US - Ethiopia Planning Visit for Collaborative Training in GIS Applications and Environmental Education

PI Melinda Laituri将带领科罗拉多州立大学（CSU）的科学家、大学教职员工和资源管理人员到埃塞俄比亚的亚的斯亚贝巴大学（AAU）和资源管理机构进行为期一周的计划访问，以促进用于自然资源管理和环境保护的应用地理信息系统（GIS）的远程培训和学术项目。规划访问将是实现几个长期目标的第一步，这些目标包括在埃塞俄比亚建设科学家和资源管理者的技术能力，在科罗拉多州立大学（CSU）开发一门以非洲发展中国家为重点的环境课程，以及促进科学家、学者和资源管理者之间的国际伙伴关系。为了实现这些目标，它打算建立一个网络基础设施，以提供信息和远程教育，存储数据并加强通信。这一网络基础设施的设计和开发将使美国的研究人员和教育工作者能够通过国际合作推进他们的工作，并确保未来几代美国科学家和工程师在职业生涯的早期获得国外的专业经验。访问将评估需求，制定长期战略，并确保福利产生最大影响。它将允许参与者(1)加强美国和埃塞俄比亚参与者之间的伙伴关系，(2)对可用设备和计算能力进行彻底评估，(3)评估埃塞俄比亚参与者的知识和技能水平，(4)根据需求和能力制定远程学习GIS培训计划。(5)确定当前的环境和社会条件，这些条件可以整合到埃塞俄比亚人的远程学习培训材料和科罗拉多州立大学针对非洲研究的教师和学生的课程中。

PI Melinda Laituri will lead a one-week Planning Visit for scientists, university faculty members and resource managers from Colorado State University (CSU) to Addis Ababa University (AAU), and resource management agencies in Ethiopia to facilitate distant training and academic programs in applied geographic information systems (GIS) for natural resource management and environmental conservation. The Planning Visit will be the first step in reaching several long-term goals that include building technological capacities of scientists and resource managers in Ethiopia, developing an environmental curriculum at Colorado State University (CSU) that will focus on developing countries in Africa, and promoting international partnerships between scientists, academics, and resource managers. To foster these goals, it is intended to build a cyberinfrastructure that will deliver information and distant education, house data, and enhance communications. The design and development of this cyberinfrastructure will empower U.S. researchers and educators to advance their work through international collaboration and ensure that future generations of U.S. scientists and engineers gain professional experience beyond our nation's borders early in their careers. The visit will assess needs, develop a long-term strategy, and insure that benefits have a maximum impact. It will allow participants to (1) strengthen partnerships among U.S. and Ethiopian participants, (2) conduct a thorough assessment of the available equipment and computational capacities, (3) evaluate the knowledge and skill levels of the Ethiopian participants, (4) formulate a distance learning GIS training program based on needs and capacity, and (5) identify current environmental and social conditions that can be integrated into distance learning training materials for Ethiopians and curricula for CSU faculty and students targeted at African studies.