Complex Systems Modeling for Environmental Problem Solving

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Abstract

The science, engineering and outreach within this proposal all focus on Complex Systems Modeling for Environmental Problem Solving, and are of central importance to the State and region and integral to the State S&T Plan for Vermont. There are three main components: a research group in Biocomplexity; a Streams Project for Outreach to enhance science education enhancement, diversity and service to society; and outreach to the private sector through incentives for innovation. The University of Vermont (UVM) has considerable strength in modeling and computation with increasing momentum in complex systems modeling in ecology and evolution. UVM faculty have designed complex systems models for the analysis of invasive species, ground water, and evolutionary dynamics. Strategic investments by VT EPSCoR will bring these faculty members together and lead to an extremely strong collaborative and interdisciplinary Biocomplexity Group who focus on the environmental problems. The scientists and engineers in this group will develop new computational tools and creative models that are broadly applicable to complex systems even outside ecology, such as weather patterns or new materials. VT EPSCoR will implement a plan of resource investment to build the human and physical infrastructure for this talented group that will lead to important fundamental, collaborative, and innovative research. In addition to hardware, the group will receive the technical assistance necessary to foster world-class research, external consultants, mentoring, programmers, and networking. Graduate students and postdoctoral associates will be recruited to join the group. Together, VT EPSCoR and UVM will provide the necessary resources for building meritorious research in the area of Biocomplexity. In addition to fundamental research, Biocomplexity Group members will work together to integrate existing and forthcoming datasets from research on the Lake Champlain watershed, and use complex systems to model these data. Not only will this unifying project result in broadly useful computational tools and tests of prototypes that identify gaps in data sets, but it will also create a single resource for analysis of very disparate datasets (e.g. phosphorous or nitrogen runoff, invasive species, algae blooms) and it will cultivate integration on a level never been achieved but critically important for the region. This project will have long-term impacts on land use management and the region's economy, including New York and the province of Québec. Some of the data sets will come from VT EPSCoR's educational and diversity outreach program called the ?Streams Project? which will collect and model data on Lake Champlain watershed streams. Thus both the research group and the outreach program for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education will contribute urgently needed information about the watershed that will be of immediate use to natural resource managers as they grapple with regulation and investment in the region. An important new impact of the Streams Project will be the targeted inclusion of the rural poor in addition to students under-represented in STEM careers. This proposal is designed to boost private-sector productivity by creating new incentives for innovative research and encouraging interaction among the private sector, the Biocomplexity Group and the Streams project. VT EPSCoR has made substantial progress in outreach for STEM education and diversity, and in private sector investments to promote Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) activity. VT EPSCoR proposes a new experiment to stimulate innovative research that will forward the goals of the new State S&T Plan. Similarly, the award winning STEM education and diversity outreach program has had an impact on teaching, student interest in STEM majors, and diversity among STEM students. A new assessment plan will measure progress in all these proposed projects against specific metrics.