Using Social Media to Create a Global Community of Sustainability-Engaged Students

Abstract

Florida. Matthew worked for several years in the water and sanitation sector in Honduras, including one year with a Fulbright Fellowship. He currently studies pathogen removal in wastewater treatment ponds and microbial risk in wastewater irrigation systems in Bolivia. Ms. Colleen Claire NaughtonColleen Naughton is a doctoral student at the University of South Florida in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is advised by Dr. James R. Mihelcic. Colleen was part of the Peace Corps Master's International Program where she served and conducted research in Mali, West Africa for three years as a Water and Sanitation Engineer. Her research was focused on "Monitoring and Evaluation of an Appropriate Handwashing Technology." Colleen's dissertation research involves a human and embodied material energy analysis of the Shea Butter process; mapping the Shea Butter belt using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to estimate the area and population that work with and consume Shea butter; and quantifying emissions of carbon black from the smoking and boiling of shea nuts.

Board 39A: Improving Engineering and Social Science Students’ Research Efficacy and Career Motivation in Sustainable Development through International and Transdisciplinary Research Experiences

“…In general, the research experience had either a positive or a neutral impact on students' self-reported research self-efficacy, teamwork, identity, sense of belonging, cultural competency, and attitudes toward interdisciplinary research, sustainable development, and career intentions. This finding is consistent with previous studies (Casad et al 2018;Manser et al 2015;Verbyla et al 2023), which have shown the positive impact of international research experiences on student outcomes. Moreover, the results indicate that students achieved a confident level of comfort with the Brazilian culture before the summer research experience through the language and culture workshops that were provided pre-departure.…”

“…The involvement of community members in environmental engineering and science research using thecommunity-based participatory research (CBPR) is one way to help address environmental and social justice disparities (Montoya et al 2021). Moreover, interactions with community members may also enhance the experience of the student participants (Verbyla et al 2023) by providing new lenses when elucidating social issues or when selecting approaches to mitigate challenges. This research project allowed that fiveof the student participants to experience deep and extensive interactions with members of low-income urban favela communities.…”

“…Other factors may also influence the students' development of intercultural abilities and global competencies. For example, results from one study indicated that student participants of international research experiences that involved deep interactions with community members and in regions with more cultural differences developed different competencies than students who traveled to regions with more cultural similarities and fewer community interactions (Verbyla et al 2023). On the other hand, Maltby et al (2016) found that nursing students who completed international experiences in developing countries developed similar competencies as students who traveled to industrialized countries.…”

Developing cross-cultural managerial skills through social media

“…Among the areas where social media might be used to support and bolster cross-cultural interpersonal competence are the endeavors where it matters most; specifically in organizational communication, collaboration, recruitment, projects, relationship maintenance, transactions, and sharing. Through social networking, the people of an organization are often connected with many peers in far-flung places (Verbyla et al, 2014).…”