C.M. Rodriguez-Cruz y Celis¹ , D. Kim²

¹The University of Texas at Dallas
²Columbia University

Abstract:

This project aims to educate American high-school and university STEM students about the CTBT and its contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically focused on SDG goals 11, 13, and 14. Students in the United States are not aware of the CTBT, despite the United States’ standing as the largest financial supporter of the Treaty’s verification regime. The project participants will develop an educational tool in the form of a virtual workshop that incorporates new and existing information on how the CTBT helps advance the SDGs. Leveraging the CTBTO Youth Group network in the United States, the project leaders will establish contact with teachers and professors at the target high schools across the United States, scheduling "virtual classroom" sessions with students that will take place between March to May. In addition to the "virtual classroom" settings, the project participants will identify schools which will welcome in-person presentations. The expected outcome of this project is an increased awareness among students about the contribution of the CTBT’s verification regime to the SDGs. Once the educational tool is formed and prototyped in American classrooms, other regions would be able to adapt the workshop presentations and target them to their domestic audiences.