EPA-OW-OWM-20-01
The primary goal of the WaterWorks project is to foster awareness about employment opportunities in the drinking water and wastewater utilities workforce via K-12 educational programming. We are developing, piloting, and implementing both hands-on and virtual educational activities to inform students and educators about STEM activities relevant to the operations of a water and wastewater plant. We have four modules titled WaterMobile, WaterTalk, WaterPal and WaterCave. Inside the confines of the classroom, K-12 students receive little to no exposure to what comprises the water and wastewater workforce and what these essential workers do on a daily basis. Our current generation of youth is the most technologically savvy to date; as such, they have much to contribute to the drinking water and wastewater utilities sectors given the greater likelihood of integration of technology in the optimization of various processes. There is also a significant lack of diversity in most of the water workforce utilities. The overall objectives of this proposal are to:
EPA-OW-OWM-20-01
The primary goal of the WaterWorks project is to foster awareness about employment opportunities in the drinking water and wastewater utilities workforce via K-12 educational programming. We are developing, piloting, and implementing both hands-on and virtual educational activities to inform students and educators about STEM activities relevant to the operations of a water and wastewater plant. We have four modules titled WaterMobile, WaterTalk, WaterPal and WaterCave. Inside the confines of the classroom, K-12 students receive little to no exposure to what comprises the water and wastewater workforce and what these essential workers do on a daily basis. Our current generation of youth is the most technologically savvy to date; as such, they have much to contribute to the drinking water and wastewater utilities sectors given the greater likelihood of integration of technology in the optimization of various processes. There is also a significant lack of diversity in most of the water workforce utilities. The overall objectives of this proposal are to:
Continue the discussion of this presentation on the Multiplex. Go to Multiplex
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Welcome to our USEPA funded WaterWorks project. I am Dr. Kauser Jahan and I am directing this project with many other colleagues from Rowan University and other partners from the area. I am heavily invested in STEM education and I love bringing innovative ideas to encourage K-12 students/educators to get excited about careers in STEM.
This is a three year project, which has been recently awarded, and we are just getting started by developing some great fun activities that will bring careers in water and wastewater utilities alive to build the next generation of a diverse workforce. Please feel free to visit our website to learn more https://research.rowan.edu/research-areas/engineering/usepa-waterworks/index.html.
We look forward to your comments and suggestions on the following:
a) hands on activities that can be added that are related to water/wastewater treatment
b) other similar work that we may not be aware of.
Thank you so much for watching our video and for your important input. We value your suggestions.
Warmest regards,
Kauser
Almeer Asif
Best wishes for this innovative project.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for visiting our video. We appreciate your support.
Dr. Oleg Fishman
Support
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you for your support.
Corinne Brenner
This is such a fascinating project! We've learned a lot about the watershed and sewershed systems in urban environments for our project, WaterWays, geared to 3-5th graders, and it's amazing how so few people are aware of how water gets to them, and what happens to it after it goes down the drain.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you for watching our video. It is pretty amazing to see how few know about water/wastewater treatment and the diverse jobs that are available.. Wishing you continued success with WaterWays.
Corin Slown
Dr. Jahan-thanks for a great presentation! I am curious to learn more about the hands-on activities you sue with your water mobile. Thanks in advance!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
We are in the process of adding all the activities on our website. The following activities have been developed:
a) Activities on forces of water-generating energy from water and also using head of water in tank design for distribution.
b) Activities focusing on chemical and physical treatment of water and a DIY construction of a water filter.
c) Watershed pollution demonstration demonstrating runoff and sewage contamination; oil spills
d) activities on pipes buried in soil and structural engineering. Pipe breakage is common during extreme storm events. As such a module on the impact of earthquakes on pipe breakage was developed. The use of trusses in construction and the measurement of deflection of a wood wall reinforced with rebar to replicate how a retaining wall in a tank would deflect when filled with a fluid or soil were also developed.
Tyler Seifrit
Great work Dr.Jahan, students, and staff! The blend of teaching hydraulic concepts with physical and high-tech models make the industry approachable for many. As a Water/Wastewater engineer for the past 6 years, new talent is always welcome. Proud to be a Rowan alum!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you Tyler. Best reward to hear from our alumni. We are very excited about this project. Will keep you posted on the progress.
Daiciry Páez
Apoyo y voto.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much.
Brad Summerville
Fantastic work!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you. We are excited about this opportunity.
Gerhard Salinger
Former Program Officer
Learning science and technological concepts through specific examples provides motivation for students to learn some of the basic ideas that may seem abstract without the examples. The water activities that you are developing serve as good examples. Are you evaluating that the activities are engaging students also to learn the basic concepts? Have you considered explicitly linking your activities to the K-12 national standards in science (NGSS), in technology (ITEEA) and in mathematics (NCTM)? Your activities help students answer the question of why do I have to learn this stuff; wherever will it be useful? It may also increase the use of your materials nationally.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you for sharing some excellent ideas. We will have to link our activities with NGSS as this is written in our proposal. The other two are great additions. Thank you for providing is input.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
We also have a dedicated faculty who will develop assessment tools to evaluate the impact. We already conducted a short pre- and post survey of 12 participants from area high schools. What the surveys indicated was that students are unaware of 4-year college degree positions (engineers, lawyers, IT, business etc) in water/wastewater utilities.
Margie Vela
CEO & President
Water is such a critical factor in equity, and this project is providing educational access to all. I am certain this will have positive long-term impact on water careers in your area. Also, I am excited to see what the team does with Water Pal.
Water education has the potential to create awareness for many within our population. Many times this awareness can have an impact on human behavior (i.e. conservation, pollution). Have you seen any measurable difference in the way the participants perceive their relationship to water after engaging with the project?
