Addressing Water Security: towards Student Retention, Improved Relevance, and Increased Readiness

San Antonio is one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation and represents an urban center whose natural resources are struggling to keep up with the demand. In Texas, total water demand is predicted to increase by 17% between 2020 and 2070. Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMU-SA) is a burgeoning Hispanic-Serving university, with a rapidly increasing enrollment despite decreasing national trends.

It has a unique water resources program that aims to generate graduates capable of responding to the region's water security challenges. This project will help increase student recruitment to this signature STEM program supportive of diverse students, including those currently employed in the water sector, to tackle water-related issues in the region.

Importantly, this project will generate data that will be broadly useful in understanding factors that can increase enrollment in these types of degrees across the country. This data will be of use to other programs with a focus on water across the country as well as those serving a post-traditional student population.

The goal of this project is to address three challenges associated with the Water Resources Science and Technology (WaTR) program at TAMU-SA. First is low enrollment in the program, particularly of women. Second is the opportunity to integrate consideration of local water issues into the existing WaTR and STEM curricula.

Third is limited access to opportunities for pre- and in-service professional and career development for students and current water professionals. This project will promote water workforce readiness and advancement for those currently employed in the water workforce. It will improve recruitment by working with admissions personnel and through outreach activities at high schools and community colleges.

The project team will work alongside local water utility providers and stakeholders and utilize peer mentoring by current students and alumni of the program, and current graduate students enrolled in the M.S. degree component. The project leaders will develop a sustainable educational pathway of enhanced courses that is amplified through connecting coursework to issues of local concern; student engagement with cutting-edge and emerging water science technology; culturally relevant, context-based pedagogies; field experiences and tours of local plants; and internships with water-related collaborators.

Lastly, the project will promote readiness for all students, through community science programs, high-impact projects, classroom-based undergraduate research experiences, and new or revised research-intensive courses to lay the groundwork for research careers and training. Through recruitment, relevance, and readiness, the project seeks to diversify the pre- and in-service professionals addressing water issues in regional, state, national, and international contexts, and to respond to the local pressing issues of water access, protection, and conservation.

The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity of transformational improvement at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) on developing understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

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.