of the fastest growing areas of concentration in business and education.  The reason is that sustainability is a very diverse and multi-disciplinary field encompassing everything from renewable energy and environmental science to business and finance. 

According to Columbia University, “ range of sectors have a growing demand for sustainability professionals and many lawyers, engineers, marketers, communications professionals, policymakers and scientists have some form of sustainability responsibility in their position”, and they have developed the new M.S. in Sustainability Management program to address the need to formally train and educate these sustainability practitioners.

The M.S. in Sustainability Management is co-sponsored by The Earth Institute and the School of Continuing Education. It includes new and existing courses at the University, taught by faculty and researchers who are leaders in the fields of earth science, engineering and environmental management. The program utilizes environmental and sustainable development research to provide practical training to a new generation of professionals who will address critical interdisciplinary issues.

The M.S. in Sustainability Management  is based upon years of experience in bridging research and practice. In response to the increasing global challenges all organizations face, from limiting their carbon emissions to managing their water resources, the program melds academic leadership, scientific rigor, and professional practice to form a unique interdisciplinary community dedicated to making lasting advances in global sustainability practice.

The program takes a bold and innovative approach to sustainability that prioritizes the protection of Earth’s systems and resources as well as the spread of social and economic opportunities for all people. To achieve sustainable development, the Earth Institute is conducting and applying interdisciplinary scientific research to address many cross-cutting issues while training a new generation of problem solvers to tackle these issues in all areas of society. Finding solutions to one problem, involves tackling other related challenges. This is at the core of sustainability management. This new generation of problem solvers need to be able to appreciate complex systems of water, environmental services, climate, waste and energy to be able to maximize efficient usage and minimize their negative impacts.

Currently, The Earth Institute is affiliated with 30 academic programs at Columbia University, and has developed numerous innovative courses training students to understand and address the pressing and complex issues of environment and sustainability management, and provides seminars and events in the field. Students enrolled in the M.S. in Sustainability Management are an integral part of this engaging and forward-looking community.

For more information on the program, click here.

Vermont Law School (VLS) today releases its inaugural Top 10 Environmental Watch List spotlighting the nation’s most critical environmental law and policy issues of 2010 and how they may play out in 2011.  Below is the Top 10 list, which is produced by the nation’s top-ranked environmental law school. The full report is available at http://watchlist.vermontlaw.edu/. The report evaluates 10 judicial, regulatory, legislative and other actions that significantly affect humans and the natural world.

“We can continue our short-sighted addiction to fossil fuels or we can adopt innovative, healthier, more sustainable practices,” said VLS Dean Jeff Shields. “The Environmental Watch List will help improve public understanding of how to use the law to take action on the critical issues of our time.”

1. Congressional failure to enact climate change legislation: Professor Gus Speth, a pioneer of the environmental movement, explores what went wrong and whether the EPA and state and local lawmakers will step forward in 2011.

2. The nation’s worst oil spill: Associate Professor Betsy Baker, an expert in the law of the sea, examines the legal and policy fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

3. First U.S. greenhouse gas rules: Professor Pat Parenteau, whose expertise includes climate change, looks at whether the EPA’s efforts to restrict global warming pollutants will survive judicial and political challenges.

4. Climate change in the courts: Associate Professor Martha Judy, an expert in environmental liability, delves into a Supreme Court case that would allow public nuisance lawsuits against major air polluters.

5. California’s climate law dodges a bullet: Professor John Echeverria, whose expertise includes climate change, looks at what’s next for the Golden State’s landmark anti-global warming law that survived a challenge at the ballot box.

6. EPA clamps down on mountaintop removal coal mining: Professor Mark Latham, an expert in environmental enforcement and regulation, examines the EPA’s crackdown on the coal industry’s practice of tearing off mountain peaks.

7. Wind and solar projects make breakthroughs: Assistant Professor Don Kreis, an expert in energy efficiency, law and regulation, examines plans for the nation’s first offshore wind projects and the largest solar energy projects on public lands.

