Rick Oches

Natural & Applied Sciences

Bentley University

Eric (Rick) Oches is Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Geology and Environmental Sciences at Bentley University. My teaching and research interests focus on environmental sustainability and public policy to foster a more sustainable future in the context of population growth, increasing natural resource consumption, environmental degradation, and global climate change. Over the last few years, my academic interests increasingly center on Earth and environmental science education for non-STEM students to foster improved science literacy. In collaboration with colleagues at Bentley University, Northern Illinois University and Wittenberg University, as well as partnerships with SERC and Oregon State Universtiy, we were recently awarded a 5-year NSF-IUSE ICT grant, Collaborative Research: Broadening the Fusion of STEM and Business Curricula in Undergraduate Sustainability Education, with the goal to enhance students’ abilities to address “wicked problems” in sustainability while developing faculty cultures of collaborative, transdisciplinary curriculum design. (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1914906&HistoricalAwards=false

Workshop Leader, Webinar Participant, Website Contributor

Website Content Contributions

Course Modules (6)

Unit 5: Synthesis: Literary Representation of a Grand Societal Challenge part of Cli-Fi: Climate Science in Literary Texts
In the final unit of the module, students will synthesize their understanding of climate science and modes of communication. Students are assigned to groups and given a climate change issue that they will use to ...

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Conference Presentations (4)

A Curricular Approach to Facilitating Transdisciplinary Thinking about Sustainability part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2023:Program:Poster Sessions:Friday Poster Session
Addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development goals requires educating a citizenry who can undertake the wicked problems of sustainability from multiple disciplinary perspectives. It requires curricular ...

Other Contributions (2)

A New Model for Transdisciplinary Curriculum Development in Higher Education Using the Wicked Problems of Sustainability part of Transforming Institutions Conference 2023:Program:Presentations:Session H
A scientifically literate citizenry is essential to meet the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and ensure that the U.S. remains economically competitive in an increasingly resource-constrained society. Yet neither ...

Teaching Sustainability and the Environment Within and Across Disciplines part of Earth Educators Rendezvous:Previous Rendezvous:Rendezvous 2016:Program:Morning Workshops:Sustainability
Sustainability challenges are often "wicked problems" that require a transdisciplinary approach to adequately define and understand. As such, teaching sustainability requires faculty to teach outside of ...