资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Stormwater training program helps students and municipalities.
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May 10, 2018

Municipalities spend millions of dollars annually reducing the effects of stormwater runoff. An NSF-funded EPSCoR program at the University of Maine is helping decrease these costs. The Stormwater Management Research Team (SMART) program trains high school and college students in water sampling techniques and connects their learning to classroom math and science courses. Students monitor runoff in their communities alongside local water and engineering professionals. Since 2014, over 75 percent of the participating students self-identify as either female or racial minority, and 41 percent of those eligible are enrolled in a STEM degree program. With additional funding from an NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) grant, the team in Maine formed the SMART INCLUDES Collaborative with eight other states to encourage K-12 underrepresented minorities to participate in the monitoring efforts.