Denmark Project Summary

The goal of this project was to leverage the resources of two Iowa ATE Centers of Excellence to support international educational experiences for ten U.S. community college students and five faculty mentors through a four-week institute in Denmark to study agriculture-based renewable energy and sustainable energy. The Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) at Eastern Iowa Community Colleges and AgrowKnowledge at Kirkwood Community College collaborated on a project to offer students and faculty agriculture-based renewable energy and sustainable energy research experiences at the Dalum College of Agriculture in Odense and EUC-Syd in Sonderborg, Denmark. The Dalum College of Agriculture is Denmark’s largest agricultural college, where students and faculty were part of the research studying the effects of agriculture production on the climate and the environment. The EUC-Syd Technical College is part of the Sonderborg sustainable energy project, where students and faculty were part of the research studying energy consumption, transportation, storage, and sources that will create a carbon-neutral city by 2030. This project allowed students to work with global scientists and experience hands-on research in agriculture-based renewable energy and sustainable energy in one of the world’s most progressive areas. It strengthened technology education in agriculture-based renewable energy and sustainable energy by allowing participating faculty to provide training modules for other faculty across the United States and strengthen the community college as a local gateway to global technology education.