Achievement

Three trainees co-taught a module on siting offshore wind developments for local high school students at the UMass Science Quest. As part of this exercise, the trainees created a hypothetical situation for the students to work through in small groups, which included 3 proposed offshore wind development sites, each with its own tradeoffs in terms of societal, economic, technological and ecological benefits and drawbacks. Although a relatively small endeavor, the success of this exercise as measured by the engagement of the students is a testament to the success of our IGERT program. Working as an interdisciplinary group (policy/economics, ecology, and engineering), trainees were able to effectively communicate diverse challenges facing offshore wind energy development siting decisions. This was possible because each had increased his understanding of the other two disciplines outside of his expertise, and was able to place his specific focus area within the context of overall issues.