Internationally, there has been increasing emphasis on the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus) to describe and aid in addressing complex coupled human-natural systems that underlie the most significant global challenges of our time.  However, education research on educational programs grounded in the FEW-Nexus has largely been underemphasized.  With support from the National Science Foundation (ECR-EHR Core Research #1856040), the National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW) is poised to address this need by catalyzing sustained, systemic, and interdisciplinary research on educational efforts focused on food, energy, and water systems in a wide array of educational contexts.  Over the next 5 years, we will work to cultivate an emergent, transdisciplinary community of educators and education researchers engaged in FEW-Nexus-focused educational programming and research/evaluation.  The community will involve individuals from a diverse array of disciplinary backgrounds, including education, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) fields.  This Research Coordination Network (RCN) builds upon prior, early-stage efforts, including the 2018 Innovating Teaching and Learning in the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus: Toward a National Collaborative for Food, Energy, & Water Systems Education conference held in Washington, D.C.  NC-FEW will afford a novel and innovative space for discourse, networking, and collaboration-building around FEW-Nexus-focused education and education research/evaluation, positioning it for long-term impact.

Do you study or evaluate FEW-Nexus-focused educational programs in K-12, postsecondary, and/or informal/nonformal settings?  If so, consider joining us!  There is no cost to you and NC-FEW participation affords you access to community activities, including travel support to invited meetings, webinars and NC-FEW communications, and designation as an NC-FEW affiliate.  Through these community activities, you will have opportunities to showcase and generate visibility for your work, network with community members, learn about others’ FEW-Nexus-focused education research and educational programs, contribute to NC-FEW working groups (postsecondary, K-12, and informal/nonformal), develop new research and pedagogical skills, cultivate new collaborations for funding proposals, and become a part of new professional community.  Want to learn more?  On behalf of the NC-FEW leadership team, we invite you to explore what NC-FEW has to offer.  Connect with NC-FEW today!

NC-FEW Leadership Team

• Cory Forbes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Director and PI)
• Hannah H Scherer, Virginia Tech (Informal/Nonformal Working Group Leader, Co-PI)
• Hui-Hui Wang, Purdue University (K-12 Working Group Leader, Co-PI)
• Nicole Sintov, The Ohio State University (Postsecondary Working Group Leader, Co-PI)