Collaborative Research: Challenging Anti-Black-Racism in Civil and Environmental Engineering Curriculum

This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing STEM education practices to improve civil and environmental engineering curriculum for students working with communities on the equitable development of critical infrastructure. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established 50-years ago to ensure that all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn, and work.

However, low-income communities of color continue to be disproportionately exposed to air and water pollution. Disparities in exposure to air and water pollution have led to scholarship on environmental justice principles, which asserts that communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental and public health laws and regulations. Professional societies and national academies are actively involved in these discussions.

For example, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) statement on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion calls for building mutually beneficial partnerships with engineering and non-engineering organizations and advancing a research agenda centered on equitable and inclusive engineering education, research, and practice. An overarching challenge for environmental engineering is educational reform to ensure holistic solutions that build on authentic partnerships with community stakeholders, especially those whose agency has historically been limited in environmental decision making.

The project team plans to collaborate on the development of curriculum that focuses on fair treatment and equitable involvement of communities in the planning and design of critical infrastructures.

The goal of this project is to develop and implement a suite of integrated, interdisciplinary, community-engaged, anti-Black-racism training opportunities for civil and environmental engineering undergraduates to build capacity for addressing complex and interconnected challenges of our time. The new curricula for undergraduate civil and environmental engineering and anthropology training is intended to address anti-Black-racism as it relates to urban infrastructure while partnering with local entities to build equitable communities.

African American communities in the Tampa Bay and San Francisco Bay regions will serve as the convergence space where academic educators/researchers, community members, and practitioners begin to create and implement innovative course materials in a set of five engineering courses that will help students achieve ABET accredited student learning outcomes. The project aims to include additional faculty at the two institutions who have expressed interest in participating in the project’s workshops that would impact additional engineering courses.

Results from the proposed research will be disseminated through channels to reach diverse stakeholders at multiple universities through faculty workshops/seminars, community meetings, and an annual Institute on Black Life conference that focuses on community engaged partnership and scholarship. Project results will be shared with STEM educators at national conferences convened by societies such as the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, American Society of Engineering Education conference, and the American Educational Research Association.

The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.