The latest edition of Strategic Discussions for Nebraska, "Science Literacy: Using Research-Based Facts To Make Real-World Decisions," features stories on several SNR faculty, including Tala Awada; Jenny Dauer; Joe Dauer; and Tiffany Messer.
The edition, available online, is written by students majoring in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Communication, based on interviews they conducted with University of Nebraska–Lincoln scientists who use the best-available, data-driven technologies in their research.
Through interviews with faculty and staff at the university, the issue focuses on why it's important that the next generation of leaders entering the educational pipeline have an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The grand challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050 looms before them.
Stories rooted in SNR
Tala Awada, Jenny Dauer, Joe Dauer, and Tiffany Messer each were highlighted in the Science Literacy edition for their work to both educate students and to feed the world. The following are descriptions of their stories:
- Imagine a triple-digit-degree summer day or a raw winter storm. Today, luxuries such as air conditioning or heating combat nature’s extremes. Unlike human beings, plants are uniquely exposed to all types of weather without an escape from harsh extremes.
Tala Awada’s interest in science sparked from her fascination of plants’ ability to withstand many environmental stresses.
Read the full Interview with Tala Awada. - Water quantity and water quality are not just environmental issues; they are people issues.
“Every morning when someone wakes up, they should be able to say, ‘I have clean water to drink and food to eat.’ That shouldn’t be something that anyone must question,” said to Tiffany Messer, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering and the School of Natural Resources.
Read the full Interview with Tiffany Messer - Science Literacy 101 is a course for almost 600 students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources each year. Through this course, students are challenged to think about what science is and why it is necessary. Students are introduced to scientific, social, economic, political, cultural and ethical dimensions of current food, energy and water issues.
Read the full Interview with Jenny Dauer. - Experts in a discipline can easily access information from memory within their field of study. An expert’s brain can easily sort and store information, building bigger “chunks” of knowledge, but students are still developing this skill. Joseph Dauer’s research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is working to equip students with a skill he refers to as “chunking.”
Read the full Interview with Joseph Dauer.
Access the entire online edition here or download a PDF here.
Courtesy Strategic Discussions for Nebraska
More details at: https://go.unl.edu/34sd