Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.93
Liaison Ezra Small
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of Massachusetts Amherst
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Nathanael Schildbach
Marketing Manager
University Relations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution offer at least one immersive, sustainability-focused educational study program that is one week or more in length?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-focused immersive program(s) offered by the institution:

One of the immersive programs that UMass Amherst offers is "Planning for Climate Change: Seminar + Field Study in Belize".

3 credits for seminar, or 4 credits for seminar + travel
Seminar: Professor Elisabeth Hamin, emhamin@larp.umass.edu
Travel: Co-Instructors Hamin + E. deOliviera
Class time TBA, likely Tuesday 2:30 – 3:45
Travel dates: Spring Break

Preparing communities to respond flexibly and well to climate change and disaster is one of the most pressing global urban problems today. But responses such as green infrastructure and sustainable land use needs to grounded in local goals and culture, and to improve residents’ daily life as well. If you are curious about planning for climate change and disaster resilience, and want to learn about different experiences and cultures in a moderate-income country, join this seminar + field study course on planning for climate change and disaster resilience in beautiful Caribbean Belize.

Key learning goals:
* Assure or develop basic knowledge of science and policy frameworks for climate change
* Gain familiarity with planning processes in a developing country context
* Learn how to conduct a vulnerability analysis for climate change and disaster resilience
* Develop knowledge of hazard-resilient infrastructure and urban form policies
* Develop research skills through preparation of a climate-change/resilience plan
* Practice participatory planning through listening to and addressing residents’ concerns, and building awareness of your own underlying assumptions
* Communicate professional/theoretical knowledge to community residents and decision-makers


Website URL where information about the institution’s immersive education programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

In addition to the program in Belize, the Clean Energy Corps offers a summer program where students conduct a greenhouse gas inventory and create a clean energy plan for our recently acquired Mt. Ida campus.

In Spring 2019, UMass Clean Energy Extension (CEE) offered a course on the Amherst campus to (1) teach students the principles and methodologies of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory analysis and clean energy analysis, and (2) begin to collect data and information on the Mt. Ida campus. The two graduate and four upper-level undergraduate students in the class then spent four weeks in the summer of 2019 on the Mt. Ida campus as part of the Clean Energy Corps, conducting a GHG inventory and evaluating clean energy opportunities for energy reductions through system controls, space management, and building energy efficiency measures, as well as for renewable energy generation on campus. The team engaged with staff from state energy agencies, NGOs, and utilities throughout the process.
More information is available at https://ag.umass.edu/clean-energy/student-engagement/mount-ida-greenhouse-gas-inventory-clean-energy-plan


In addition to the program in Belize, the Clean Energy Corps offers a summer program where students conduct a greenhouse gas inventory and create a clean energy plan for our recently acquired Mt. Ida campus.

In Spring 2019, UMass Clean Energy Extension (CEE) offered a course on the Amherst campus to (1) teach students the principles and methodologies of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory analysis and clean energy analysis, and (2) begin to collect data and information on the Mt. Ida campus. The two graduate and four upper-level undergraduate students in the class then spent four weeks in the summer of 2019 on the Mt. Ida campus as part of the Clean Energy Corps, conducting a GHG inventory and evaluating clean energy opportunities for energy reductions through system controls, space management, and building energy efficiency measures, as well as for renewable energy generation on campus. The team engaged with staff from state energy agencies, NGOs, and utilities throughout the process.
More information is available at https://ag.umass.edu/clean-energy/student-engagement/mount-ida-greenhouse-gas-inventory-clean-energy-plan

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