Workshop Proposal: Increasing U.S. Graduate Student Participation in the International Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology

San Diego State University Foundation, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this award is to increase U.S. graduate student attendance in a three-week long summer workshop in paleoclimatology conducted at the University of Urbino in Italy from July 13 through August 4, 2010. The Urbino summer school in paleoclimatology brings together leading researchers and graduate students who share an interest in using paleoclimatology to help predict the climate of the coming decades. The current makeup of the summer group includes researchers involved in developing climate prediction systems, understanding mechanisms of climate variability, and assessing the needs of potential end users of data. As with previous years, the participants include seasoned researchers, new investigators, and graduate students. The mix of experience and cultures enables an open and lively exchange on climate science. The U.S. is the international leader in funding for paleoclimatology and this is reflected in the strong representation of U.S. instructors in the summer school. The representation of U.S. graduate students, however, is lower than that of other countries. This leads to an imbalance among U.S. beneficiaries of the knowledge transferred during the course. The purpose of this award is to enable greater attendance by U.S. students in the summer course with the ultimate goal of providing early-career U.S. graduate students with a three-week residential immersion course in state of the art techniques for data analysis and modeling used in the reconstruction of Earth's climate. Support for the Urbino summer course helps foster a network of future researchers who are better connected, globally. This is important because paleoclimatology is a global science that needs data from across geographic boundaries.