IGERT: Polar Environmental Change

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the development of an interdisciplinary graduate program in polar sciences and engineering by merging expertise and facilities from Dartmouth College with the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and institutions in Greenland. The purpose of this program is to train doctoral students to have an interdisciplinary view of polar systems and to understand the social and ethical implications of their research. Broader impacts include training and research focused on the components of polar systems that respond to and contribute to rapid environmental change, including the cryosphere (glacial ice, snow, and sea ice systems) and the biogeochemical linkages between plants, soils, and animals. The core curriculum includes an Introduction to Polar Systems and a second course on Sustainability Science, Policy and Ethics that will train students to frame research questions that will have relevance to Arctic residents and policy by using perspectives from western science and traditional ecological knowledge. Depending on their research interests, students will be trained during the Greenland Field Seminar in either terrestrial ecosystem or cryosphere dynamics, followed by instruction in the human dimensions of Arctic change in Nuuk, the site of the University of Greenland and the Inuit Circumpolar Council. IGERT students will receive continuing interdisciplinary training through a seminar series and other related events on polar science and policy organized with the Dickey Center Institute of Arctic Studies, a workshop on preparing grant proposals, an annual program evaluation and research symposium, cross-IGERT activities, and opportunities for specialized training at other institutions or field sites. A special effort will be made to engage with Native American students. 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.