Louisiana Tech University has joined the Gulf Scholars Program (GSP), an initiative led by the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The program aims to prepare undergraduate students to tackle environmental, health, energy, and infrastructure challenges specific to the Gulf Coast region.
Louisiana Tech is among six new institutions included in this latest cohort of the GSP, along with Alcorn State, Millsaps College, Texas Southern University, Ole Miss, and South Florida. This addition brings the total number of participating colleges and universities to 30 across the five Gulf States. The expansion also marks the completion of the pilot phase for this five-year funded program.
Dr. Jennifer Hill, associate professor of Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech and director of its Gulf Scholars Program, emphasized that the initiative enables collaboration across all five colleges within the university. “Because of all these social and environmental challenges of our region, the great thing the program allows is for all of our five colleges to engage,” Hill said. “The program is framed around integrated education across multiple disciplines informing students and the community of the interdisciplinary nature of our regional challenges.”
Hill noted that a steering committee composed of faculty from various fields will guide implementation. “This is very much a team effort with faculty from various disciplines on the steering committee,” she said. “This program is designed to be engaged by the entire University community.”
As part of its involvement in GSP, Louisiana Tech will create educational opportunities such as place-based courses and workshops as well as an internship program focused on research or service-learning projects conducted with local or regional partners.
Students and faculty may address topics ranging from recycling initiatives to public health disparities or infrastructure improvements aimed at mitigating flood risks. “There are so many different things that we need big solutions for,” Hill said. “And we want to find solutions by engaging the public, our alumni, and the community, not just working behind the scenes in our labs. We’re working to engage in a way that we’ll have active solutions.”
Hill stressed that input from multiple academic disciplines is essential: “I’m a scientist and ecologist; I am not an economist, so on my own I don’t have the answers,” she said. “This is why we want all disciplines involved, to feed off each other, to help each other learn and solve. Our students are hungry for his information and engagement. While this program isn’t all about coastal problems, the program initiatives will help us get them into our (Gulf) environment more, see what these challenges for the coast and people there look like up close. We want to make our students more civilly engaged in all issues we are facing. The more informed they are, the more active they’ll be in making needed change.”
The undergraduate curriculum will support between eight and 13 interns annually when it launches next academic year with $600,000 in funding provided by GRP.
The Gulf Research Program was established in 2013 following legal settlements related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Its mission includes supporting science-based approaches for improving offshore energy safety as well as protecting both environmental resources and community well-being throughout the Gulf region.
