NSF Futures Engine Fellows Student Success Conference

Preparing for the Future with the NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest Fellowship

Presentation Created By: Cassidy Adlof Futures Fellowship Lead

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About NSF Futures

What is the NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest?

• The NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest, led by Arizona State University and spanning three states (Utah, Nevada, and Arizona) aims to elevate the Southwest as a regional hub of economic development catalyzed by deep-tech innovation.
• It focuses on providing integrated, systems-level approach to sustainability innovation.
• It addresses upcoming workforce concerns such as water security, energy access, air quality, and critical technologies.

Visit the NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest Homepage

About NSF Futures Fellowship

What is the NSF Futures Engine in the Southwest Fellowship?

• The Futures Engine in the Southwest Fellowship brought together 20 instructors across 16 different disciplines to develop open resource curriculum that incorporates sustainability concepts into their fields.
• These instructors engaged in a full day training program on the sustainability goals, how they relate to instruction, and how to incorporate them into interdisciplinary fields.

• Preliminary feedback from instructors has been positive, with students connecting better with the material as a whole and feeling a sense of community stewardship.

So How Does that Help Students?

Integrative inquiry

Application

Reflection

It's a form of integrative learning.

• Integrative learning is the method and practice of incorporating cross-disciplinary thinking into curriculum to teach students how to see connections, make sense of complexity, and practice applying curriculum to novel challenges.
• It connects course concepts to real world career and community needs.
• Supports teaching how to think, preparing students to be life-long learners and adapt to novel career technology or challenges.

But Why Sustainability?

A Core Part of Maricopa Community Colleges

• Since 2008 MCCCD has had a People-Planet-Profit policy to support students, faculty, and the community in accessing resources, technology, research, and education.
• Currently a focus area for partnerships in local communities.

Visit MCCCD's sustainability page to see current MCCCD initiatives across our colleges.

But Why Sustainability?

A Core Part of Building Communities

• Sustainability is a broad concept that touches upon every discipline and every career.
• Awareness of sustainability needs, technology, or challenges supports local industry challenges, especially in terms of resources like water security, temperature management, and energy resources.
• As our communities grow students will need skills to be able to resource-related challenges.
• Students care about their communities. Letting them apply concepts that directly relate to something that impacts them or those they care for builds stronger learning connections and lets them see the purpose of the theories and content they are seeing in class.

Incorporating Sustainability

Without adding a lot of work.

• Start with something small. A single lesson, case study, or module can make a big connection for students.
• Don't Panic! You don't have to know it all.
• Use resources that are available to help you.
• "Building Sustainability Across the Curriculum" MOD Pressbook
• The members of the Futures Fellowship created comprehensive lesson plans of varying lengths and specialization.
• These lesson plans are being built as an open educational resource in MOD Pressbook.

Futures Fellows OER MOD Pressbook

"Building Sustainability Across the Curriculum"

• Available starting early spring.
• Projects varied across disciplines and ranged between semester-long to single assignment projects.
• Projects can be modified to support other courses or used as is.

• The next slides will provide summaries of the curriculum projects that will be available in the Pressbook.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: Anthropology

• "Each One Teach One about Land Relationships"
• L. Villa, Cultural Anthropology
• Engaged students in contemporary ideas of sustainability through a student choice research project associated with land stewardship.
• "EcoCast Tracker: Using AI and community-based science to investigate human impact and urban disparities in Arizona."
• M. Basham, Anthropology
• Used modern seed banks as a way of exploring biocultural identifiers and traditional knowledge systems for food sustainability in the southwest.

Projects Created By Fellows

Disciplines: Biology and Chemistry

• "Sustainable Ocean Ecosystems: Examining the Three Pillars of Sustainability in Marine Environments"
• C. Adlof, Biology
• A semester long project that has students construct a website to promote awareness of sustainability challenges and solutions in marine environments.
• "Connecting Chemistry (CHM107) to Sustainability"
• S. Korman, Chemistry
• Integrated fundamental chemistry concepts into real world environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, and green chemistry.

Projects Created By Fellows

Disciplines: Communication and Counciling

• “Envision a Sustainability Conversation You Wish You Could Have.”
• K. Szejda, PhD., Communication
• Developed a project associated with healthy communication around highly charged topics in sustainability.

