A novel approach for conducting transformative science through a professional meeting: the 5th Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology; February 12-15, 2020; Austin, Texas

Lycoming College, Williamsport PA

Investigators

Abstract

Streams and rivers provide many services to people, including clean drinking water and commercial and recreational fisheries. In urban areas, aquatic ecosystems have been severely degraded, putting ecosystem services at risk. Maintaining these services in cities requires researchers, managers, and local stakeholders to share knowledge. The 5th Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology (SUSE5) will bring together a diverse group of scientists, engineers, practitioners, landscape architects, and planners. They will share fundamental knowledge about stream ecosystems. Together, they will develop effective approaches for rehabilitating streams and rivers in urban landscapes. SUSE5 applies a new format for a professional meeting that uses case studies in Austin, Texas to generate actions with tangible benefits to people. The goal is to advance understanding and management of urban streams and to generate outcomes that benefit human wellbeing. The goal of SUSE5 is for participants to generate a cross-disciplinary, holistic understanding of urban stream management and rehabilitation while producing actionable draft management plans for the City of Austin. Meeting organizers will advertise broadly to groups not typically associated with aquatic ecology conferences (e.g., civil engineers, social scientists, etc.) and provide financial support to individuals from diverse disciplines and with diverse personal experiences. While plenary speakers will introduce important concepts and two poster sessions will provide opportunities to share contemporary research and management frameworks, four case studies will serve as the foundation for exchanging ideas among attendees. Participants will progress through single-discipline, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary groups to generate management plans through a structured process that includes site visits to ground-truth plan concepts. Ancillary activities including a social science experiment examining the benefits of multidisciplinary collaborations for addressing complex environmental problems will increase the intellectual merit of the meeting. Meeting organizers will produce a series of manuscripts and white papers detailing the outcomes of the case-studies and the effectiveness of the novel approach used by SUSE5. 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.