IRES: US-Estonia Research Partnership in Reconstructing Past Climate Dynamics

Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL

Investigators

Abstract

Records of past climate variability from northern Europe will improve our ability to predict future environmental changes in the North Atlantic region. This IRES project will partner with premier universities in Estonia to train students in interdisciplinary field-based environmental science methods in order to develop archives of past temperature and precipitation changes from the Baltic region. Each year the project will involve initial orientations, 5 weeks of international summer field and lab-based instruction, follow-up laboratory work at home institutions during the academic year, and conference presentations in the spring. A total of 4 students (undergraduate and graduate) and 1 in-service public science teacher (RET) each year will be recruited, and all the undergraduate participants will be from 2 year colleges in northern Illinois. Students from underrepresented groups will be targeted, and at least one undergraduate student per year will be from a non-STEM background. This project will apply a multi-proxy approach to explore the timing and causes of historic climate variability in northern Europe. Student projects will be interrelated to develop a better understanding of how shifting Northern Hemisphere temperatures and mean-state conditions of the North Atlantic Ocean have influenced the climate dynamics of the eastern Baltic region. These datasets will serve as predictive tools for future variation across the Northern Hemisphere. Student projects will focus on lake sediment geochemistry (stable isotopes - ?18O and ?13C), paleoecology, and biology as tools to reconstruct past climate conditions. The educational goals are to: 1) Engage students in societally-relevant scientific topics to promote interest in STEM fields; 2) Mentor participants in state-of-the-art scientific research methods to better prepare them for STEM majors, careers, and advanced degrees; 3) Develop participants written and oral communication skills through mentoring and public presentations; and 4) Recruit underrepresented minority students and in-service public science teachers to promote diversity and sustainable impacts in public schools. The program components, project team, and participant experience will be rigorously evaluated by a geoscience education research specialist. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.