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Russell AE, Aide TM, Braker E, Bruno EM, Ganong CN, Hardin RD, Holl KD, Hotchkiss SC, Klemens JA, Kuprewicz EK, McClearn D, Middendorf G, Ostertag R, Powers JS, Russo SE, Stynoski JL, Valdez U, Willis CG. Correction: Integrating tropical research into biology education is urgently needed. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001894. [PMID: 36367874 PMCID: PMC9651593 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001674.].
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Mourad T, Middendorf G. Comprehensive support for diversity in STEM. Science 2022; 377:1272-1273. [DOI: 10.1126/science.add8056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Mourad
- Ecological Society of America, Washington, DC 20036, USA
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Russell AE, Aide TM, Braker E, Ganong CN, Hardin RD, Holl KD, Hotchkiss SC, Klemens JA, Kuprewicz EK, McClearn D, Middendorf G, Ostertag R, Powers JS, Russo SE, Stynoski JL, Valdez U, Willis CG. Integrating tropical research into biology education is urgently needed. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001674. [PMID: 35709146 PMCID: PMC9202862 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding tropical biology is important for solving complex problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and zoonotic pandemics, but biology curricula view research mostly via a temperate-zone lens. Integrating tropical research into biology education is urgently needed to tackle these issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann E. Russell
- Department of Natural Resource Ecology & Management, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - T. Mitchell Aide
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico—Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico
| | - Elizabeth Braker
- Biology Department, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- Organization for Tropical Studies, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Carissa N. Ganong
- Department of Biology, Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Rebecca D. Hardin
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Karen D. Holl
- Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America
| | - Sara C. Hotchkiss
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Jeffrey A. Klemens
- Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Erin K. Kuprewicz
- Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, Institute of the Environment, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Deedra McClearn
- Organization for Tropical Studies, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - George Middendorf
- Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - Rebecca Ostertag
- Department of Biology, University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo, Hawaiʻi, United States of America
| | - Jennifer S. Powers
- Departments of Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior and Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Sabrina E. Russo
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America
- Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America
| | | | - Ursula Valdez
- School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell, Washington, United States of America
| | - Charles G. Willis
- Department of Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
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Verharen C, Bugarin F, Tharakan J, Wensing E, Gutema B, Fortunak J, Middendorf G. African Environmental Ethics: Keys to Sustainable Development Through Agroecological Villages. J Agric Environ Ethics 2021; 34:18. [PMID: 34121845 PMCID: PMC8179697 DOI: 10.1007/s10806-021-09853-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This essay proposes African-based ethical solutions to profound human problems and a working African model to address those problems. The model promotes sustainability through advanced agroecological and information communication technologies. The essay's first section reviews the ethical ground of that model in the work of the Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop. The essay's second section examines an applied African model for translating African ethical speculation into practice. Deeply immersed in European and African ethics, Godfrey Nzamujo developed the Songhaï Centers to solve the problem of rural poverty in seventeen African countries. Harnessing advanced technologies within a holistic agroecological ecosystem, Nzamujo's villages furnish education spanning the fields of ethics, information communication technology, microbiology, international development, and mechanical, electrical, civil and biological engineering in a community-based and centered development enterprise. The essay proposes a global consortium of ecovillages based on Nzamujo's model. The final section explores funding methods for the consortium. The conclusion contemplates a return to Africa to supplement environmental ethics that enhance life's future on earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Verharen
- Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - Flordeliz Bugarin
- Department of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - John Tharakan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - Enrico Wensing
- Center for Global Health, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA USA
| | - Bekele Gutema
- Department of Philosophy, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Joseph Fortunak
- Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
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Verharen C, Kadoda G, Bugarin F, Fortunak J, Tharakan J, Schwartzman D, Wensing E, Middendorf G. Appropriate technology and ethical obligations of the university: W.E.B. Du Bois on the Africana university mission. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2017.1347338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- C. Verharen
- Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - G. Kadoda
- Independent Researcher, Khartoum, 13314 Sudan
| | - F. Bugarin
