NSF Award
1239782
The Climate and Urban Systems Partnership (CUSP) is engaging urban residents in community-based learning about climate, climate-change science, and the prospects for enhancing urban quality of life through informed responses to a changing Earth. With over 50% of the world population and 75% of Americans living in urban areas, the urban climate is becoming the climate and environment experienced by the majority of the world's population. The urban systems upon which these populations rely, including energy, transportation, water, and public health, face unique vulnerabilities to climate change.<br/><br/>The project is developing, deploying and studying a transferable model for urban climate education. Working through Urban Learning Networks (ULN) of community-based organizations in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, CUSP is coordinating programs and messages through three interlinked community platforms that reach residents in neighborhoods, online, and at city festivals. In addition, ULN members in each city work as a community of practice to provide peer support to improve their shared practices in climate change education. These four, integrated community platforms comprise the CUSP model, connecting the interests and concerns of city residents to the urban systems on which city life depends, systems that are vulnerable to climate hazards and climate change. <br/><br/>The CUSP partnership includes the Franklin Institute (TFI), the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH), the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), and the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences (Koshland). Climate researchers on the CUSP team are providing syntheses of climate and climate-change science and climate risk assessments tailored to the CUSP cities. CUSP education researchers are studying the dynamics of learning across CUSP programs, elaborating design principles for learning that spans multiple contexts across a lifetime. External evaluation is focusing on the effectiveness of the CUSP partnership, the capacity of ULNs to deliver CUSP programming, and impacts of CUSP programming on urban audiences.<br/><br/>This project is one of six Phase II projects being funded through the Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program. The CCEP program was developed as part of the NSF Climate Change Education program, established through Congressional appropriations in FY 2009. The CCEP program is a one-time, dedicated NSF effort to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts. The CCEP portfolio encompasses a major interdisciplinary research and development effort designed to promote deeper understanding of, and engagement with, climate system science and the impacts of climate change on natural and human systems. The vision of this program is a scientifically literate society that can effectively weigh the evidence regarding global climate change as it confronts the challenges ahead, while preparing the innovative scientific and technical workforce to advance our knowledge of human-climate interactions and develop approaches for a sustainable, prosperous future. Each CCEP is required to incorporate innovative collaborations among expertise of climate scientists, learning scientists, and education practitioners in either formal or informal learning environments to research, design, and test new models and strategies for effective teaching and learning about climate science. With its focus on interdisciplinary approaches and transformative scales of impact, the CCEP program occupies a unique and complementary niche in the portfolio of Federal investments related to climate science education and workforce development.
