PIRE: Remote Sensing for Hazard Mitigation and Resource Protection in Pacific Latin America

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0530109Bluth---This Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) award will support scientists, engineers and students from Michigan Technological University to work with collaborators in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Ecuador on the collaborative development of remote sensing tools for hazard mitigation and water resource development. The project will use satellite remote sensing in wide-ranging ways to monitor active volcanism (e.g., volcanic gas emission and lava flow topography) and to conduct systematic investigation of groundwater (e.g., contour and fracture analysis for water resource exploration); these approaches will have longer-than-usual timeframes and will be accompanied by complementary field studies. The collaboration of scientists and engineers from Michigan State University, INSIVUMEH (Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, E Hidrologia) in Guatemala, from SNET (Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales) in El Salvador, and from the Escuela Politecnica-Nacional Instituto Geofisico in Ecuador will connect the U.S. community with the first formal linkage among geoscience agencies from four Pacific Rim Latin American countries. This PIRE award features a diverse combination of educational activities, including extended field research opportunities for post-doctoral associates, for Ph. D. and Masters students, and for undergraduate students, expansion of an existing Peace Corps International Masters Program in Natural Hazards, a specialized undergraduate curriculum in hydrology that combines geoengineering and entrepreneurial training with international research, and coursework in the language, culture, history and politics of Latin America. One hundred undergraduate students and 51 graduate students will come together to work in this large-scale project with researchers from Latin America and the U.S. This partnership will serve both the U.S. and Latin America by bringing together diverse groups in long-term collaborations to develop remote sensing applications of great value to all of the nations. This award is co-funded by NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.