IGERT: Assessing Change in Coastal Ecosystems: Integrating Natural and Social Sciences

罗得岛大学的海岸研究所IGERT项目（CIIP）开发了一个综合的，多学科的研究生课程，以丰富学生的教育谁表现出在解决沿海生态系统的环境问题的领导潜力。该IGERT的基本目标和智力价值是整合自然科学和社会科学中传统上不同的学科，形成一个连贯的多学科框架，用于沿海研究。该框架将通过确定关键问题和资源管理人员的信息需求，突出科学基础研究的重点。同样，将通过在评估沿海环境问题的经济和社会层面时普及科学知识来推动社会科学研究。 相互密切合作，并与非学术合作伙伴机构，从自然科学（生态学，生物学，渔业，自然资源科学）和社会科学（经济学，治理，规划，沿海政策）的学员将获得开发，实施和监测促进沿海地区的活力的计划和政策的能力。要做到这一点，学员必须能够预测和谈判的冲突点之间的环境，社会和经济的观点对沿海科学和管理的问题。CIIP使用人文学科的工具和学科，如通信科学，伦理学，社会公平，美学和领导力，为研究生提供技能和观点，这些技能和观点是在实践中弥合科学和公共政策的基础。 CIIP的综合研究和培训的更广泛影响将是对与美国沿海大部分地区有关的环境问题提出切实可行的解决方案。 IGERT是一个NSF范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士的挑战。具有跨学科背景的科学家和工程师，在所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划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促进研究生教育的文化变革。

The University of Rhode Island's Coastal Institute IGERT Project (CIIP) has developed an integrated, multi-disciplinary graduate curriculum to enrich the education of students who show potential for leadership in solving environmental problems in coastal ecosystems. The fundamental goal and intellectual merit of this IGERT is to integrate the traditionally disparate disciplines in the natural and social sciences to form a coherent, multidisciplinary framework for coastal research. This framework will sharpen the focus of basic research in the sciences by identifying the critical questions and information needs of resource managers. Similarly, research in the social sciences will be advanced by bringing scientific literacy to the assessment of economic and social dimensions of coastal environmental problems. Working closely with each other and with non-academic partner institutions, trainees from the natural sciences (ecology, biology, fisheries, natural resources science) and the social sciences (economics, governance, planning, coastal policy) will acquire competence in developing, implementing, and monitoring programs and policies that promote the vitality of coastal regions. To accomplish this trainees must be able to anticipate and negotiate points of conflict among environmental, social, and economic perspectives on issues of coastal science and management. The CIIP uses tools and disciplines in the humanities such as communication sciences, ethics, social equity, aesthetics and leadership to provide graduate students with skills and perspectives that are fundamental to bridging science and public policy in practice. The broader impact of the integrated research and training in the CIIP will be production of practical solutions to environmental problems that are relevant to much of coastal America. 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 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.