Developing Cohort Challenges: An Innovative Program for Training Graduate Students to Work in Transdisciplinary Teams

Anna-Maria Marshall; Luis Rodriguez; Jill Heemstra; John Classen; Erin Cortus; Jacek Koziel; Deanne Meyer; Anand Padmanabhan; Samuel Reed; Benjamin Ruddell; Riveraine Walters

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Graduate Studies Division Technical Session 2
Page Count: 34
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41190
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41190
Download Count: 408

Paper Authors

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Anna-Maria Marshall University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Anna-Maria Marshall is an associate professor of Sociology and Law at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is a co-PI on the NSF-funded INFEWS-ER Virtual Resource Center supporting transdisciplinary graduate education in food-energy-water systems; a co-PI in the EngageINFEWS RCN on research on community and stakeholder engagement; and a co-PI in the Science and Technology Center, Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS).

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Jacek Koziel is serving as a Professor at Iowa State University, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. He leads and collaborates on multidisciplinary projects on the nexus of agriculture and the environment. His team develops and tests strategies to enhance the efficiency of livestock production systems and reduce the environmental impacts of animal production. Dr. Koziel received M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology in 1989 and M.S. in Environmental Quality Engineering from the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Janusz Pawliszyn's team at the University of Waterloo (Chemistry) in Canada. His first faculty job was with Texas A&M University Research and Extension, where he practiced engineering and analytical chemistry research at large beef cattle feedlots and swine farms. He enjoys transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research and teaching, communicating science, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, team-based learning, peer-reviewing, editorship service at Biosystems Engineering, IJERPH, Atmosphere, and AgriEngineering, publishing on the nexus of Food-Energy-Water.

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Deanne Meyer

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Anand Padmanabhan University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

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Samuel Reed University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

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Benjamin Ruddell

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Riveraine Walters

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Riveraine Walters (they/she) is an interdisciplinary socionatural specialist with graduate degrees in social science, engineering, and religious studies. She is particularly interested in pluralistic ways of knowing, especially based on non-Western worldviews (i.e., Indigenous and Buddhist) that are alternative lenses for conceptualizing adaptation to complex socionatural challenges. Riveraine also applies a transecology lens to explore enclosure, boundaries and nature as bodies; binary/dualistic thinking; and the patriarchal, heteronormative, technocratic and anthropocentric institutions that continue to govern and manage natural resources. Their current work is related to Western Buddhist ecoministry and how the concept of "no-self" is considered for environmental behavior/decision-making, climate anxiety, eco-grief, and environmental despair.

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Abstract

“Wicked problems” in science and engineering demand transdisciplinary approaches drawing on multiple disciplines and perspectives, yet we continue to conduct graduate training largely within the confines of a single discipline. The INFEWS-ER is an NSF-funded virtual resource center designed to provide transdisciplinary graduate education to students working on problems at the intersection of food-energy-water systems. Relying on a conceptual framework that identifies several competencies -- the skills, knowledge, and pedagogical methods that are vital for successful transdisciplinary teamwork -- we designed an approach that capitalizes on faculty expertise, student interests, and teamwork.

In this paper, we offer a model of an innovative approach to training graduate students -- Cohort Challenges offered by the INFEWS-ER. Specifically, we describe the fundamental elements that each Cohort Challenge shared: a broad theme related to a wicked problem that gives graduate students the flexibility and independence to formulate their own research questions and design their own projects; training in competencies for conducting transdisciplinary research; mentorship from faculty and peer experts outside their departments and outside their disciplines; and collaborative learning in a virtual environment. We also focus on important dimensions of the process of conducting a Cohort Challenge, including intentional team-building practices that foster trust and accountability among participants; meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the research process, from design to sharing final products; and learning to communicate about science across varied audiences. We also describe some of the final projects the Challenges produced, including journal articles, conference presentations, and social media campaigns, all outside of the students’ more traditional course of study. We conclude by offering several final observations about the opportunities and obstacles to successful Cohort Challenges, as well as our future plans to support others who want to design and deliver this mode of graduate education.

Citation
Format

Marshall, A., & Rodriguez, L., & Heemstra, J., & Classen, J., & Cortus, E., & Koziel, J., & Meyer, D., & Padmanabhan, A., & Reed, S., & Ruddell, B., & Walters, R. (2022, August), Developing Cohort Challenges: An Innovative Program for Training Graduate Students to Work in Transdisciplinary Teams Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41190

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - “Wicked problems” in science and engineering demand transdisciplinary approaches drawing on multiple disciplines and perspectives, yet we continue to conduct graduate training largely within the confines of a single discipline. The INFEWS-ER is an NSF-funded virtual resource center designed to provide transdisciplinary graduate education to students working on problems at the intersection of food-energy-water systems. Relying on a conceptual framework that identifies several competencies -- the skills, knowledge, and pedagogical methods that are vital for successful transdisciplinary teamwork -- we designed an approach that capitalizes on faculty expertise, student interests, and teamwork.

In this paper, we offer a model of an innovative approach to training graduate students -- Cohort Challenges offered by the INFEWS-ER. Specifically, we describe the fundamental elements that each Cohort Challenge shared: a broad theme related to a wicked problem that gives graduate students the flexibility and independence to formulate their own research questions and design their own projects; training in competencies for conducting transdisciplinary research; mentorship from faculty and peer experts outside their departments and outside their disciplines; and collaborative learning in a virtual environment. We also focus on important dimensions of the process of conducting a Cohort Challenge, including intentional team-building practices that foster trust and accountability among participants; meaningful stakeholder engagement throughout the research process, from design to sharing final products; and learning to communicate about science across varied audiences. We also describe some of the final projects the Challenges produced, including journal articles, conference presentations, and social media campaigns, all outside of the students’ more traditional course of study. We conclude by offering several final observations about the opportunities and obstacles to successful Cohort Challenges, as well as our future plans to support others who want to design and deliver this mode of graduate education.

AU  - Anna-Maria Marshall
AU  - Luis Rodriguez
AU  - Jill Heemstra
AU  - John Classen
AU  - Erin Cortus
AU  - Jacek Koziel
AU  - Deanne Meyer
AU  - Anand Padmanabhan
AU  - Samuel Reed
AU  - Benjamin Ruddell
AU  - Riveraine Walters
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Developing Cohort Challenges: An Innovative Program for Training Graduate Students to Work in Transdisciplinary Teams
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41190
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41190
ER  -