IRES Track I: United States-Nepal Collaborative Research for Climate, Water and Environmental Biotechnology (CWEB)

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This National Science Foundation IRES award engages faculty and students from Morgan State University, USA, and Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students will receive international research training in the multidisciplinary areas of climate change, geosciences, microbiology, environmental data science and water quality analysis. The students will conduct hands-on citizen science research in Nepal under the guidance of diverse interdisciplinary faculty mentors, postdocs, and peer graduate students; develop leadership, communication, and mentoring skills; visit local leaders in environmental stewardship; and expand networking opportunities with scientists at the partner institutes. Upon the completion of the project, students will present their findings through a one-day Mini-research Symposium at Morgan State and by producing scientific publications. Morgan State, a U.S. HBCU, has a high percentage of underrepresented minorities (URM); more than 80% of its student population is African American. This IRES Track I program will provide these students with a rewarding international research opportunity in Kathmandu, Nepal. Following required training and research preparation at Morgan State University, 10 students annually over the course of three summers will travel to Nepal for field and laboratory research. The proposed site aims to form an interdisciplinary workforce and the activities will include a) short courses, b) workshops on leadership, scientific ethics, and communication skills, c) mentored research, d) seminar series from prominent scientists and e) field trips and social events. The program is co-organized by the Tribhuvan University Central Department of Microbiology, Central Department of Environmental Science, Center for Molecular Dynamics, Public Health Research Laboratory and Kathmandu Research Institute for Biological Sciences. Major research efforts will focus on these areas a) changing climate and drinking water quality; b) emerging pathogens; and c) disease ecology, and d) environmental biotechnology. They will spend a total of 10 weeks in Nepal and research will be conducted in three towns within Nepal (Kathmandu metropolitan city, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur) with different socioeconomic factors. Over the course of this IRES program, the US and Nepalese partners will strengthen their collaboration through research training, international teamwork, and cultural exchange.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.