Project Profile
IGERT: Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change (A2C2)
University of Maine
Abstract
This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award facilitates the interdisciplinary training of Ph.D. natural and social scientists in adaptation to abrupt climate change, one of the greatest challenges to the sustainability of human society and ecosystem services in the 21st century.
Intellectual Merit… more »
This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award facilitates the interdisciplinary training of Ph.D. natural and social scientists in adaptation to abrupt climate change, one of the greatest challenges to the sustainability of human society and ecosystem services in the 21st century.
Intellectual Merit: This program meets the challenge of abrupt climate change by training students to conduct collaborative, interdisciplinary research across the natural and social sciences, and to develop innovative policy and management solutions from their research that fosters resilience and adaptation in response to abrupt climate change. Research themes focus on three major challenges that society faces with abrupt climate change: threats to global security, reductions in ecosystem services, and adaptation in social systems. Novel training elements of this program include a collaborative interdisciplinary research project, and a policy and management internship with organizations that span international, federal and state agencies, as well as the private sector.
Broader Impacts: The risks of abrupt climate change are globally pervasive and include increased numbers of environmental refugees and political conflicts over resources. Determining how to anticipate, avoid, and manage abrupt climate change was recently identified as one of the five grand challenges to global sustainability. This IGERT award trains the next generation of scientists to meet these environmental and social challenges. To promote future recruitment of a diverse science workforce, all IGERT trainees will conduct outreach activities with K-12 students from underrepresented groups. The program also fosters a strong international perspective through research collaborations as well as internship experiences abroad.
IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to establish new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, and to engage students in understanding the processes by which research is translated to innovations for societal benefit. « less
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