IGERT: Assessing Change in Coastal Ecosystems: Integrating Natural and Social Sciences

罗德岛大学海岸学院IGERT项目(CIIP)开发了一个综合的、多学科的研究生课程，以丰富那些在解决沿海生态系统环境问题方面表现出领导潜力的学生的教育。该IGERT的基本目标和学术价值是将自然科学和社会科学中传统上不同的学科结合起来，形成一个连贯的、多学科的沿海研究框架。这一框架将通过确定资源管理人员的关键问题和信息需求，突出科学基础研究的重点。同样，通过将科学素养纳入对沿海环境问题的经济和社会层面的评估，将促进社会科学的研究。来自自然科学(生态、生物、渔业、自然资源科学)和社会科学(经济、治理、规划、沿海政策)的学员将相互密切合作，并与非学术合作机构密切合作，获得制定、实施和监测促进沿海地区活力的计划和政策的能力。要做到这一点，学员必须能够预测和谈判环境、社会和经济观点之间在沿海科学和管理问题上的冲突点。CIIP使用传播学、伦理学、社会公平、美学和领导力等人文学科的工具和学科，为研究生提供技能和视角，这些技能和观点对于在实践中沟通科学和公共政策至关重要。CIIP的综合研究和培训的更广泛影响将是产生与美国沿海大部分地区相关的环境问题的实际解决方案。IGERT是一个NSF范围内的项目，旨在应对培养具有跨学科背景、所选学科的深厚知识以及满足未来职业需求所需的技术、专业和个人技能的美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战。该项目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，催化研究生教育的文化变革。

The University of Rhode Island's Coastal Institute IGERT Project (CIIP) has developed an integrated, multi-disciplinary graduate curriculum to enrich the education of students who show potential for leadership in solving environmental problems in coastal ecosystems. The fundamental goal and intellectual merit of this IGERT is to integrate the traditionally disparate disciplines in the natural and social sciences to form a coherent, multidisciplinary framework for coastal research. This framework will sharpen the focus of basic research in the sciences by identifying the critical questions and information needs of resource managers. Similarly, research in the social sciences will be advanced by bringing scientific literacy to the assessment of economic and social dimensions of coastal environmental problems. Working closely with each other and with non-academic partner institutions, trainees from the natural sciences (ecology, biology, fisheries, natural resources science) and the social sciences (economics, governance, planning, coastal policy) will acquire competence in developing, implementing, and monitoring programs and policies that promote the vitality of coastal regions. To accomplish this trainees must be able to anticipate and negotiate points of conflict among environmental, social, and economic perspectives on issues of coastal science and management. The CIIP uses tools and disciplines in the humanities such as communication sciences, ethics, social equity, aesthetics and leadership to provide graduate students with skills and perspectives that are fundamental to bridging science and public policy in practice. The broader impact of the integrated research and training in the CIIP will be production of practical solutions to environmental problems that are relevant to much of coastal America. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, 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.