Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In the digital social-media era, adolescents in urban areas typically have limited experiences and connections with nature and the environment which has been termed "nature deficit disorder" (Frey and Parent 2019; Cudworth and Lumber 2021). Frey and Parent (2019) feel this is one of the factors that has contributed to the decline of enrollment of students in natural resource fields such as forestry. Furthermore, there is growing concern that of the students going into different academic fields, there is limited gender and ethnic diversity in natural resource disciplines such as forestry (Sample et al. 2015) compared to peer disciplines such as biology which typically have higher diversity. There is limited ethnic and gender diversity of students in forestry program at West Virginia University (WVU) which constrain the ability to develop a diverse workforce in West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region.The main objective of the proposed project is to promote the education of a Master's graduate student, multiple undergraduate students, and numerous high school students in climate-smart forestry practices in urban forests. Specific objectives include:a) Conduct graduate programs to attract highly promising individuals to research or teaching careers in the food and agricultural sciences;b) Conduct undergraduate research, teaching, and scholarship programs to promote undergraduate enrollment and meet national and international needs for training food and agricultural sciences scientists and professionals; andc) Increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences.The broader impacts of this proposed project are manifold. These types of education activities provided through this grant will help not only with combatting nature deficit disorder, but it will also serve as an investment towards the long-term, future recruitment of students in natural resources fields, in particular forestry and urban forestry. Indeed, many of our current students come from rural areas and they do not realize the career opportunities available in urbanized areas (Dahle et al. 2020). The graduate student and the undergraduate students will develop leadership skills while preparing and delivering the summer camp. The high school students will be introduced to the natural world in their local urbanized area. In addition, the high school students will learn about climate-smart forestry practices and be introduced to urban forestry career opportunities including those with Washington DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Casey Trees.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The main objective of the proposed project is to promote the education of a Master's graduate student, multiple undergraduate students, and numerous high school students in climate-smart forestry practices in urban forests. Specific objectives include:a) Conduct graduate programs to attract highly promising individuals to research or teaching careers in the food and agricultural sciences;b) Conduct undergraduate research, teaching, and scholarship programs to promote undergraduate enrollment and meet national and international needs for training food and agricultural sciences scientists and professionals; andc) Increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in the food and agricultural sciences.
Project Methods
The methods will include:Project startsBegin recruitment of Master's graduate student.Graduate student begins Spring semester of study who will focus on literature reviews for research and assisting with preparation for summer camp; by the end of this semester the Master's student will have complete a draft of their first chapter of their thesis which is the literature review.Begin recruitment and interviews of undergraduate student ambassador; Preparation and circulation of pamphlet to high school students in Washington DC areaSelection of undergraduate student ambassador and 10 high school participantsMaster's student and undergraduate student conduct initial trip to identify research sites and install growth and microclimatic dataloggers.Delivery of Yearly Educational summer camp for high school students over a 5-day periodMaster's student and undergraduate student carry out inventory and sampling of urban sites for their respective projectsOffer scholarships to 2 of the high school students to attend WVU's forestry programUndergraduate student completes independent study report.Master's student and undergraduate student download data from growth and microclimatic dataloggers, and process samples collected.Master's student performs data analysis on collected data.Master's student attends academic research conference to present study findings.