NRT: Boston UniverCity - Partnering Graduate Students and Cities to Tackle Urban Environmental Challenges

世界上一半以上的人口居住在城市，预计向城市人口中心的转移将继续增长。 城市经常面临空气和水污染、极端天气事件或风暴潮等环境挑战。 解决城市环境中的这些问题是复杂的，需要不同领域的专门知识，包括跨学科的技术知识和与所有利益攸关方有效沟通的能力。这个国家科学基金会研究实习奖波士顿大学将准备研究生解决城市面临的主要环境问题，使用融合生态科学和环境健康的跨学科方法，重点是参与和与决策者，私营部门和更广泛的社区沟通。该项目预计将培养60名博士。学生，包括20名NRT资助的学员，来自生态科学，环境卫生和统计。毕业生将有能力解决有关物理环境的基本问题，并减少环境对生态系统功能和人类健康的影响。该培训模式有三个相互关联的要素，包括：（i）波士顿大学提供的生态科学、环境卫生、数据分析、实地研究方法和城市治理方面的跨学科课程;（ii）城市和私营部门的讲习班和实习;（iii）通过混合媒体进行外联，向公众宣传城市环境问题、科学和解决方案。学生的研究课题将制定一个协作过程，涉及学生，教师，政策制定者，私营部门的成员，和外部咨询理事会。该培训计划（i）将通过在招聘，指导，培训和保留博士学位方面使用基于证据的方法，为多元化和具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力做出贡献。学生，重点是代表性不足的少数民族学生;（ii）将导致传播一种新的培训模式，可供美国其他大学采用;以及（iii）将研究成果转化并传达给多个决策层面的决策者。该计划将通过定期评估学员的学习和沟通技能，并通过评估如何学员？这些努力影响了波士顿市和其他利益攸关方的决策。NSF研究培训（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的，新的，潜在的变革性模型，用于STEM研究生教育培训。研究生教育创新轨道专门致力于试点，测试和评估新颖，创新和潜在的变革性研究生教育方法。

More than half of the world's population lives in cities, and the shift to urban population centers is anticipated to continue growing. Cities often face environmental challenges such as air and water pollution, extreme weather events, or storm surges. Addressing these issues in urban environments is complex and requires diverse areas of expertise, including interdisciplinary technical knowledge and the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award to Boston University will prepare graduate students to tackle the major environmental problems confronting cities using an interdisciplinary approach that fuses biogeoscience and environmental health, with an emphasis on engagement and communication with policy makers, the private sector, and the broader community. This project anticipates training 60 Ph.D. students, including 20 NRT-funded trainees, from biogeoscience, environmental health, and statistics. Graduates will be equipped to address foundational questions about the physical environment and to reduce the impacts of the environment on both ecosystem function and human health. The training model has three linked elements, including (i) interdisciplinary coursework in biogeoscience, environmental health, data analysis, field research methods, and city governance offered at Boston University; (ii) workshops and internships with cities and the private sector; and (iii) outreach through mixed media to communicate urban environmental questions, science, and solutions to the public. Student research topics will be formulated using a collaborative process that involves students, faculty, policy-makers, members of the private sector, and an external advisory council. This training program (i) will contribute to a diverse and globally competitive STEM workforce through use of evidence-based approaches in recruitment, mentorship, training, and retention of Ph.D. students, with an emphasis on underrepresented minority students; (ii) will lead to dissemination of a new training model that can be adopted by other universities around the U.S.; and (iii) will result in translation and communication of research results to policy-makers at multiple levels of decision-making. The program will be evaluated through regular assessments of trainee learning and communication skills and by assessments of how trainees? efforts have affected decisions made by the city of Boston and other stakeholders. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Innovations in Graduate Education Track is dedicated solely to piloting, testing, and evaluating novel, innovative, and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education.