IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1438-d489700.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experiential Graduate Course Prepares Transdisciplinary Future Leaders to Innovate at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus

Author

Listed:
  • Rianna Teresa Murray

    (Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Gili Marbach-Ad

    (College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Kelsey McKee

    (Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, College of Education, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Amy Rebecca Sapkota

    (Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

Abstract

Food, energy and water (FEW) systems are critically stressed worldwide. These challenges require transformative science, engineering and policy solutions. However, cross-cutting solutions can only arise through transdisciplinary training of our future science and policy leaders. The University of Maryland Global STEWARDS National Science Foundation Research Traineeship seeks to meet these needs. This study assessed a foundational component of the program: a novel, experiential course focused on transdisciplinary training and communication skills. We drew on data from the first two offerings of the course and utilized a mixed-method, multi-informant evaluation that included validated pre–post surveys, individual interviews and focus groups. Paired Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon tests were used to compare pre- and post-means. After the course, students reported improvements in their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses of multiple FEW nexus disciplines; articulate interplays between FEW systems at multiple scales; explain to peers the most important aspects of their research; and collaborate with scientists outside their field. Students also reported improvements in their oral and written communication skills, along with their ability to critically review others’ work. Our findings demonstrate that this graduate course can serve as an effective model to develop transdisciplinary researchers and communicators through cutting edge, experiential curricular approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Rianna Teresa Murray & Gili Marbach-Ad & Kelsey McKee & Amy Rebecca Sapkota, 2021. "Experiential Graduate Course Prepares Transdisciplinary Future Leaders to Innovate at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1438-:d:489700
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1438/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1438/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rhoten, Diana & Pfirman, Stephanie, 2007. "Women in interdisciplinary science: Exploring preferences and consequences," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 56-75, February.
    2. Unknown, 2016. "Water Energy and Food Security Nexus," Conference Proceedings 253272, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies (IDSAsr).
    3. Bazilian, Morgan & Rogner, Holger & Howells, Mark & Hermann, Sebastian & Arent, Douglas & Gielen, Dolf & Steduto, Pasquale & Mueller, Alexander & Komor, Paul & Tol, Richard S.J. & Yumkella, Kandeh K., 2011. "Considering the energy, water and food nexus: Towards an integrated modelling approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7896-7906.
    4. Valeria De Laurentiis & Dexter V.L. Hunt & Christopher D.F. Rogers, 2016. "Overcoming Food Security Challenges within an Energy/Water/Food Nexus (EWFN) Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Wichelns, Dennis, 2017. "The water-energy-food nexus: Is the increasing attention warranted, from either a research or policy perspective?," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 113-123.
    6. Mark Howells & H-Holger Rogner, 2014. "Assessing integrated systems," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(4), pages 246-247, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. White, David J. & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Sun, Laixiang & Meng, Bo, 2018. "The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in East Asia: A tele-connected value chain analysis using inter-regional input-output analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 550-567.
    2. Cássia Juliana Fernandes Torres & Camilla Hellen Peixoto de Lima & Bárbara Suzart de Almeida Goodwin & Terencio Rebello de Aguiar Junior & Andrea Sousa Fontes & Daniel Veras Ribeiro & Rodrigo Saldanha, 2019. "A Literature Review to Propose a Systematic Procedure to Develop “Nexus Thinking” Considering the Water–Energy–Food Nexus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-32, December.
    3. Joel O. Botai & Christina M. Botai & Katlego P. Ncongwane & Sylvester Mpandeli & Luxon Nhamo & Muthoni Masinde & Abiodun M. Adeola & Michael G. Mengistu & Henerica Tazvinga & Miriam D. Murambadoro & S, 2021. "A Review of the Water–Energy–Food Nexus Research in Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-26, February.
    4. Simpson, Gareth & Jewitt, Graham & Becker, William & Badenhorst, Jessica & Neves, Ana & Rovira, Pere & Pascual, Victor, 2020. "The Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index: A Tool for Integrated Resource Management and Sustainable Development," OSF Preprints tdhw5, Center for Open Science.
    5. Pitak Ngammuangtueng & Napat Jakrawatana & Pariyapat Nilsalab & Shabbir H. Gheewala, 2019. "Water, Energy and Food Nexus in Rice Production in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-21, October.
    6. Reidar Staupe-Delgado, 2020. "The water–energy–food–environmental security nexus: moving the debate forward," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6131-6147, October.
    7. Ahmad Hamidov & Katharina Helming, 2020. "Sustainability Considerations in Water–Energy–Food Nexus Research in Irrigated Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, August.
    8. Gengyuan Liu & Asim Nawab & Fanxin Meng & Aamir Mehmood Shah & Xiaoya Deng & Yan Hao & Biagio F. Giannetti & Feni Agostinho & Cecília M. V. B. Almeida & Marco Casazza, 2021. "Understanding the Sustainability of the Energy–Water–Land Flow Nexus in Transnational Trade of the Belt and Road Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, October.
    9. Adenike K. Opejin & Rimjhim M. Aggarwal & Dave D. White & J. Leah Jones & Ross Maciejewski & Giuseppe Mascaro & Hessam S. Sarjoughian, 2020. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Food-Energy-Water Nexus Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Li, Mo & Li, Haiyan & Fu, Qiang & Liu, Dong & Yu, Lei & Li, Tianxiao, 2021. "Approach for optimizing the water-land-food-energy nexus in agroforestry systems under climate change," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    11. Ingrid Boas & Frank Biermann & Norichika Kanie, 2016. "Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 449-464, June.
    12. Dai, Jiangyu & Wu, Shiqiang & Han, Guoyi & Weinberg, Josh & Xie, Xinghua & Wu, Xiufeng & Song, Xingqiang & Jia, Benyou & Xue, Wanyun & Yang, Qianqian, 2018. "Water-energy nexus: A review of methods and tools for macro-assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 393-408.
    13. Märker, Carolin & Venghaus, Sandra & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2018. "Integrated governance for the food–energy–water nexus – The scope of action for institutional change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 290-300.
    14. Najam uz Zehra Gardezi & Brent S. Steel & Angela Lavado, 2020. "The Impact of Efficacy, Values, and Knowledge on Public Preferences Concerning Food–Water–Energy Policy Tradeoffs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Dexter V. L. Hunt & Zeerak Shahab, 2021. "Sustainable Water Use Practices: Understanding and Awareness of Masters Level Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-29, September.
    16. Khan, Zarrar & Linares, Pedro & García-González, Javier, 2017. "Integrating water and energy models for policy driven applications. A review of contemporary work and recommendations for future developments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1123-1138.
    17. Chrysaida-Aliki Papadopoulou & Maria P. Papadopoulou & Chrysi Laspidou & Stefania Munaretto & Floor Brouwer, 2020. "Towards a Low-Carbon Economy: A Nexus-Oriented Policy Coherence Analysis in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, January.
    18. Zhang, Tong & Tan, Qian & Yu, Xiaoning & Zhang, Shan, 2020. "Synergy assessment and optimization for water-energy-food nexus: Modeling and application," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Ding, Tao & Liang, Liang & Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Min & Wei, Yuqi, 2020. "Water-energy nexus: The origin, development and prospect," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 419(C).
    20. Gianluca Brunori & Francesca Galli, 2016. "Sustainability of Local and Global Food Chains: Introduction to the Special Issue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-7, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1438-:d:489700. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.