Professional Development 

InTERFEWS will equip students with 21st century professional skills and networks to solve complex FEWS issues through professional development activities. Activities will include participation in transdisciplinary problem solving and communications training and research seminars as described below.

Communications Training

Communications training will include participation in a 2-day communications workshop to improve written and oral communication skills. InTERFEWS trainees will be required to practice the learned skills in formats that includes assessment by peers and mentors. Practice experiences will include both written and oral presentation requirements. Trainees will each write an article for one of CSUs major FEW-related centers/institutes – the Colorado Water Center, Energy Institute, or School of Global Environmental Sustainability.

For oral presentation practice experiences, trainees will select at least one of the following activities:

 

Workshops

Students will also attend transdisciplinary problem solving workshops, a 5-day gathering focused on local FEWS issues, including a field trip with stakeholder interactions. The Employing Model-Based Reasoning in Socio-Environmental Synthesis (EMBeRS; DGE-1545404) intensive student workshop is a training experience to develop capacity for leading interdisciplinary synthesis efforts in the future by bringing together students from different disciplines around local resource allocation related to water scarcity, and the issues surrounding the management of each.