IGERT: Global-Local Interactions: Resilience and Adaption of Social-Ecological Systems in a Rapidly Changing North

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) supports graduate training that integrates social and natural sciences and considers the dynamics of change across temporal and spatial scales. Alaska and the Circumpolar North are appropriate places to train scholars to research the dynamics of social-ecological systems because of their pronounced rates of climatic, cultural and socio-economic change. The curriculum and research of this IGERT prepares students in the theoretical and applied underpinnings of resilience theory, vulnerability analysis, and sustainability science. This renewal builds on the previous IGERT at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) by adding: (1) a focus on global-local linkages that shape sustainability at all scales, (2) a bridging program with UAF rural campuses makes this PhD program more accessible to Alaska Native students, and (3) opportunities for graduate students to participate in activities of the International Polar Year. This IGERT establishes new institutional partnerships and trains a new cadre of scholars who have the interdisciplinary skills to address the complex challenges of sustainability. These scholars will contribute to society through their skills in integrating knowledge and informing policy makers in mitigation and adaptation. This IGERT strongly supports the training of Alaska Native PhDs in this area who are needed to serve as university faculty, researchers, educators, and community leaders. This IGERT represents a US contribution to the International Polar Year through the establishment of a consortium of graduate programs with a focus on northern social-ecological resilience. 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.