• "Solarpunk Children’s Story Writing Project"
• R. Beckstrom-Sternberg, Reading and Counseling
• Students collaboratively wrote and illustrated a children’s books that imagines a hopeful, sustainable future in Phoenix, Arizona to inspire sustainable futures.

Projects Created By Fellows

Disciplines: English and Reading

• "Experience, Reflection, and Action: Using Research and Rhetoric to Advocate for Local SDG Action"
• M. Bloom, English
• Used an experiential task centralized around sustainable development goals to develop a persuasive artifact that advocates for local action in sustainable development.
• "We Will Miss It When It’s Gone: Water Sustainability in Practice"

• C. Carragher-Montano, Reading
• Identifying and improving systems thinking through the examination of water sustainability.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: First Year Experience (FYE)

• "The Habits of Sustainable Thinking"
• M. Allen
• Practice and develop healthy habit building using sustainable development goals as an objective of habit building.

Projects Created By Fellows

Disciplines: Engineering and Mathematics

• "Optimizing Solar Panel Orientation with Multivariable Calculus"
• J. Kahn, Mathematics
• Determined how to optimize solar panel movement and facing to capture the maximum amount of energy.
• "Exploring Renewable Energy Technologies and Storage Solutions"
• A. Yagub, PhD, Engineering
• Explored foundational engineering concepts through the study of renewable energy sources, related technologies, and the critical role of energy storage in sustainable systems.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: Computer Science

• "How Healthcare Organizations Can Leverage Opportunity Zones for SDOH Funding"

• M. Biesaida, Computer Information Systems
• Examining the relationship between healthcare organizations and the opportunity zones for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Funding.
• "Local Sustainability Proposal (Civics/Community Engagement)"
• D. Fair, Computer Technology
• Identifying current sustainability / environmental challenges in local industries and forming partnerships to reduce those challenges.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: Music

• "Water Sustainability Concert"
• Dr. J. Johnston, Music (Choir)
• A live concert that brought awareness to a centralized theme of community water awareness and struggles, focusing on pollution and droughts.
• "Virtual Sustainability Audits : An Introduction to Sustainable Practices in Live Music "
• A. Perdue, Music Industry Studies
• Virtual sustainability audits using current festivals, music artist tours and venues. Audit used in applying seeking to solve real-world problems in context using industry data analytics & case studies.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: Film

• "Creating a PSA on Addressing Sustainability in Your Community"
• J. Berg, Film and Media Production
• Students will each create a 60-second public service announcement (PSA) that focuses on how one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals can be addressed in their community using video, graphics, narration and music.

Projects Created By Fellows

Discipline: Psychology

• "Co-Analyzing Nudges: Open Pedagogy Approach to Energy Behavior"
• J. Moore
• Students enrolled in an online psychological statistics laboratory course will assume the role of psychologists-in-training. They will analyze datasets from simulated solar energy adoption campaigns to determine which behavioral modification strategies were most effective in motivating local residents to switch from traditional energy providers (such as SRP and APS) to solar energy.

Projects Created By Fellows

Disciplines: Philosophy and Sociology

• "Utilitarianism and Sustainability: Is a Utilitarian Committed to Maintaining Sustainability?"
• H. Ajami, Philosophy
• Examining the philosophical concept of utilitarianism in terms of whether it will maintain resources for future generations.
• Incorporating Sustainability goal in Soc101
• L. Chavez, Sociology
• Examine patterns in local and global sustainability challenges and finding practical solutions.

Other Resources

Resources that Helped the Fellows Develop Their Lessons

The resources linked here are external websites that helped members of the Futures Fellows integrate sustainability into their course.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

SDG Tracker: Our World in Data

Preparing for the Future with Futures

• There is high association that sustainability is doom-and-gloom environmental related events.
• This isn't true at all: It's making plans to for us and future generations to thrive.
• Sustainability is part of all disciplines and it's an essential concept for students to be exposed to in the context of their chosen subject area.

• Adding even one assignment helps students connect with course material, see purpose in the concepts in the course, and have the opportunity to apply it in context. The applied, community focused aspect of adding a sustainability assignment makes it a high -impact practice in classes.

Thank you for Joining! Stay in Touch.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Futures or the Futures Fellowship please feel free to reach out to me: Cassidy Adlof cassidy.adlof@cgc.edu