Submitted by iCons Admin on
Wondering what entices the creme de la creme of UMass faculty to teach in the iCons Program? Or what iCons faculty do when they are not planning, teaching and dreaming about their iCons courses? iCons 1 co-instructor Jared Starr shares his thoughts on iCons and beyond in this month's faculty profile.
Department:
Environmental Conservation
iCons Course:
iCons1: Global Challenges Scientific Solutions
Numbers of years in iCons:
0.33
Number of years at UMass:
3.5
Why did you become involved in iCons?
I was forced to! Ha...in a good way. My friend Lena had co-taught iCons 1 for the last two years, but couldn't this year because she was hired as a full-time faculty member in ECo -- go Lena! I wanted to use this year to focus on my research, but when Lena started telling me there might be an opportunity to join iCons I couldn't say no. I met with Lena and Justin, one of the iCons 1 co-instructors, and it immediately became clear that this was an opportunity I had to jump on. I'm so happy I did. The co-instructors and students are wonderful and the program has exceptional administrative support and leadership.
What is the best piece of advice you can give to iCons students?
Learn from each other and build collaborative friendships. The iCons program brings together some of the most talented and passionate students on campus - take advantage of it! Use this program to build friendship, learn how to work together in teams, and respect the perspective that each student brings. There are a lot of big challenges in the world that can't be solved by any one individual. The future belongs to those who can work collaboratively across disciplines and boundaries to break huge problems into lots of little ones that can be fixed. Start developing these skills by taking advantage of the learning space that iCons provides.
What have you learned from teaching in iCons?
Well-structured experiential team-based learning works! We've only had about a month of classes, but its' been wonderful to see the students working effectively in teams and to see their skill sets grow. Ask me again at the end of the year :)
What have you found most interesting about working in iCons?
I really enjoy the co-teaching experience. Justin's background is in chemistry, Shubha (our other co-instructor) is from physics, and I'm from environmental conservation. I think it really benefits the students because we all approach an issue from different vantage points, so the students get exposure to different ways of conceptualizing challenges and solutions. In a very real way the three of us are modeling how to work effectively in an interdisciplinary team.
What did you study in college?
My B.A. is in Political Science and my M.S. is in Environmental Conservation. Concurrent with my iCons teaching I'm earning my PhD in Environmental Conservation.
What do you do when you’re not teaching at UMass?
One of my great interests is communicating science to the larger public. As part of this I do contract video work with The Nature Conservancy. I also do research and my recent projects have been on recycling in Massachusetts and using video in citizen science projects. I love being outside hiking and sailing and just got into skiing this year. I'm also working on developing an animal themed podcast with my friend and fellow iCons compatriot Bridget Macdonald.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be (and why?)
This is going to sound very lame, but the ability to spread knowledge. I realize that knowledge can be interpreted differently by different people, but how cool would it be if everyone had a certain base level of knowledge about a given topic. They may not all come to the same conclusion about what should be done, but people would be able to have a lot more meaningful discussions and hopefully base their decisions on a common understanding of a situation. The one downside to that power is that I'm not nearly smart enough to have that power be of much use if I was the only one who could spread knowledge around. Neither is anyone else for that matter:) But if everyone had the power to share all their knowledge with others, we could see the world through others perspectives...image what a world that would be! I guess that's why I like teaching and creating educational videos so much, it's a chance to share a little bit of knowledge with others.
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