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A new University of New Haven initiative brings together Health Sciences and Marine & Environmental Sciences faculty to advance accessible science education, inclusive learning, and community-engaged research, creating new interdisciplinary opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

 

Building on established work at Mystic Aquarium and other marine-science settings, a new University of New Haven collaboration is exploring how interdisciplinary expertise can advance accessible and inclusive science learning. The initiative connects Health Sciences and Marine & Environmental Sciences to create new possibilities for student learning, community engagement, curriculum innovation, and scholarship, while exploring approaches that could ultimately extend beyond marine science to other disciplines and community settings. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in becoming involved are invited to learn more.

What happens when expertise in occupational therapy and speech-language pathology meets expertise in marine and environmental science?

A new interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of New Haven is beginning to explore that question, bringing together faculty around a shared interest of how we can make not only community spaces more accessible, but also the science learning that happens within them more accessible as well.

The collaboration brings together Susan Higgins, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA, program director of Occupational Therapy; Jacqui Brown, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, program director of M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology program; Jean-Paul Simjouw, Ph.D., program director of the undergraduate Marine & Environmental Sciences program; Chris Conroy, Ph.D., program director of the graduate Environmental Science program; Albert Nyack, Ph.D., faculty in Marine & Environmental Sciences; and Pavani Rangachari, Ph.D., CPH, faculty director of scholarship & engagement in the School of Health Sciences.

'Complementary expertise'

Dr. Higgins has developed a community-engaged fieldwork model through which occupational therapy students contribute to a variety of educational programs and initiatives at , supporting inclusive participation and meaningful engagement for diverse visitors. As part of this partnership, students have supported sensory-friendly programming through staff and volunteer training, environmental modifications, and resources such as social stories.

Speech-language pathology brings complementary expertise in communication accessibility.

Marine and Environmental Sciences students, meanwhile, have longstanding connections with aquariums through internships, research, education, and outreach. Individual conversations among Dr. Rangachari, Dr. Higgins, and Dr. Simjouw began to surface a natural point of connection: Could marine-science expertise complement the accessibility work already underway by making the scientific content itself more accessible to diverse learners?

When the six faculty members came together, that emerging idea opened a much broader conversation. Mystic Aquarium offers a natural starting point because of these existing relationships, but the group quickly began exploring opportunities extending beyond any single setting.

'Building upon the existing work'

The group identified several pathways to explore. An important first step will be engaging a University alumnus with experience spanning both Marine & Environmental Sciences and educational work at Mystic Aquarium. This individual's experience in marine-science education can help identify gaps and opportunities for preparing students to communicate marine science effectively and accessibly to diverse audiences.

From there, the group discussed building upon the existing work with Mystic through future summer programming while bringing lessons learned more immediately into existing Marine and Environmental Sciences courses and student experiences. Possibilities include interdisciplinary internships and learning activities, staff and educator training, train-the-trainer approaches, and eventually certificates or micro-credentials that could develop competencies spanning science education, accessibility, and inclusive engagement.

Importantly, these activities also create meaningful opportunities for scholarship. Dr. Higgins and her students have already begun disseminating lessons from her nontraditional, community-engaged fieldwork model through professional presentations, with additional work underway toward publication. As the interdisciplinary collaboration develops, one possible direction is an observational study examining how interdisciplinary learning and community engagement unfold in practice. Such inquiry could examine student experiences and learning across disciplines, participants' experiences with accessible science learning, and aquarium staff and educator perspectives, while also identifying what facilitates or challenges effective interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.

Undergraduate and graduate students from Health Sciences and Marine & Environmental Sciences could participate in this work, with opportunities to engage students from other disciplines, including Public Health. The team could also examine whether lessons from this setting transfer to other educational and community contexts. For example, the team discussed nutrition as an area where similar principles of accessible science learning might eventually be explored.

'What can be learned and transferred to other contexts'

In this way, the initiative reflects a broader approach to scholarship and engagement within the School of Health Sciences and across the University: Identify strong work already underway, connect expertise, engage students and communities, and create pathways for collaboration, systematic inquiry, dissemination, and impact. This group will continue learning from alumni and partners and refining these possibilities when it reconvenes later this fall.

Interdisciplinary scholarship does not always begin with a fully formed research project. Sometimes it begins by connecting people already doing meaningful work, examining what happens when their expertise comes together, and asking what can be learned and transferred to other contexts.

Undergraduate and graduate students, particularly those in Health Sciences, Marine & Environmental Sciences, and Environmental Science, who are interested in interdisciplinary or community-engaged scholarship related to accessible science learning are invited to contact Dr. Pavani Rangachari at PRangachari@newhaven.edu or Professor Jean-Paul Simjouw at JSimjouw@newhaven.edu to learn more about opportunities to become involved as the collaboration develops.