IGERT: Working Forest in the Tropics

需要有跨学科的技能和知识来处理与不享有保护区地位的热带森林（“工作林”）的使用和养护有关的问题。该IGERT建立在佛罗里达大学的优势之上，构建了一个尖端计划，该计划将作为博士研究和培训如何有效和道德地为解决热带工作林面临的关键问题做出贡献的典范。 研究目标是：（1）分析工作林备选方案之间的权衡和互补性;（2）澄清生物物理、社会、经济和政治制约因素及其相互作用如何影响不同类型工作林的养护和发展效力;（3）衡量旨在改善森林管理和促进养护的能力建设干预措施的影响。这些方法将综合广泛的学科，并在四个热带森林地区（低地玻利维亚、巴西阿克里、巴西亚马逊东部和三国玛雅森林）进行明确的比较。培训计划包括：（1）跨学科要求，包括生态学和社会科学，研究区域的历史/文化课程，以及适当的语言能力;（2）综合课程，包括跨学科研究方法，领导和沟通技能，热带保护和发展，土地利用/土地覆盖分析，工作森林诊所，和热带工作森林研讨会和实地课程;以及（3）互补的学习/教学机会，包括四个区域内的实地考察、年度会议、务虚会和讲习班、IGERT学生小组、实习、担任导师以及与利益攸关方分享研究成果。 该IGERT将（1）通过跨学科培训和强大的合作伙伴联系，促进对真实的世界问题作出更积极反应的研究;（2）使毕业生掌握的知识和技能与就业市场需求更好地匹配;（3）建立有效的领导者网络，培训的挑战，保护和强化利用热带工作林。IGERT是一个国家科学基金会-广泛的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士的挑战。科学家和工程师与多学科背景和技术，专业和个人技能所需的未来的职业需求。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训新模式，在超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中促进研究生教育的文化变革。在该计划的第五年，该奖项将颁发给21个机构，这些机构的计划共同跨越了NSF支持的科学和工程领域。

Interdisciplinary skills and knowledge are required to address issues related to the use and conservation of tropical forests that do not enjoy protected-area status ("working forests"). This IGERT builds on strengths at the University of Florida to construct a cutting-edge program that will serve as a model for how doctoral research and training can effectively and ethically contribute to solving critical problems facing tropical working forests. The research goals are to (1) analyze tradeoffs and complementarities among working forest options; (2) clarify how biophysical, social, economic and political constraints and their interactions influence the effectiveness of different kinds of working forests for conservation and development; and (3) measure the impacts of capacity-building interventions designed to improve forest management and promote conservation. The methods will be integrative across a wide range of disciplines and explicitly comparative across four tropical forest regions (Lowland Bolivia; Acre, Brazil; Eastern Amazonia, Brazil; and the tri-national Maya Forest). The training program includes (1) cross-disciplinary requirements, consisting of courses in ecology and social science, history/culture of the research regions, and appropriate language proficiency; (2) integrative coursework, including Interdisciplinary Research Methods, Leadership and Communication Skills, Tropical Conservation and Development and Land-Use/Land-Cover Analysis, a Working Forests Clinic, and a Working Forests of the Tropics seminar and field course; and (3) complementary learning/teaching opportunities, including site visits within the four regions, annual conferences, retreats and workshops, an IGERT student group, internships, service as mentors, and sharing research results with stakeholders. This IGERT will (1) foster research that is more responsive to real world problems due to interdisciplinary training and strong partner linkages; (2) provide a better match between knowledge and skills developed by graduates and job market demands; and (3) develop a network of effective leaders, trained for the challenges of conservation and intensified use of tropical working forests.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds 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. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.