PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING: SUPPORTING RURAL WOMEN FROM COLLEGE TO CAREER

Materials have always been linked to human society's progress such that periods of our history are named after the dominant material of the time. This demand for raw materials has grown explosively since the Industrial Revolution. The environmental impact of material consumption is proportional to population, per capita consumption (affluence), and technology deployment. Western society's techno-economic approach to development is strongly correlated with environmental degradation and that affluence is not distributed evenly. In contrast, the concept of sustainability balances the competing demands of the environmental, social, and economic sectors. NC State University's Department of Forest Biomaterials has successfully instituted a STEM-based Sustainable Materials and Technology undergraduate program. Program faculty wants to extend this success to K-14 students so as to educate the workforce of the future in the holistic discipline of sustainability. We will start this effort by targeting students who are at the community college level. Specifically, the grant will focus on individuals who have historically been under-represented in the forest biomaterials field: minority women. The project's goal is to expand opportunities for professional careers and educational equity in sustainable materials science and engineering for the target audience. This will be accomplished by providing a multitiered support system in every phase of the student's postsecondary academic career, specifically through community support, academic mentorship, experiential learning, community research projects, professional development, and university scholarship/admission guidance. The project will enhance the participants' scientific and professional competencies, leadership and communication skills, professionalism, critical and problem-solving skills, and ability to work in teams. The project is based on accountability; each project component will have its associated outcomes assessed using proven methodologies. The project's goal and objectives are aligned with NIFA's Strategic Sub-Goal 1.7 (Development of human capital ... to support a sustainable agriculture system) and address WAMS' Education Need Areas of Student Experiential Learning and Student Recruitment, Retention, and Educational Equity.