SCI-Southwest is committed to improving science education at all levels. To this end, we have developed a number of SENCER courses: Sustainable Physical Science, Earth Science in the Context of Natural Disasters, Introduction to Environmental Chemistry, Climate Change, and Water in a Changing World.

We have also developed a transdisciplinary certificate program titled: Science, Society and Sustainability and have created two additional SENCER courses to support the certificate: Conversations in Community Sustainability and Building Sustainable Communities.

Finally, we are incorporating SENCER Ideals into our chemistry/biochemistry undergraduate and graduate program through the development of the dual poster project. Here, students present their research with both a technical poster and a public poster. The public poster is designed to explain the research to lay people and discuss the broader impacts of the project.

In addition to the above initiatives, we have sponsored symposia at national meetings (American Chemical Society and the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education) to inform other educators about SENCER. We have one book published from the proceedings of one of these symposia and another forthcoming. We have also formed a partnership with the Mississippi River Field Institute of the National Audubon Society to monitor the environment associated with the Mississippi River watershed.

SCI-Southwest initiatives are open to participants around the United States but are primarily designed to address the needs and interests of individuals in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

Contact SCI-Southwest Co-Directors Cynthia Macguire or Nasrin Mirsaleh-Kohan for more information or to schedule a house call.