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for watching our video. We are excited about the WaterPal component. It will allow all to find activities relevant to water/wastewater utilities along with a game that one can play as they take a virtual trip thru a plant. We piloted a workshop for few highschool students and our pr-post test showed that students perceive non college degrees for jobs in utilities. What the surveys indicated was that students are unaware of 4-year college degree positions (engineers, lawyers, IT, business etc) in water/wastewater utilities.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
This now allows us to ensure that our products showcase jobs with all levels of education.
Christina Osten
What wonderful experiential learning tools are represented here. As a high school science teacher in a school with a very low budget, I would be very interested in having the water mobile visit my 9th-grade Environmental Science class next year. We are about to embark on our end-of-year CSO project. Combined Sewer Overflow is a huge problem in the City in which I teach. As such, we end each year with our water resources unit, which caps with a final design and simulation build of rainwater runoff reduction solutions. Please let me know if there is a way my school may also partner with this outreach. As a Rowan Engineering Alum, I am always selling my students on the wonderful opportunities that Rowan has to offer.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for watching our video. We will be offering watermobile trips to area schools via our Engineers on Wheels program. Look forward to hearing more about your CSO project. This is something we will also focus in our activities. Thank you for staying in touch with us. We love to hear from our alum.
Margaret Hunter
This is great! Please reach out if I can support this effort.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
we will be working with American Water, Very excited.
Christine Delahanty
This is a necessary and very valuable project. How much has industry been involved in it's development, and the development of the excellent activities you have? I know that there is a lot of interest from local companies with respect to research into wastewater management. What new activities are you developing and what has been the inspiration for them? Thank you!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Christine,
Thank you for visiting our site. We have five partners in this project. We just finished initial work the past four months. We are now meeting with stakeholders to get their feedback. We are incorporating new technologies-the use of VR AR and also developing an app WaterPal to stimulate interest in careers related to water and wastewater,
Tim Podkul
Senior Research Advisor
This is a great project. Thank you for sharing all you are doing. It is great that you are able to connect with high school students through this work as well, which will undoubtedly raise awareness and hopefully increas interest in this critically important topic. Is the WaterPal App something that is used within any water management districts or water utility companies? If not, is it based off of technology that current students might see when they enter the workforce?
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for watching our video. The WaterPal component is to provide students and educators a companion so they can look up activities, careers tied to water/wastewater utilities. These activities are also tied to the NJSS curriculum standards to assist educators with lesson plans etc. The app will be available to utilities so they can use during their K-12 outreach programs. The app will work on different platforms and has games for children so they get excited about careers in water/wastewater utilities.
Arameh Masoumi
Great presentation and very interesting project! Good luck!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you for watching our video.
Dr. Yenkie
Very timely and excellent project. Although our planet earth abounds itself in water content, only 3% of this life sustaining natural resource is accessible to mankind. The importance of the proposed project is thus loud and clear. My best wishes for all success.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for watching our video.
Pratibha Agrawal
Great work and congratulations to the team for such efforts
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you so much for watching our video.
Dennis Kleinman
Great project. I really like the creativity behind the various 'water tools' and the emphasis on experiential learning. I would like to see the "Day in the Life of Water Worker" that you mention in the video. Would it be possible to get me a link? One reason I'm interested is because the project my team has submitted also focuses on giving students a real feel for what it's like to work in a particular field of science, in our case BioFabrication. One of the elements of the project is a set of video profiles of recent college graduates who are now working for BioFab startups. You can watch our overview of the project here: https://stemforall2022.videohall.com/presentations/2489 and you can see the actual videos here: Building a Strong Workforce Alliance for Biofabrication & Bioengineering through K-12 Education. Please let me know what you think.
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Dear Dennis,
Thank you for your comments. We are currently working on the "Day in the Life of a Water Worker". Students will be able to use WaterPAL to engage in an exciting game in which they are able to select an avatar for a water worker (i.e. pipefitters, steamfitters, construction laborers, system operators, installers, pipelayers, managers, hazardous waste removal workers, septic tank servicers, meter readers, machinery mechanics, office administrative assistants, engineers, legal assistants, lawyers etc). Upon selection, they will spend a day in the life of this water worker to learn about the roles and responsibilities related to the position.We will be completing this in the summer. I visited your video. I got some great ideas from your work too. We will be video taping utility workers and adding real people videos also.
Clara Cogswell
Amazing project and great video! You may already be well aware of us, but I work with CUAHSI, the consortium of universities for the advancement of Hydrologic science, and we operate shared scientific infrastructure for water science, I wonder if any of our apps or repositories would be of use to you in your activities, we have apps like CUAHSI Jupyterhub and CUAHSI matlab online, that offer free licenses, and water data storage and discovery options. Our video is on our infrastructure, but our website is here: https://www.cuahsi.org/ , please feel free to reach out of you think any of our services would be of use in your water programs!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Clara- Thank you for watching our video. We are aware of your amazing work and will incorporate some activities that you have mentioned.
Mahaa Ahmed
Hello,
This seems like an interesting and excitign program! Have considered integrating any learning modules that integrate how Covid-19 has affected the water/wastewater sectors in the US? In particular, the use of wastewater-based epidemiology has been in the news and students may have heard about it, which might be a great way to showcase career opportunities that they might not initally think of. Perhaps this case study about an Cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Georgia could be used to illustrate how water treatment systems are integral to maintaining the health of communities. Best of luck with this program!!
Kauser Jahan
Head and Professor
Thank you for watching our video. Yes we will add modules on how WBE can be used for investigating presence of disease causing microbes/viruses and chemical of interest. Thank you for sharing the case study.