Grand Challenges research effort leverages STEM to inspire climate action

Grand Challenges research effort leverages STEM to inspire climate action

The RISE with Insects team includes (L-R) Susan Weller, Sarah Roberts, Ana Velez Arango, Louise Lynch-O'Brien, and Holly Hatton-Bowers.

Friday, September 2, 2022

"RISE with Insects," a interdisciplinary project led by Dr. Ana Maria Vélez Arango, was awarded two years of funding from the UNL Grand Challenges Catalyst Competition planning grant, according to a program announcement on Aug. 30, 2022.

Vélez Arango, an assistant professor of insect toxicology in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Department of Entomology, is leading this intercultural project with the aim to foster STEM learning — science, technology, engineering and math — by drawing connections between insect resilience and human resilience. Many researchers believe climate change poses the greatest global threat to human health and that young people are the most vulnerable to the climate impacts. Black, Latinx, Native American and other youth of color may be disproportionately affected by climate change with deepening inequalities in access to clean air and water, healthy foods and forced migration.

With this project, researchers want to actively engage youth, their families and communities into thinking about systems in order to empower them to be stewards of planetary health. The plan is that these young people will take collective action to combat the climate crisis in Nebraska and beyond.

Researchers in the "RISE with Insects (Resilience Ignited through Science and Ethics)" project will develop a learning camp curriculum for first and second graders that explores insects’ environmental resilience using restorative healing practices, mindfulness, art and social-emotional learning, and consider how those concepts relate to racism, privilege and the climate change crisis.

“Environmental health and human health are interconnected,” Vélez Arango said. “This project is not only focused on environmental change, but also on racial justice; it’s all connected. People need to think about the consequences of their actions, both in terms of the environment and how we can affect others.”

Along with Vélez Arango, the research team includes Holly Hatton-Bowers, associate professor of child, youth and family studies and Extension specialist; Maria Elena Oliveri, research associate professor, Buros Center for Testing; Louise Lynch-O’Brien, assistant professor of insect biology and Extension specialist; Susan Weller, director of the University of Nebraska State Museum; and Sandra Williams, associate professor of art.

Because team members possess a range of specialties — entomology, mindfulness, art and exhibit presentation, expertise with ethnic communities — the project will blend disciplines to create an inclusive curriculum. “Everyone on this team has particular strengths,” Lynch-O’Brien said. “As a group, we are going to use several different perspectives to figure out what will work best. In the next year, we’ll all come out a little different.”

Vélez Arango said the project’s use of insects — most likely butterflies, caterpillars and, possibly, Madagascar hissing cockroaches — will appeal to children.

“Insects tend to be fun for kids,” Vélez Arango said. “There are big differences between monarch butterflies and hissing cockroaches, so we can show how some insects are beautiful and some are a little scarier. But we can teach that just because something is different, it doesn’t mean it’s bad or ugly.”

Vélez Arango noted that monarch butterflies, for example, have certain stressors in their life cycles and migratory journeys. Studying the biology of monarchs — how they develop, what they eat and some of stressors they have, such as lack of quality food — can also be applied to human communities. “We can then connect that with lack of quality in certain communities, or what challenges children who have migrated from elsewhere might face,” she said.

Lynch-O’Brien notes that confidence in studying science declines among many children, especially girls, at an early age. “Science literacy is important,” she said. “Even if they don’t go into science as a career, they can still gain confidence to participate in science, interpret and have opinions, and gather evidence.”

This project, Lynch-O’Brien said, is “a grant for hope."

Additional team members include Emily Brown, museum educator supervisor at the University of Nebraska State Museum; Helen Abdali Soosan Fagan, assistant professor of practice in agricultural leadership, education and communication; Jody Green, extension educator in entomology; and Sarah Roberts, extension educator in science and nature education for early childhood. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, NoVo Foundation endowed chair in social and emotional learning at the University of Illinois, will also collaborate on the project.

Organized by Chancellor Ronnie Green and Bob Wilhelm, vice chancellor for research and economic development, the awards are part of a $40 million commitment to fund work that directly connects to the university’s Grand Challenges initiative. Announced Aug. 30, this initial phase includes 13 awarded projects — three lead “Catalyst” awards and 10 planning grants — and represents a $10 million investment. "RISE with Insects" received one of the 10 planning grants.

“These awards reflect our university’s commitment to doing big things,” Chancellor Ronnie Green said. “I applaud each of our faculty who participated. You have opened doors to new possibilities, coming together to leverage individual strengths and solve big, overarching issues that are important to Nebraska and the world.”

More details on this project may be found at https://cyfs.unl.edu/news/?p=6099