Challenges Expected Challenges Distances between Institutions; Low math skills (OLC); Unexpected Challenges Long project maturation time; Project teams like “ships passing in the night”; Migration of OLC SEM students to natural science.

Opportunities 2012 student teams are exhibiting local stability and resilience as student’s take ownership as project stakeholders; OSSPEEC leadership learning flexibility in order to capitalize on new opportunities 2011 Visiting professors interested in uranium / arsenic; 2012 Tribal Agency Internships 2012 Thunder Valley Regenerative Community Interdisciplinary Learning OSSPEEC and UC students testing compaction at Thunder Valley

Serendipitous Outcomes Capacity Building at OLC Laboratory / Repository Water quality emphasis recruits new students and re-energizes OLC chemistry faculty; Metals research results in the start of the OLC botanical collection -> results in K-12 teachers increasing the collection by 50%; OLC tightly integrated into NSF EPSCoR sustainability planning proposal; Capacity building at SDSU OSSPEEC has dramatically increased throughput rate for IC- OES Image credit:

Tie-ins to Academics Construction Materials Veteran’s wall; DOT Internships Surveying Wind tower heights (Fa 2o11 Thunder Valley (Fa 2012) Statics / Mechanics Wind tower “repair” Veteran’s wall Engineering geology Geoprobe drilling projects Real world capstone design opportunity with Thunder Valley water sustainability project for SDSU & SDSMT Image Credit: “Net zero applied to water reclamation”

General Project Summary In its first two years OSSPEEC has achieved: A complete pre-engineering curriculum with OLC pre-engineering articulating to SDSU and SDSMT; Stronger partnerships between OSSPEEC institutions, Tribal Agencies, and the Thunder Valley NGO; Meaningful research/service opportunities in engineering for undergraduate and graduate students at three institutions that are based on community needs; Better support strategies for engineering students resulting in high retention at OLC, SDSMT and SDSU; Verification of a modified constructivist paradigm based on: Guided experience / reflection; Cross-disciplinary learning; A “systems” approach to understanding the environment; Respect for natural world through emphasizing unintended consequences of human interventions (e.g. wise engineering)

Moving Forward Continued capacity building of OLC, SDSU, and SDSMT faculty and staff in research and instruction; Constant improvement for pre-engineering / engineering coursework at OLC, SDSU, SDSMT through service-learning and continued instructional collaboration; Refocus of emphasis from engineering analysis to engineering design as projects mature; Greater pre-engineering student enrollment at OLC with greater matriculation success at SDSU and SDSMT; Continued research collaboration between OLC, SDSU and SDSMT beyond OSSPEEC