IGERT: Public Policy and Nuclear Threats: Training the Next Generation

全球冲突与合作研究所(IGCC)是加州大学的一个多校区研究所，它正在建立一个IGERT项目，以培训NSF的公共政策和核威胁研究员。IGCC将利用其在加州大学所有九个校区的长期项目以及与劳伦斯·利弗莫尔和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的机构关系来实施这一项目。在冷战期间，核威胁推动了投资和敏锐的年轻人对核武器问题的研究。如今，成为核问题专家的动力大大减弱。然而，核威胁并未消失。正如2001年9月11日事件及其后果所强调的那样，现在是时候建立一个新的学者和实践者群体，他们接受过战略分析、核政策问题、核武器的作用、构成当今核威胁的区域和全球现实以及从军备控制到不扩散再到防扩散等各种传统和前瞻性应对措施的培训。该计划的主要目标是：吸引和培训下一代战略思想家，以解决未来有关核威胁的公共政策问题；为公共政策和核威胁领域的跨学科研究提供新的激励；为学生提供接触国内外从事核政策开发的组织和个人的机会；在此类组织发展博士后就业机会；并最终提供美国在不断变化的国际环境中制定健全的核政策所需的专业知识。另一个重要的目标是建立一个跨学科和跨世代的学者社区，他们可以相互学习，并在各个学科之间创造协同效应，远远超过这个项目。IGERT计划旨在实现这些目标。两组大约10名加州大学博士论文学生将通过全州范围的竞争选拔产生，每组将得到为期五年的全面支持。IGERT研究员将在这些年中由各自的大学部门提供支持，这些部门将在与核政策相关的主题上提供研究或助教奖学金。IGCC将与科学、社会科学和人文科学部门合作，为该项目招收新的博士生。申请将由政府间气候变化框架委员会指导委员会的全州跨学科小组委员会审查和挑选研究员。IGCC、加州大学校区的博士项目、劳伦斯·利弗莫尔和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室以及资深导师将组成团队实施这一项目。学生将在本国部门接受基本的博士教育；IGERT的一系列必要培训活动将加强这一教育：为期四周的夏季培训研讨会，讨论核武器在全球和区域范围内的历史和当前安全影响，包括核武器的战略和政治作用、军备控制、不扩散、导弹防御、恐怖主义和相关技术问题；研究或教学助理；在劳伦斯·利弗莫尔或洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室进行为期两个月的暑期实习；在亚洲或欧洲获得海外奖学金；在华盛顿特区的政府或非政府组织进行暑期政策实习；每月举行跨学科视频会议，重点讨论围绕核武器和公共政策的当代研究问题。在适当和可能的情况下，将邀请更多的加州大学学生参加IGERT培训活动。IGERT是一个NSF范围的项目，旨在应对培养具有多学科背景以及未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能的美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战。该项目旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训新模式，在超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，催化研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第五年，将向21个机构颁发奖项，这些机构的项目共同涵盖了NSF支持的科学和工程领域。

The Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), a multi-campus research institute of the University of California, is establishing an IGERT program to train NSF Fellows on Public Policy and Nuclear Threats. IGCC will use its long-established programs on all nine campuses of the University of California and institutional ties with Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories to implement this program. During the Cold War, nuclear threats drove investments and keen young minds into the study of nuclear weapons issues. Today, the incentive to become experts in nuclear matters is much reduced. Yet, the nuclear threat has not gone away. As has been underscored by the events of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath, it is time to build a new community of scholars and practitioners trained in strategic analysis, nuclear policy issues, the roles of nuclear weapons, the regional and global realities that comprise today's nuclear threats, and in traditional and prospective responses ranging from arms control to nonproliferation to counter-proliferation. The principal goals of the program are: to attract and train the next generation of strategic thinkers to address the public policy issues of tomorrow about nuclear threats; to produce new incentives for interdisciplinary research in the field of public policy and nuclear threats; to provide students with access to organizations and individuals engaged in nuclear policy development at home and abroad; to develop career opportunities at such organizations for post-doctoral employment; and, ultimately to provide the expertise the United States needs to develop sound nuclear policies in a changing international environment. Another important goal is to create an interdisciplinary and intergenerational community of scholars who can learn from one another and create synergies across disciplines that last well beyond this program. The IGERT program is designed to achieve these goals. Two groups of approximately ten UC doctoral dissertation students will be chosen by statewide competitive selection, and supported fully for five years each. IGERT Fellows will be supported for one of these years by their respective UC departments that will provide research or teaching assistantships in nuclear policy-related topics. IGCC will work with science, social science, and humanities departments to recruit new Ph.D. students for this program. Applications will be reviewed and Fellows selected by a statewide interdisciplinary subcommittee of the IGCC steering committee. IGCC, Ph.D. programs on the UC campuses, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories, and senior mentors will team to conduct this program. Students will receive their fundamental Ph.D. education in their home departments; this education will be enhanced by a series of required IGERT training activities: a four-week summer training seminar on the historical and current security implications of nuclear weapons both globally and regionally, including their strategic and political roles, arms control, nonproliferation, missile defense, terrorism, and related technology issues; a research or teaching assistantship; two-month summer internship at Lawrence Livermore or Los Alamos National Laboratory; an overseas fellowship in Asia or Europe; a summer policy internship at a governmental or non-governmental organization in Washington, DC; and monthly interdisciplinary video-conferences focused on contemporary research issues surrounding nuclear weapons and public policy. Where appropriate and possible, additional UC students will be invited to participate in IGERT training activities.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.