A rapidly increasing world population, over consumption of resources, and contamination of the environment in which we live are jeopardizing the ability of future generations to have the same quality of life that we enjoy. A proposed Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (
IGERT) initiative involving Michigan Technological University and Southern University at Baton Rouge addresses this concern by establishing a multidisciplinary, inter-institutional doctoral education program directed at Achieving Environmental, Industrial, and Societal Sustainability via the Sustainable Futures Model.
The mission of the Sustainable Futures
IGERT is to educate/train and involve graduate students in the development of knowledge, methods, and tools that promote and enable sustainability in terms of society, environment, and industrial activity. Trained doctoral students and research products produced by the
IGERT will serve as catalysts for achieving environmental, industrial, and societal sustainability, and institutionalizing sustainability as a performance measure in industry and government.
Intellectual Merit. The institutions will collaboratively complement the strengths of each other to instill in each
IGERT trainee the multidisciplinary awareness to formulate valid engineering decisions and public policy opinions toward cohesive and sustainable environmental, industrial, and societal futures. This meta-disciplinary development approach will advance the knowledge and understanding of Sustainable Futures (directed at achieving the triple bottom line) with faculty and students participating in an innovative program to educate and train the individual to research, understand, and communicate new technology and new policy. Participants at Michigan Tech and Southern University have demonstrated continuous commitment to accomplishing these goals in their research efforts and educational experiences.
Broader Impact. Key features of the program will promote the integration of research, training, and education of
IGERT trainees toward the discovery, formulation, and the social diffusion of information through effective research, dissemination, and societal institutionalization (K-gray) of the Sustainable Futures Model. This will be accomplished through collaborative coursework, meetings, and interactive research between the two campuses. International experiences and an internship program will offer
IGERT trainees practical and diverse approaches and methodologies to facilitate knowledge growth, put into practice, and information transfer to the larger society. The program will foster a commitment to diversity by insuring that at least one third of the participating students are from underrepresented groups including women, students of color from Southern University as well as the Mid-western states that Michigan Tech traditionally serves. In addition, an aggressive plan will focus on attracting Native American representation from local and regional Indian Reservations near Michigan Tech.
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