Abstract
Graduate students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines struggle with developing research agendas that balance the overall goals of their work with questions of civic concern. The Earth Stewardship Initiative helps to resolve this disparity. Furthermore, connecting STEM research to civic concerns increases the relevance of research and facilitates the development of cross‐disciplinary approaches. We describe how STEM graduate students can incorporate Earth Stewardship into their research, identify opportunities for educational institutions to support such research, and discuss the potential benefits of, and barriers to, linking Earth Stewardship to graduate‐level studies.
Highlights
Background paper submitted to theCommission on Sporn B. 1996
Graduate students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines struggle with developing research agendas that balance the overall goals of their work with questions of civic concern
We describe how STEM graduate students can incorporate Earth Stewardship into their research, identify opportunities for educational institutions to support such research, and discuss the potential benefits of, and barriers to, linking Earth Stewardship to graduate-level studies
Summary
Moving forward: fostering the generation of Earth stewards in the STEM disciplines. During the 20th century, the magnitude and accelerated rate of human activities altered ecological and geological processes on a global scale This era of accelerated change – referred to as the Anthropocene (Steffen et al 2007) – has driven professional societies and global governance organizations to call for research efforts and policy actions that ensure human survival and well-being (MA 2005; Power and Chapin 2009; Chapin et al 2011b). Developing a research agenda that addresses human well-being requires a transformation of academia: that is to say, a deep change in the academic culture and organizational structure so that the social contribution of a research project acquires a tangible value. The cultural philosophy of an institution might determine the success or failure of a particular strategy (Kezar 2001) In this context, we consider both top-down and bottom-up models to evaluate potential activities capable of promoting change in HEIs. n Benefits of integrating Earth Stewardship practices in graduate studies projects.
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