2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engagement in Practice: Lessons Learned from Using COAST to Teach Environmental Modeling

Presented at Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation in STEM

Previously, we reported details of pedagogy as well as student feedback on a course to teach systems modeling to environmental engineers. As part of this existing modeling course, a module was developed leveraging a research project that employed community-engaged design to create the world’s first parametric insurance product protecting the livelihoods and food security of artisanal, small-, and medium-scale fishers in the Caribbean. In this article, we report details of the content of the module as well as assessments of student learning and feedback from students with regard to the value of the module to introduce concepts of community-engaged design. In particular, these results are discussed in the broader context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically the five Ps – partnerships, peace, people, prosperity, and planet.

Authors

Dr. Daniel B Oerther P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6724-3205 Missouri University of Science and Technology [biography]

Professor Daniel B. Oerther, PhD, PE joined the faculty of the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2010 as the John A. and Susan Mathes Chair of Civil Engineering after serving for ten years on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati where he was head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Professor Oerther is internationally recognized for leadership of engineers, sanitarians, and nurses promoting the practice the sustainable development, local to global. Dan is a Past President of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Sanitarians. Dan is a Fellow of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, the American Academy of Nursing, and the National League for Nursing. In the United Kingdom, he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Royal Society for Public Health, and the Society of Operations Engineers. Professor Oerther's awards as an educator include the Excellence in Environmental Engineering Education Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, the Gordon Maskew Fair Distinguished Engineering Educator Medal from the Water Environment Federation, the Engineering Education Excellence Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Robert G. Quinn Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.

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