The goal of this REU project is to operate an interdisciplinary research-based think tank (i.e., Operation ETank) to engage undergraduates on perspectives of sustainability with individual expertise in environment, energy, economy, and ethics. To accomplish this goal, students spend eight weeks conducting research with scientists on environment and energy issues, participating in weekly seminars and collaborative activities where sustainability will be viewed through the lens of ethics and the economy, and being introduced to issues related to personal development as a research scientist. At the end of Operation ETank, students make poster presentations of their results to their peers and are expected to provide a draft of a manuscript that could be submitted to a refereed journal for review. The recruitment efforts are targeted toward students from underrepresented groups in science through partnerships with regional educational institutions. Expected outcomes from participation in Operation ETank include a greater understanding of the complexity associated with sustainability issues, an ability to initiate, complete and communicate results from a research project, and to collaborate with peers and scientists on various research-related activities.
Intellectual Merit: Students participating in Operation ETank get hands-on research experience with faculty mentors on complex research problems. Results from their efforts are expected to advance what is understood as it relates to environmental and energy sustainability. Individual projects are enhanced through collaborative experiences. Students are expected to investigate what they learn about other disciplines related to the research projects they undertake with faculty mentors.
Broader Impacts: A primary objective of Operation ETank is to prepare the next generation of interdisciplinary practitioners in the area of sustainability. Through research training and personal development student participants will be provided with the practical and intellectual tools to tackle pertinent issues and current problems from the holistic perspective of the 4 Es (energy, environment, ethics, and economy). Every student activity planned for the 8-week period is related to the identified outcomes (i.e., research design, effective written and oral communication, critical thinking, collaboration with others, etc.) associated with Operation ETank. Although student projects focus primarily on environmental and energy sustainability, other issues related to ethics and economy are integrated into the broader sustainability discussion. The goal is to introduce students to the use of basic research skills and tools that help prepare them for future scientific endeavors including graduate school. Having them develop an understanding that most scientific issues involve great complexity and results that are often uncertain greatly enhance their ability to communicate research results to a broader audience.
Sustainability, as it relates to environmental and energy issues, has become a dominant area of research concern over the last 30 years. Most sustainability issues are complex and interdisciplinary in nature, requiring broader educational training. The demand for new scientists, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, who can tackle these unique, and often complex, system research questions is exceeding supply. The research focus of the NIU REU site program, Operation ETank, was in areas of enegy and environment, with aspects of ethics and economy incorporated into broader problems and related to the broader issue of sustainability. The topics of sustainability, energy and the environment are at the forefront of research by NIU faculty members. Thus, students who participated in this REU program were mentored by faculty members having wide-ranging backgrounds in relevant research areas. Students participated in individually mentored research endeavors, but their overal learning experience included a number of opportunities to relate sustainability issues to their research projects. Faculty from two NIU colleges, Liberal Arts and Sciences and Engineering and Engineering Technology mentored these student projects. They used technical knowledge and teamwork to develop projects where students could complete various research activities in less than two months. Operation ETank provided an opportunity to combine knowledge development through interdisciplinary studies spanning STEM fields with an important focus on developing personal and scientific skills that helped these young men and women mature into young scientists. For Operation ETank a set of programmatic outcomes was established and intergrated into the program. Student outcomes included the ability to: 1) develop an independent reseach agenda with a clearly defined outcome, initiate and complete a focused research project consistent with the overall agenda (incorporating critical thinking and problem solving skills); 2) integrate interdisciplinary subject material (i.e., ethics, economy, and sustainability) into their research projects through collaborative efforts with other participants and the faculty team; 3) develop effective written and oral presentation skills through an intensive written and oral reporting structure (leading to the development of a final report and a poster for final presentation); 4) develop appreciation for the range of accepted practices and ethical values that guide the responsible conduct of scientific research; and 5) develop an awareness of the value of graduate training, and an appreciation of graduate potential. Through completion of the student learning outcomes, the undergraduate students who participated in Operation ETank developed a deeper understanding of the research endeavor and the abiltiy to articulate a clear path towards the completion of an independent research project, as well as presentation of the research findings. The three student cohorts (2012, 2013, and 2014) worked with a number of NIU faculty on a wide range of projects that examined environmental and sustainability issues. Although they absorded a great deal of information working on their group projects in the lab or out in the field, many of the broader environmental and sustainability issues were linked during various workshops and panel discussions. Thus, student learning occurred across a broad set of Operation ETank activities. Working on these projects have helped students apply and move forward with graduate education opportunities. Furthermore, results from these student research endeavors have been incorporated into future research activities (i.e., development of research grants) for NIU faculty.
