Professional Development Fellowship: Ethics and Values of Ecosystem Restoration

该项目由科学技术协会项目资助，支持环境工程师与环境伦理学家一起学习的专业发展奖学金。现代环境问题从根本上不同于环境工程师的历史关注，包括无处不在的“邪恶”问题，无视传统工程工具的应用。这一现实表现在工程师在对生态问题进行成本效益分析和风险分析时遇到的困难，随着全球气候变化成为决定性的环境问题，并影响到一系列其他环境问题，这一困难只会加剧。这些趋势要求工程师与其他学科的学者进行跨学科合作。该奖学金为工程师提供了一个机会，使其沉浸在与环境和生态恢复主题相关的哲学文献中。该奖学金为布法罗大学提供了1年的假期，以搬迁到华盛顿地区，在乔治梅森大学的Andrew Light博士的指导下学习和开展研究。莱特是环境伦理学领域公认的领导者，他撰写了大量关于生态恢复伦理学的文章。具体的研究金目标包括：（1）加深对环境伦理学领域的认识和理解，重点是这种应用哲学形式如何有助于解决现代环境问题，特别是恢复五大湖生态系统。(2)利用奖学金的经验，以提高在布法罗大学的跨学科环境计划的发展和管理的贡献。(3)通过撰写两篇合作研究论文，为环境伦理学和环境工程领域做出贡献。(4)为围绕国家恢复五大湖努力的公共讨论作出有意义的贡献。

This project funded by the Science, Technology & Society program supports a professional development fellowship for an environmental engineer to study with an environmental ethicist. Modern environmental problems are fundamentally different from the historical concerns of environmental engineers, including the ubiquity of "wicked" problems that defy the application of traditional engineering tools. This reality is evident in the difficulty experienced by engineers in applying cost-benefit analysis and risk analysis to problems with ecological components, a difficulty that will only intensify with the emergence of global climate change as the defining environmental problem that shapes and influences a range of other environmental problems. These trends require that engineers engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with scholars from other disciplines. This fellowship provides an opportunity for an engineer to become immersed in philosophical literature relevant to the topics of environmental and ecological restoration.The fellowship provides for 1-year of leave from the University at Buffalo to relocate to the Washington DC area to study and conduct research under the direction of Dr. Andrew Light at George Mason University. Light, a recognized leader in the field of environmental ethics, has written extensively on the ethics of ecological restoration. Specific fellowship objectives include: (1) Develop a deeper appreciation for and understanding of the field of environmental ethics with a focus on how this form of applied philosophy can contribute to the resolution of modern environmental problems, particularly the restoration of the Great Lakes ecosystems. (2) Utilize the fellowship experience to enhance contributions to the development and management of interdisciplinary environmental programs at the University at Buffalo. (3) Contribute to the fields of environmental ethics and environmental engineering by developing two collaborative research papers. (4) Develop a meaningful contribution to the public discourse surrounding national efforts to restore the Great Lakes.