Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy & Water Systems

The overall goal of this certificate is to prepare graduate students to become innovators at the nexus of food, energy and water systems. To this end, the certificate will 1) impart both conceptual and technical knowledge related to the food, energy and water nexus to students; 2) provide them with training on key transferrable skills; and 3) equip them to consider the societal, cultural, behavioral and economic aspects of research on the food, energy and water nexus.

The starting point of the certificate is a multi-departmental and interdisciplinary 3 credit hour course on INFEWS. This course comprises four one-month “units”, each focused on a research question related to INFEWS requiring extensive interdisciplinary collaboration to be answered. Teams of faculty, possessing the necessary cumulative expertise, co-teach each unit, emphasizing concepts that students must understand in order to address the question at hand.

Given that in addition to technical or “hard” skills, recent graduates need – but very often lack – “soft” skills, including communication, leadership and teamwork skills, in a subsequent semester students will receive training on key transferrable skills in a 3 credit hour course designed to integrate these skills with content covered in the foregoing INFEWS course. This seminar course will train participants in key skills, including ethics, research, communication, teaching, funding procurement, entrepreneurship, management, teamwork, conflict resolution, mentoring, leadership, and outreach.

Completing the courses described above will give students 6 of the 12 credit hours needed to attain the INFEWS certificate. Students will earn the other 6 credits by choosing from a list of elective courses, favoring courses fulfilling both certificate and degree requirements so their anticipated time-to-degree is not extended. Notably, several of these courses will equip students to consider the societal, cultural, behavioral and economic aspects of research on the food, energy and water nexus.