Learning Through Lived Experiences

The Virgin Islands need STEM-educated workers to both diversify the economy and to help address chronic environmental challenges that are increasing in frequency and impact.  VI residents experienced extreme negative impacts from the 2017 hurricanes, Irma and Maria, both due to community-wide job loss in a tourism-heavy economy when tourism waned in the hurricanes’ aftermath, and the historical intensity of these hurricanes that caused many personal losses.  Challenges such as natural disasters involve physical and human components, and as such require transdisciplinary knowledge and high levels of collaborative ability to address them most effectively.  The majority of our students, who experienced the 2017 hurricanes, hold valuable experiences that empower them to become leaders in resilience, for a global future that encompasses a host of environmental and other societal challenges.

The Undergraduate Research team aims to transcend disciplines through developing project-based learning across two general education courses (Science 100 and Social Science 100), which explore the unique natural and social sciences of the Caribbean.  Our research focuses on the development and assessment of high-impact practices (including service learning, internships, and other experiential learning modalities) within freshman-level and upper-level courses.  These initiatives will be facilitated across UVI courses with Social Science faculty Dr. Elizabeth (Lyz) Jaeger, Dr. Molly Perry, and Ms. Nisha Clavier, and with UVI and community partners who are committed to engaging students in meaningful impacts on VI life and culture.  Our UVI students are already leaders in promoting change for greater community and environmental resilience; this initiative will further empower students with an interdependent web of community professionals and action-oriented skills to promote student success.