CAREER: Science for Sustainable and Resilient Groundwater Management

1351558(米勒)。地下水的可持续管理需要明智地分配资源，以满足当前和长期的社会、生态和环境需求。从历史上看，地下水的可持续性一直被狭隘地定义为保护含水层不受污染，并限制抽水以匹配地下水的使用和补给。然而，一个更广泛的模式是必要的，它考虑到地下水的多个、有时相互冲突的消费者的不同需求，包括依赖地下水的生态系统(GDEs)，并培养含水层对水气候变化的复原力。为了发展这一模式，国际和平研究所的长期职业目标是促进地下水资源的可持续管理，方法是促进对依赖地下水的生态系统的科学了解，并为工程和水资源专业人员提供将可持续性纳入其决策过程的工具。这项职业赠款旨在通过三个具体项目的研究目标来推进这些目标：1)将GDEs的代表纳入地表和地下水可用性模型；2)测试和创建用于量化地下水资源可持续性和弹性的改进指标；以及3)探索优化地下水抽水的管理战略，以减少对GDEs的影响并防止水系统故障。此外，还将实现三个具体项目的教育目标：1)在整个土木工程课程中教授可持续工程实践；2)改进地下水专业人员对可持续发展原则的应用；3)利用可持续发展概念作为一种工具，吸引来自代表性不足群体的人员参与，从而提高工程队伍的多样性。这一项目解决了妨碍对地下水资源的可持续性及其对气候和人为压力的恢复能力进行全面评估的重大差距。它的目标是改进GDEs的建模，并为评估地下水管理决策对这些敏感生态系统的影响创造新的指标。利用这些指标，它将探索新的优化方法，以创建更可持续和更具弹性的地下水系统。该项目检验了这样一种假设，即教学和研究的可持续性有利于招收、留住和参与工程学专业代表性不足的群体的学生，特别是女性。国际土木工程师协会的职业生涯规划将研究和教育纳入现有的土木工程师专业发展框架，期望土木工程师在获得许可在该领域执业之前，能够定义、解释、应用和分析与工程设计有关的可持续性原则。在学生层面，该项目将开发课程模块，在整个土木工程课程中教授可持续发展；材料将来自皮耶？S关于地下水建模和可持续发展指标的研究。学生将通过课程项目参与研究，学生志愿者将领导这些成果的发布。这些活动将直接影响德克萨斯农工大学多达1900名本科生和50名研究生的教育，以及该项目资助的一名博士生和五名本科生的教育。课程材料将通过PI正在进行的外联活动和现有的NSF赞助的网站向更广泛的受众传播，可能会改进全国各地大学教授土木工程可持续发展的教学方法。在专业层面，该项目将为地下水管理人员、顾问和政策制定者创造两个新的继续教育机会，这将有助于广泛传播研究成果，以增进对社会的了解和利益。关于预期的未来条件与含水层的可持续性和复原力之间关系的讲习班将邀请利益攸关方一开始就指导这一研究项目，并将编写一份关于地下水管理的研究和教育需求的报告。关于地下水可持续性度量和建模的短期课程将向专业人员传授可用于可持续地下水分配的决策工具，包括本项目开发的工具。

1351558 (Miller). Sustainable management of groundwater requires the judicious allocation of resources to meet societal, ecological, and environmental needs, both now and over the long-term. Historically, groundwater sustainability has been narrowly defined in terms of protecting aquifers from contamination and limiting pumping to match groundwater use with recharge. However, a broader paradigm is necessary, one which considers the diverse requirements of multiple, sometimes conflicting consumers of groundwater, including groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), and one which fosters aquifer resilience to changes in the hydroclimate. In order to develop this paradigm, the PI has the long-term career goals of promoting the sustainable management of groundwater resources by advancing the scientific understanding of groundwater dependent ecosystems and by providing engineering and water resources professionals with tools to incorporate sustainability into their decision making processes. This CAREER grant aims to further these goals through three project specific research objectives: 1) integrate the representation of GDEs into land-surface and groundwater availability models; 2) test and create improved metrics for quantifying sustainability and resilience of groundwater resources; and 3) explore management strategies for optimizing groundwater withdrawals to reduce impacts on GDEs and prevent water system failures. These will be complemented by three project specific educational objectives: 1) teach sustainable engineering practices across the civil engineering curriculum; 2) improve the application of sustainability principles by groundwater professionals; and 3) enhance the diversity of the engineering workforce by using sustainability concepts as a tool to engage those from underrepresented groups. This project addresses critical gaps that prevent a holistic assessment of the sustainability of groundwater resources and their resilience to climate and anthropogenic stressors. It targets to improve the modeling of GDEs, as well as create new metrics for assessing the impact of groundwater management decisions on these sensitive ecosystems. Using these metrics, it will explore new optimization methods to create more sustainable and resilient groundwater systems. The project tests the hypothesis that teaching and researching sustainability is beneficial to the recruitment, retention and engagement of students from under-represented groups in engineering, particularly women. The PI's CAREER plan integrates research and education within the existing framework for the professional development of civil engineers, who are expected to be able to define, explain, apply, and analyze sustainability principles, in relation to engineering design, before they are licensed to practice in the field. At the student level, the project will develop course modules for teaching sustainability throughout the civil engineering curriculum; materials will be drawn from the PI?s research on both groundwater modeling and sustainability metrics. Students will participate in the research through course projects, and student volunteers will lead the publication of these results. These activities will directly impact the education of up to 1900 undergraduates and 50 graduate students at Texas A&M University, as well as that of the one Ph.D. student and five undergraduates funded by the project. Course materials will be disseminated to a wider audience through the PI's ongoing outreach activities and through existing NSF sponsored websites, potentially improving pedagogic approaches for teaching sustainability in civil engineering at universities across the country. At the professional level, the project will create two new continuing-education opportunities for groundwater managers, consultants, and policy makers which will aid in broadly disseminating research to enhance understanding and benefits to society. A workshop on the relationship between desired future conditions and the sustainability and resilience of an aquifer will invite stakeholders to guide this research project at its start and will produce a report on research and education needs for groundwater management. A short-course on groundwater sustainability metrics and modeling will teach professionals about decision making tools available for sustainable groundwater allocation, including those developed by this project.