N-EWN has launched a variety of educational initiatives, including the development of university EWN-focused courses, curricula and certificate programs that develop integrated problem solving, social-ecological-technical systems thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration skills.

Goals of N-EWN Education Curriculum
Competencies
- Integrated problem-solving competency: Leaving students with the ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex resilience problems, with a focus on viable, inclusive and equitable solutions
- Systems-thinking competency: The ability to recognize and understand relationships, analyze complex systems, to understand systems at different scales
- Collaboration competency: Empathetic leadership, the ability to learn from others, to understand and respect the needs and perspectives of others, to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solve
- Strategic thinking competency: The ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability and resilience; Supporting a paradigm shift to promoting interdisciplinary systems education
- Critical thinking competency: The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; The ability to reflect on one’s one values, perceptions and actions
Skills
- Ability to leverage full array of NI options, alone or in combination with traditional project objectives
- Full understanding of the NI design process, and ability to pass knowledge to designers, practitioners and future workforce
- Awareness of benefits of NI and need for combination of green and gray infrastructure
- Ability to communicate benefits of NI to both broad and specific audiences
Current Courses
ICON 8500 Nature-based infrastructure for sustainable water management in the Anthropocene – Spring 2019 Instructors: Nate Nibbelink (Forestry & Natural Resources), Dr. Don Nelson (Anthropology), Brian Bledsoe (Engineering), Susana Ferreira (Economics)
ENGR 8900 – Nature-based Infrastructure Engineering and Design – Spring 2020 – co-taught with ERDC instructors: Todd Bridges, Tosin Sekoni, Brian McFall, Joe Gailani, Brook Herman, Candice Piercy, Safra Altman Jeff King and Kyle McKay
CVLE 8110 Environmental River Mechanics – Fall 2020 – Kyle McKay, Brian Bledsoe, Chris Haring