- Department of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - J. Fortunak
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - J. Tharakan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - D. Schwartzman
- Department of Biology (Professor Emeritus), Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - E. Wensing
- Department of Human Development, Columbia University, New York, 10027, USA
| | - G. Middendorf
- Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
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Verharen C, Tharakan J, Bugarin F, Fortunak J, Kadoda G, Middendorf G. Survival ethics in the real world: the research university and sustainable development. Sci Eng Ethics 2014; 20:135-54. [PMID: 23549682 PMCID: PMC3933753 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-013-9441-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2012] [Accepted: 03/16/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
We discuss how academically-based interdisciplinary teams can address the extreme challenges of the world's poorest by increasing access to the basic necessities of life. The essay's first part illustrates the evolving commitment of research universities to develop ethical solutions for populations whose survival is at risk and whose quality of life is deeply impaired. The second part proposes a rationale for university responsibility to solve the problems of impoverished populations at a geographical remove. It also presents a framework for integrating science, engineering and ethics in the efforts of multidisciplinary teams dedicated to this task. The essay's third part illustrates the efforts of Howard University researchers to join forces with African university colleagues in fleshing out a model for sustainable and ethical global development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Verharen
- Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059 USA
| | - John Tharakan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059 USA
| | - Flordeliz Bugarin
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059 USA
| | - Joseph Fortunak
- Departments of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059 USA
| | - Gada Kadoda
- Department of Computer Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
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Verharen C, Gutema B, Tharakan J, Bugarin F, Fortunak J, Kadoda G, Liu M, Middendorf G. African philosophy: a key to African innovation and development. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2014.902565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Verharen C, Tharakan J, Middendorf G, Castro-Sitiriche M, Kadoda G. Introducing survival ethics into engineering education and practice. Sci Eng Ethics 2013; 19:599-623. [PMID: 22160812 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-011-9332-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2011] [Accepted: 11/24/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate change, humans may achieve the capacity globally to alter life. This crisis calls for an ethics that furnishes effective motives to take global action necessary for survival. We propose a research program for understanding why ethical principles change across time and culture. We also propose provisional motives and methods for reaching global consensus on engineering field ethics. Current interdisciplinary research in ethics, psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary theory grounds these proposals. Experimental ethics, the application of scientific principles to ethical studies, provides a model for developing policies to advance solutions. A growing literature proposes evolutionary explanations for moral development. Connecting these approaches necessitates an experimental or scientific ethics that deliberately examines theories of morality for reliability. To illustrate how such an approach works, we cover three areas. The first section analyzes cross-cultural ethical systems in light of evolutionary theory. While such research is in its early stages, its assumptions entail consequences for engineering education. The second section discusses Howard University and University of Puerto Rico/Mayagüez (UPRM) courses that bring ethicists together with scientists and engineers to unite ethical theory and practice. We include a syllabus for engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) ethics courses and a checklist model for translating educational theory and practice into community action. The model is based on aviation, medicine and engineering practice. The third and concluding section illustrates Howard University and UPRM efforts to translate engineering educational theory into community action. Multidisciplinary teams of engineering students and instructors take their expertise from the classroom to global communities to examine further the ethicality of prospective technologies and the decision-making processes that lead to them.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Verharen
- Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
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Beck C, Klemow K, Paulson J, Bernstein A, Lam M, Middendorf G, Reynolds J, Belanger K, Cardelus C, Cid C, Doshi S, Gerardo N, Jablonski L, Kimmel H, Lowman M, Macrae-Crerar A, Pohlad B, de Roode J, Thomas C. Add ecology to the pre-medical curriculum. Science 2012; 335:1301. [PMID: 22422958 DOI: 10.1126/science.335.6074.1301-a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Abstract
We propose consideration of at least two possible evolutionary paths for the emergence of intelligent life with the potential for technical civilization. The first is the path via encephalization of homeothermic animals; the second is the path to swarm intelligence of so-called superorganisms, in particular the social insects. The path to each appears to be facilitated by environmental change: homeothermic animals by decreased climatic temperature and for swarm intelligence by increased oxygen levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Schwartzman
- Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
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