UCLA Center for Action Research: Role for Emeriti

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UCLA Center for Action Research Mission The world faces many complex environmental problems including climate change, loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution, the scarcity of food and water. A great public university must be part of the solution. The Center’s mission is to organize, prepare, and support student teams as they tackle real-­‐world environmental problems in partnership with faculty and major environmental organizations, locally, nationally, and internationally. Imagine teams of students completing research on water supply and quality for NRDC, sustainable fisheries for Conservation International, conservation management for National Geographic, or climate change for Sierra Club or World Resources Institute. The Center will put together multi-­‐disciplinary teams of grad students and upper division undergraduates to work together to attack these problems -­‐ -­‐ an innovative and transformative approach to education and research that will provide tremendous environmental benefits around the world. Strategy Environmental groups with a working relationship with the UCLA Center for Action Research will develop research proposals for review by affiliated Center faculty. Those proposals that tackle critical environmental issues and provide strong research and education opportunities will be chosen for further action. Then, multi-­‐disciplinary student teams (could be business, law, policy, conservation biology, environmental science, engineering, public health, etc.) custom fit to the project needs of the NGOs will be formed. These research projects will be attractive to students because of the experience and course credit provided. Faculty will receive teaching credit for their teaching and mentorship of project teams. We believe that the most important research projects should be pursued by the Center, so the initial financial model is to charge environmental groups only for variable costs including travel and materials. The cost of student and faculty labor would be free to the NGOs. Funds for faculty and program-­‐management costs would be raised from private donors, foundations, and crowd sourcing. The Center’s long term vision is to scale up and serve as a model for university campuses around the nation, and maybe even around the world. The need for strong scientific and policy research on critical environmental issues has never been greater. The IoES believes that this innovative, multi-­‐disciplinary, experiential approach to research and problem solving will be transformative for both universities and environmental groups.


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