Sustainability Course Development

MCSI provides annual faculty awards to support development of new or expansion of existing sustainability education courses The most recent MCSI Faculty Fellowships, Scholarships, and Lectureships awarded are below:

Mohamed Bayoumy, JohnC.MascaroFacultyLecturer Electrical & Computer Engineering

Dr. Mohamed Bayoumy developed a “Green & Sustainable Electronics” course during Summer 2022. He developed 6 course modules highlighting how different electronic circuit components and materials can promote the longevity and economic use of electrical circuits. The impacts of electrical circuits on the environment; public health, safety, and welfare; and global, cultural, and social factors were also covered. He deployed the modules in two ECE101 offerings in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 and in ECE 1247 in Fall 2022.

Sarah Moore, JohnC.MascaroFacultyScholar Film & Media Studies

Dr. Sarah Moore developed 3 new courses were developed and taught with support from the MCSI grant In “Creative Production Workshop” (FMST 1750), students researched and developed film projects for environmental organizations, In “Topics in Production: Ecological Filmmaking” (FMST 0855) and “Crew Production Practicum” (FMST 1847), students created documentaries for Tree Pittsburgh and Friends of the Riverfront, as well as a fictional piece conducted with the Breathe Project.

Manisha Nigam, JohnC.MascaroFacultyLecturer Chemistry

Pitt Johnstown faculty member Dr. Manisha Nigam teaches the school’s green chemistry and sustainability course. As a part of course requirements, students propose an on-campus sustainability project. Last year, Nigam’s students proposed to plant blueberries on campus The group received volunteer planning help from the Green Team; National Biological Honor Society Beta, Beta, Beta; and American Chemical Society UPJ Chapter. They also presented their plan at SPACE, UPJ’s annual undergraduate research conference. Their work was also highlighted in The Advocate

Cassie Quigley, JohnC.MascaroFacultyLecturer Teaching,Learning,&Leading;Education

In January 2023 with advisor Dr. Cassie Quigley, doctoral students Holly Plank and Hillary Chelednik facilitated a syllabus-sharing roundtable titled, “Environmental Justice, Activist, and STEM Pedagogies: A Freedom Seminar” at the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) International Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Constructive feedback received also helped shape a new “Environmental Justice, Activism, and STEM Pedagogies” course being offered at the University of Pittsburgh in the future. Still in development, this new course is based on the findings from two Spring 2022 “Freedom Seminar” courses dubbed “Place, Collective Economies, and Environmental Justice: A Freedom Seminar” and “Global Water, Activism, and STEM Pedagogies: A Freedom Seminar.”

In the Freedom Seminar, cross-disciplinary undergraduate and graduate students were exposed to introductory environmental justice considerations using the lens of activism and STEM pedagogies Through these lenses, students engage with concepts relating to how the environment connects, isolates, heals, impacts, and sustains in different ways. The course also considers how STEM pedagogies can be a site for activism and create liberatory futures. The Environmental Justice Freedom Seminar pushes students to collectively consider the relationships between activism, STEM pedagogies, and environmental justice and how those relationships might help us build theorized practices and sites of liberatory action towards an environment that is safe and just for all.