The University of Idaho is the state’s premier land-grant research university and flagship institution. Faculty in the College of Natural Resources and College of Art and Architecture will carry out the education and outreach goals of the NARA project. The NARA GreenSTEM initiative includes an innovative suite of programs to increase the capacity of the region for a transition to a biofuel and bioproducts economy. The K-12 program includes STEM curricula and teacher training focused on bioenergy and biofuel, which will be developed and distributed through the College of Natural Resource’s McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS). MOSS is the state’s only residential STEM education center, reaching more than 3,000 K-12 students and hundreds of teachers annually. The curricula will be made available online through MOSS’s partner ‘Facing the Future,’ a non-profit organization that provides curricular materials in sustainability. The graduate education component combines the Bioregional Planning and Community Design graduate program, administered through the U-Idaho College of Art and Architecture, and the Integrated Design Experience (IDeX) in the Washington State University College of Engineering and Architecture. Students will gain studio experience assisting communities to engage in the new bioenergy economy.
The U-Idaho role in NARA is led by Steven Hollenhorst, associate dean in the College of Natural Resources. Faculty involved in the grant include Karla Bradley, Randall Brooks, and Tamara Laninga from the College of Natural Resources, and Stephen Drown from the College of Art and Architecture.