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.
Where else will environmental groups be able to tap such strong and diverse research expertise for the price of a few plane tickets. We plan to use the latest in information technology to streamline operations, insure projects can move forward over multiple year time frames, and facilitate access to and utility of the growing knowledge base. In the startup phase, we will bring the Center’s program to university-‐wide scale, develop an efficient and scalable infrastructure, and then promote the program and lessons learned to other universities with the goal of nationwide spread of similar centers. UCLA students spend an estimated 900,000 hours annually in capstone experiences, with student demand for our partnership projects far beyond current supply. The Center will provide students with new opportunities for in depth environmental research experiences. We have growing interest from students and faculty in environmental sciences, sustainability, public health, engineering, conservation biology, law, public policy, urban planning, and management. Our Founding Partner is Conservation International. We have done successful business-‐ oriented projects together for the last three years: two studies in Suriname on structuring the eco-‐tourism sector for future growth and the possible harvest of fresh-‐ water surpluses, two sequential studies in Peru advancing sustainable shade-‐coffee cooperatives, and two simultaneous studies in Ecuador on sustainable fisheries and lobster farming. We look forward to inviting other partnerships across more diverse disciplines once the needed resources are in place. On campus, we have formed the Alliance for Action Research to facilitate action-‐ research components in other centers. The Luskin Center for Innovation and the Center for Tropical Research have joined that Alliance. More Centers will be invited once the startup staff is in place. We also have formed the Center for Action Research Alumni Network to help current students learn from those who have been through the experience. Role for Emeriti We see action-‐research projects as excellent ways for emeriti to engage part time as mentors in areas of interest and as faculty of record for special-‐topics courses (zero-‐ salary recall). Each project would have an NGO partner to help support teams in the filed and steer them toward a beneficial result. Typically, four projects constitute a course, but zero-‐salary recall enables partial courses that still deliver full credit to the students and full value to the NGO. Emeriti could build projects of interest with an NGO partner, and attract students to the joint effort. We will also notify emeriti of projects in formation that could be of interest, and assist with the recall when needed. Contact: Mark Gold, Associate Director IoES (Gold@IoES.UCLA.edu) Lee Cooper, Professor Emeritus (lee.cooper@anderson.ucla.edu )