NRT: Graduate Climate Adaptation Research that Enhances Education and Responsiveness of science at the management-policy interface (Grad-CAREER)

Utah State University, Logan UT

Investigators

Abstract

Climate change is a major 21st-century challenge for science and society. In the American West, changing climate is increasing the threats of drought and fire. Such threats require both new science-based information and effective teams of scientists, managers, policy-makers and other citizens who can use that information to solve problems. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Utah State University will train the next generation of climate adaptation scientists to meet those important needs. The project anticipates training eighty (80) MS and PhD students, including twenty-eight (28) funded trainees, from the natural, physical, and social sciences, engineering, and mathematics. This project will prepare STEM graduates for careers that integrate science with management and policy to understand and adapt to changing climate and will provide new science-based understanding of ways to adapt to changing climate. This project will create a Climate Adaptation Science specialization within nine MS and eight PhD degrees, offered in eight departments and five colleges. The training program emphasizes interdisciplinary research and integrates training in informatics, modeling, communication, leadership, project management, risk assessment, decision-making under uncertainty, and interdisciplinary teamwork. Project research will advance understanding of changing hydroclimate (drought and flood), fire regimes (frequency, area burned, and severity), land cover (range shifts and invasions), social and economic effects, and potential adaptations. The project closely integrates research, instruction, and real-world experience and will foster collaborations among scientists, federal, state, and local land managers, policy-makers, trainees, and citizen stakeholders. Trainees will complete a novel two-part internship with a government, industry, or NGO partner that brackets a year-long research studio and embeds trainees in a cycle of creating actionable science. Other novel elements are an individualized communication plan and research-based curriculum supported with short-courses. The project team will test models for educational elements to better prepare the future STEM workforce for an increasing variety of interdisciplinary research, management, educational, and policy-related careers, including application of data-intensive techniques, cloud-based collaboration, communication with diverse audiences, and project management. Comprehensive assessments of the program and its elements will inform best practices in graduate STEM education. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Traineeship Track is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas, through the comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.