UMC Faculty Member Aziz Rahman Receives Technology Grant

Aziz Rahman, assistant professor of natural resources at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC), is the recipient of a $10,000 technology enhancement grant from the University of Minnesota.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Board of Water and Soils Resources (BWSR), and other organizations and agencies involved with natural resource conservation and management employ many graduates with AAS and AS degrees across Minnesota. Surveys show that many of these two-year degree holders would like to earn a baccalaureate degree, but they often cannot attend class in a traditional university setting. Through the grant, three technology-based learning modules will be developed as the foundation for a comprehensive, electronically deliverable program to upgrade the academic credentials of these learners. Funds from the grant will be used to review and assess curricular needs, develop three Internet deliverable instructional modules in the field of hydrology and water quality and conduct pilot-tests using innovative, technology-enhanced teaching and learning tools.

A collaborative process, drawing on University, Northwest Experiment Station, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and external expertise, will craft modular courseware that teaches the complex issues and interdependencies of soil and water management in a practical, self-learning, electronic format.

Rahman joined the UMC faculty the fall of 1996. He teaches classes in soils, soil conservation engineering, precision agriculture, hydrology & water quality, and environmental issues.

He has a bachelor of science and master of science in agriculture from Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh; a master of science in agronomy and plant genetics from the University of Arizona in Tucson; and a doctorate in watershed management also from the U of Arizona. He also trained in the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

He is a member of the American Water Resources Association, Farming Systems Research-Extension. For four-and-a-half years he worked with the United Nations Agricultural Program in East Africa, and is a former member of the Asian Cropping Systems Research Network, and trained in the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Philippines.

Posted: 05-19-98

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