2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Insights from a Five-Year National Science Foundation Research Traineeship at our University: Program Description, Evaluation, Outcomes, and Lessons Learned

Presented at Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 6: Programs in Graduate Education

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program at Kansas State University is dedicated to enhancing graduate STEM education through a comprehensive traineeship model that integrates an applied curriculum, interdisciplinary research, professional skills development, and mentoring. The NRT at our university has prepared graduate students in STEM, both master’s and doctoral students, to solve the grand challenges in the Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) nexus in rural communities by investigating engineering and socioeconomic innovations to conserve water, create renewable energy, and help rural communities thrive. Since 2018, the NRT at our university has trained 40 diverse, culturally competent STEM leaders to do interdisciplinary work, and understand their potential vocational pathways, including government, academia, and industry.

The NRT program at our university includes educational and experiential components. These components are field experiences, policy experiences at the state capital, applied course work, interdisciplinary research, faculty and peer mentoring, professional development, and periodic assessment of these components. The NRT organized three courses: a one-credit hour cross-listed course called Integrated FEW Systems, a two-credit hour cross-listed NRT Capstone, and a 0-credit NRT Seminar. In the Integrated FEW Systems course, students were introduced to systems thinking, with specific application to the FEW nexus in South West Kansas. The NRT Capstone is a project-based course that builds on knowledge students developed through the Integrated FEW Systems course. For their Capstone research, students worked in interdisciplinary teams to write a report, conference paper, or journal paper. The NRT Seminar consists of training sessions related to inclusion, career pathways, across campus resources, professional development, science communication, and exposure to FEW research initiatives.

This paper will detail the graduate-level NRT traineeship educational and experiential components at our university including program description, summative evaluation, outcomes, and insights gained from our four NRT cohorts. Evaluation findings show that the NRT at our university is an inclusive, supportive, applied curriculum that enabled 40 graduate students to train as interdisciplinary thinkers and produce innovative interdisciplinary research. This paper may also be a guide to current and future NRT programs to help them pursue elements of the traineeship that are most effective.

Authors

Mirit Shamir Kansas State University [biography]

Mirit Shamir is the Academic Services Coordinator for the Rural Resource Resiliency NSF Research Traineeship housed in the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Kansas State University.
Jonathan Aguilar Kansas State University
Dr. Rebecca Cors University of Wisconsin, Madison [biography]

Rebecca Cors is a social scientist and evaluator at WCER who studies how people learn about, and co-exist with, science and nature. She is fascinated with how people and organizations learn and develop in ways that enable them to thrive. Rebecca’s career began in environmental education and outreach at places like the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and at a university in China, where her primary assignment as a Peace Corps Volunteer was environmental education. In 2009, she went on to work with the Institute of Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich and, then, to earn her PhD at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, studying out-of-classroom science education. In 2017, she joined the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative, where she continues to support education programs through research and evaluation. She has published and presented research about out-of-school learning, science and nature education, and about collaborations to promote natural resources management. In addition, Rebecca is a Wisconsin Master Naturalist, and enjoys hiking, reading, connecting with others, and learning languages.
Dr. Ryan Robert Hansen Kansas State University [biography]

Dr. Hansen is an associate professor in the Tim Taylor Department of Chemical Engineering at Kansas State University.
Nathan P. Hendricks Kansas State University
Gaea A. Hock
Dr. Stacy L. Hutchinson Kansas State University
Prathap Parameswaran Kansas State University [biography]

Prathap Parameswaran is currently an Associate Professor and the Fornelli Engineering professorship holder at the Civil Engineering department, Kansas State University. Parameswaran’s research interests pertain to all aspects of biological wastewater treatment and sustainable resource recovery from wastes using novel environmental biotechnology platforms. He is an international expert in the implementation and long term operation of Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) and currently operates a pilot scale system at K-State’s north agronomy farm to treat swine lagoon wastewater, with efforts currently supported by the DoE’s IEDO office. His research interests also include: anaerobic digestion, pretreatment technologies for bioprocessing of wastes and biomass, microbial electrochemical cells for valuable products generation (electric power, hydrogen gas and advanced oxidation products such as hydrogen peroxide), downstream resource capture from photosynthetic microalgae through novel environmental biotechnology for a sustainable and green biorefinery. Dr. Parameswaran also has active research grants through the NSF and industry partners.
Prathap Parameswaran is currently an Associate Professor and the Fornelli Engineering professorship holder at the Civil Engineering department, Kansas State University. Parameswaran’s research interests pertain to all aspects of biological wastewater treatment and sustainable resource recovery from wastes using novel environmental biotechnology platforms. He is an international expert in the implementation and long term operation of Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) and currently operates a pilot scale system at K-State’s north agronomy farm to treat swine lagoon wastewater, with efforts currently supported by the DoE’s IEDO office. His research interests also include: anaerobic digestion, pretreatment technologies for bioprocessing of wastes and biomass, microbial electrochemical cells for valuable products generation (electric power, hydrogen gas and advanced oxidation products such as hydrogen peroxide), downstream resource capture from photosynthetic microalgae through novel environmental biotechnology for a sustainable and green biorefinery. Dr. Parameswaran also has active research grants through the NSF and industry partners.
Prof. Matthew R. Sanderson [biography]

Matthew R. Sanderson is the Randall C. Hill Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work and Professor of Geography and Geospatial Sciences at Kansas State University. Currently, he is working on several projects that examine co-evo
Dr. Melanie Derby Kansas State University

Download paper (2.25 MB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session