NRT: Enhancing conservation science and practice: An Interdisciplinary program

University Of Maine, Orono ME

Investigators

Abstract

Global and local changes in environmental, social, and climatic conditions increasingly stress, alter, or degrade ecosystems and human quality of life despite continued efforts to develop integrated natural and human models that help support effective decision-making. In response, organizations must focus on managing for resilient human-natural systems - those that are able to respond and adapt to the effects of rapid change. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Maine will create a new graduate education model that integrates faculty and students from the social and biophysical sciences in order to prepare the next generation of conservation leaders to address these challenges. The project anticipates training twenty-five (25) MS and PhD trainees, including twenty (20) funded trainees from forest resources, wildlife conservation, communications, and environmental sciences. An additional twenty (20) graduate students will participate in one or more of the traineeship program components. Trainees will develop interdisciplinary communication, collaboration, and professional skills to address emergent conservation issues. The project will develop an interdisciplinary curriculum based on active learning models, professional development, and collaborative research that integrates biophysical and social sciences. The program will develop new master's and doctoral concentrations that can be transferred to other settings in the U.S. and abroad, and that promote the diversification of the STEM workforce. The curriculum consists of four diverse learning experiences: (1) integrated courses that provide theoretical and research foundations in socio-ecological resilience and science communication; (2) an internship with a conservation management, policy or science organization to master STEM professional skills; (3) an interdisciplinary research project; and (4) a mentoring program to ensure trainee success. Training will include close interactions with key conservation partners from state and local agencies, the National Park Service, non-governmental organizations, and community partners. Interdisciplinary courses and research will address governance frameworks, biodiversity conservation, sustainable rural livelihoods and resource-dependent economies, stewardship values, citizen science and participation, and spatial sciences. NRT Trainees will learn to promote a systems approach to conservation through a wide range of biophysical and social science models and methods. 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 program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs. 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.