IU Picks ‘Grand Challenges’ Projects
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University has selected two projects for its Regional Campus Grand Challenges Initiative, focused on multi-disciplinary efforts to address challenges facing Indiana communities. To be considered, proposals had to address the initiative’s goals of "Making Indiana Healthier" or "Making Indiana Smarter."
The projects will each receive $25,000 in funding from the school, with the expectation the teams will seek additional external funding.
The "Feeding Minds, Building Community and Eating Our Vegetables" project aims to fight food insecurity in Indiana University’s regional campus communities.
As part of the effort, undergraduate students from IU’s regional campuses and IPFW will take part in interdisciplinary research aimed at improving their region’s local food system. The team will lead "food justice" workshops and look to recruit community members to pool resources to buy fresh produce cooperatively from Indiana farmers. The students will partner with the nonprofit New Roots, which develops "pop-up" farm-fresh food markets to neighborhoods facing food insecurity.
The second project, the development of a Health Studies Consortium, aims to help students "explore new options within the vast profession of health care." The effort will involve a collaboration among IU Northwest, IU South Bend and IU Kokomo to develop two new courses to boost employment potential for current and prospective students. They include a medical humanities minor and an allied health practitioners credentialing program.
The Regional Campus Grand Challenges Initiative aims to improve the health, education and economic vitality of the communities and regions served by Indiana University campuses.