IRES: Multidisciplinary Water Engineering Research and Education to Protect and Enhance Ecosystems in Complex Environments

该IRES项目将为正在从本科生向研究生过渡的土木工程和环境工程专业的学生提供水工程研究经验。参与者将在世界领先的水工程单位之一、全球一些最好的实验室以及极其复杂的环境中进行研究。他们将使用现场测量、物理模型和数值方法处理三个环境流体力学项目领域之一：1)海岸灾害缓解生态系统服务；2)污染物修复；3)河床破坏。这些领域中的每一个都与昆士兰大学由主要政府、非营利组织和行业机构赞助的正在进行的研究相关联。随着水资源和生态系统压力的加剧，教育工程师做好准备面对跨越国界的与水监测和管理有关的复杂问题变得越来越重要。水工程领域需要超越传统课程的更广泛的教育方法，因为当今的水工程师面临着具有挑战性的跨学科问题，这些问题结合了现有理论和数据之外的概念和方法，需要以研究为重点。除了水工程研究部分，这个IRES项目将对更广泛的水工程教育做出重要贡献，因为它将产生专注于如何加强水工程师的教育以及学生如何以及为什么在这些国际研究经验中发展的研究。

This IRES program will offer water engineering research experiences to civil and environmental engineering students who are making the transition from undergraduate-to-graduate study. Participants will conduct research within one of the leading water engineering units in the world, in some of the finest labs globally, and within extremely complex environments. They will tackle one of three environmental fluid mechanics project areas using field measurements, physical modeling, and numerical methods: 1) Coastal hazard mitigation ecosystem services; 2) Contaminant remediation; and 3) River bed destruction. Each of these areas connect to ongoing research at the University of Queensland sponsored by major government, nonprofit, and industry agencies. As the strain on water resources and ecosystems intensifies, it is becoming increasingly important to educate engineers to be ready to face complex issues related to water monitoring and management that stretch across national boundaries. The field of water engineering requires a broader educational approach beyond traditional curricula, as today's water engineers face challenging and interdisciplinary issues that combine concepts and methods beyond existing theories and data and instead require a research focus. In addition to the water engineering research component, this IRES program will make important contributions to water engineering education more broadly, as it will produce research focused on how to enhance the education of water engineers and how and why students develop in these kinds of international research experiences.