Collaborative Research: REU Site: Resilience and Adaptation to Coastal Change Across Virtual Communities (C2-Virtual-C)

East Carolina University, Greenville NC

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Pilot will contribute to developing an interdisciplinary, systems-level understanding of the interplay between the environment and society in coastal regions using a Team Science approach. The project will host REU students at East Carolina University, Clemson University, and the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo to investigate and document how human actions positively or negatively influence coastal resilience in the face of extreme weather events, sea level rise, and population growth. The project includes important training elements in Team Science that will prepare students to effectively address problems in interdisciplinary work and graduate research settings, build their ability to communicate science to the public, and take a systems perspective on solving societal challenges. The Team Science focus of this REU is on remote collaboration between student researchers. The professional development activities and use of virtual collaboration tools to support Team Science emphasized in the project will therefore also engage students in working across geographic and cultural boundaries. These skills will prepare the students to participate in research when direct contact between research team members is not possible, including situations such as the current pandemic where isolation is due to health concern and not just geographic or cultural factors. Students will be recruited from universities across the Carolinas and Puerto Rico through PR-LSAMP and partnerships with HBCUs and 2yr Colleges to reach a wide population with varying demographic backgrounds and limited access to research opportunities. REU Students will pursue research projects across a range of interdisciplinary areas that drive the evolution of environmental and social systems. Systems science concepts will integrate projects across the REU, enabling students to identify and understand how dependencies between earth science and other disciplines impact society. Team Science and virtualization of collaboration efforts will engage REU participants in (1) online cohort building and preparatory activities over the spring prior to the REU, (2) an intensive week-long training bootcamp, and (3) seven weeks of team-based research where students are divided between the three host institutions. Professional development activities will be structured to enable the students to overcome geographic and cultural barriers to collaboration, thereby providing them a unique skill set to pursue global change research as an effective interdisciplinary team member. The project will conclude with a student Symposium where regional stakeholders will participate and view student research videos developed using science communication strategies to engage the public in their research. 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.