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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of an multidisciplinary, interregional graduate training program of education and research at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and the University of New Mexico. The program will provide opportunities for students to study attributes of aquatic ecosystems in separate… more »

This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of an multidisciplinary, interregional graduate training program of education and research at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and the University of New Mexico. The program will provide opportunities for students to study attributes of aquatic ecosystems in separate geographical regions that are at similar latitudes, but that have very different climatic conditions. These ecosystems both exemplify and magnify the pressing need for interdisciplinary collaborations in the context of contemporary problems confronting fresh waters worldwide. Faculty at both institutions have parallel interests in key disciplines of freshwater ecology, hydrology, and geochemistry that are essential for effective understanding and management of aquatic ecosystems.

The new education/training program will include novel components that strengthen student disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and practical problem-solving expertise as well as ensure responsible science conduct, team-building and communication skills through inter-institutional education, and inter-site comparative projects. Internships with state/federal agencies such as the Bosque Improvement Group in New Mexico and the South Florida Water Management District will provide opportunities for students to apply fundamental research to practical problem-solving. The training program also is deeply committed to participation of a truly diverse student group that includes students from locally large populations of underrepresented minorities such as Hispanic, African-American, and Native American students. We envision developing graduate education that is genuinely multidisciplinary, inter-institutional, comparative across regions, and that links fundamental science with applications.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to facilitate the establishment of innovative, research-based graduate programs that will train a diverse group of scientists and engineers to be well-prepared to take advantage of a broad spectrum of career options. IGERT provides doctoral institutions with an opportunity to develop new, well-focussed multidisciplinary graduate programs that transcend organizational boundaries and unite faculty from several departments or institutions to establish a highly interactive, collaborative environment for both training and research. In this second year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span all areas of science and engineering supported by NSF. This specific award is supported by funds from the EPSCoR program and from the Directorates for Biological Sciences, for Geosciences, for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, and for Education and Human Resources. « less