Education-Focused Projects Funded
Louisiana Sea Grant has funded three, one-year grants aimed at increasing environmental literacy and workforce development. The maximum award was $50,000, with a 50 percent match from project researchers. Funded projects are designed to explore activities that increase environmental literacy and/or help build a diverse, skilled workforce to address future coastal challenges.
The projects are:
Enhancing Flood Insurance Literacy in Coastal Louisiana: Risk Rating 2.0
Principal Investigator (PI): Md Adilur Rahim, LSU AgCenter
Co-Principal Investigators: Rubayet Bin Mostafiz, Ayat Al Assi, Carol Friedland and Meggan Franks, all LSU AgCenter
Flood insurance can cause significant financial challenges to residents of coastal Louisiana, with an average premium increase of 306 percent in recent years. One of the greatest challenges is the lack of awareness and knowledge that residents and other coastal stakeholders possess in being able to adopt mitigation strategies that respond to both actual flood risk and the increased costs of flood insurance. The project intends to address these challenges by developing fact sheets, other publications and outreach workshops that explain the effects that geographic, building and policy attributes have on flood insurance pricing – as well as mitigation discounts – in-light-of the Federal Emergency Management’s Risk Rating 2.0 methodology. The materials will serve as resources to aid individuals and organizations in understanding the factors influencing flood insurance premiums.
ROUGH SEAS: Redesigning of Undergraduate General Education for Hands-on Science Experiences and Scholarship
Principal Investigator (PI): Mallory Benedetto, University of Louisiana-Monroe (ULM)
Co-Principal Investigator: Anne Case Hanks, ULM
The design of general education science classes is important for student success, student attitudes toward science and student development of skills and knowledge. Yet, many students approach science with little interest or confidence, and their performance in a required college-level general education science class can be a barrier to their success in higher education and the workforce. This project will redesign an undergraduate course to provide students with hands-on experience in environmental science in an approach that is conducive to the principles of general science education. Through this redesigned course, students will be introduced to the scientific method and its application, and engage in scientific inquiry, data collection, analysis and interpretation, with the objective of fostering critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of environmental science concepts. The design of the class should also contribute to pro-science attitudes and improved evidence-based decision-making skills.
Sustainable Coastal Environmental Design and Community Resilience in Louisiana: An Interdisciplinary Integration
Principal Investigator (PI): Yao Wang, Louisiana State University (LSU)
Co-Principal Investigators: Dana Nunez Brown, Dana Brown & Associates, New Orleans; Qiong Wang, University of Georgia (UGA)
The Louisiana Delta Plain faces extreme environmental threats. Combining landscape and environmental design, this project aims to connect community members with experts to tackle two local environmental concerns through meetings and workshops. Two main aspects of the project are a wetland restoration design in Terrebonne Parish and a retention lake plan in New Orleans. Students and faculty from LSU’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Design and students from UGA’s College of Environmental Design – as well as professional landscape designers and urban planners – will work with community members to develop and finalize the designs. The projects will provide students with a hands-on learning experience that also contributes to the ecological and social resilience of coastal communities.