8. Supreme Court reviews genetically modified crops: Professor Jason Czarnezki, whose expertise includes food law and agricultural policy, scrutinizes the Supreme Court’s first ruling on so-called Frankenfoods.

9. EPA’s water transfer exemption remains in force: Assistant Professor Laura Murphy, an expert in the Clean Water Act, explores the conflict over transferring polluted water from one water body to another.

10. U.S. military going green: Professor Stephen Dycus, an expert in national security law and environmental law, delves into the Pentagon’s efforts to use more renewable energy and decrease its reliance on fossil fuels.

Bonus—The Accidental Environmentalist: Professor John Echeverria, whose expertise includes Constitutional law, reflects on the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

ABOUT VERMONT LAW SCHOOL

Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, has the top-ranked environmental law program and one of the top-ranked clinical training programs in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy degree and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu.  

UNCF (the United Negro College Fund), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, today announced that its Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) has awarded 23 green planning grants totaling $240,000 to assist with institutional sustainability planning for minority serving institutions (MSIs). Additionally, this grant will encourage MSIs to participate in the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a high-visibility effort which works to accelerate progress toward climate neutrality and sustainability by empowering the higher education sector to educate students, create solutions, and provide leadership-by-example for the rest of society. 

Working in partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and Second Nature, the UNCF program seeks to ensure that future campus construction is certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, an internationally recognized green building certification system.  The UNCF project, known as the Building Green at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) Initiative was funded last November by a $1.8 million grant from The Kresge Foundation.

“HBCUs and minority serving institutions understand the significance of climate change and environmental sustainability,” said Michael L. Lomax, UNCF President and CEO.  “We are working to build green and adopt energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable practices as quickly as possible.  One of the most significant benefits of The UNCF Building Green Initiative is that it works to build the knowledge and capacity of minority-serving institutions to create sustainable campus infrastructures.”

In addition to the planning grants, the UNCF program offers training, technical support, networking activities and resources for minority-serving colleges and universities committed to going green.  Grant recipients will establish campus climate action plans, sustainability committees, and take at least two tangible steps toward reducing campus carbon emissions.  The colleges will share accomplishments and best practices during the National Building Green Learning Institute to be held in Atlanta, April 7-9 2011.  

Grant recipients also participated in a baseline pilot sustainability survey of 101 minority-serving institutions.  UNCF will release the first MSI Sustainability Report this month and individual results will be available online at www.uncfbuildinggreen.info.  The survey includes a diverse institutional mix, including public and private, two-year and four-year, historically black, Hispanic-serving and Tribal institutions.  Initial results indicate that more than 90% of participating MSIs have campus recycling programs, but more than 80% currently have no LEED-certified buildings, and only one-third of the grant recipients have signed the ACUPCC. UNCF is working to address obstacles to sustainability and increase the number of signatories.

Green planning grant recipients include: Bennett College for Women, California State University Northridge, Clark-Atlanta University, College of Menomonee Nation, Delaware State University, Ecumenical Theological  Seminary, Elizabeth City State University, Harris-Stowe State University, Haskell College, Howard University, Jarvis Christian College, Kentucky State University, Lane College, Los Angeles Trade Technical,  Morehouse College, Shaw University, Spelman College, Stillman College, Tougaloo College, United Tribes Technical College, University of Texas San Antonio, Voorhees College,  and Wilberforce University.  

For more information on the UNCF Building Green Initiative contact Felicia Davis, Program Director, for the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building’s Facilities and Infrastructure Enhancement Program, at 404-302-8607 ext. 8531 or via email:  felicia.davis@uncf.org.

The UNCF Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) was established in May 2006 to support strengthening the capacity of the 39 UNCF member private historically black colleges and universities in the areas of fundraising, enrollment and retention, academic programming and faculty development, financial management, campus facilities and executive leadership and governance.  

About UNCF

UNCF—the United Negro College Fund—is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization.  To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students’ education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 39 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education.  UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 21 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”® Learn more at www.UNCF.org

SOURCE United Negro College Fund