IRES Track 1: Nature-Based Solutions Research in Urban Latin America: International Research Experience for Students (NBS-RULA-IRES)

在全球气候变化的背景下，世界各地的城市都在寻找创新的方式来设想和实施基于自然的解决方案，以应对复杂的城市发展挑战。拉丁美洲的城市为北美学生提供了独特的机会，培养在不同社会和政治文化中工作的关键技能，同时向科学家和专业人士学习如何推进更具弹性和可持续发展的城市。与NATURA（基于自然的人类世城市韧性解决方案）项目合作，这个国际学生研究经验（IRES）项目支持培训和发展15名学生，学习跨文化和国际研究方法，促进对基于自然的解决方案在城市地区的好处的科学和文化理解。在三年的时间里，该项目每年将召集五名美国本科生和研究生，向主办城市的专业人士和科学家学习创造性的解决方案，以满足瓜亚基尔（厄瓜多尔，2022年）、圣地亚哥（智利，2023年）和埃莫西略（mmosiico， 2024年）的当地需求。此外，学生将参加与东道国教师共同教授的跨学科双语在线春季学期课程，以制定他们的研究计划，并在出发前熟悉当地情况。培养有能力应对气候变化和城市化的新一代学生，需要大学传统上不教授的关键社会能力，如协作技能和在不同学科和社会部门之间进行沟通和导航的能力。参与该IRES项目的学生通过与合作研究团队的直接实地经验来发展这些技能，以了解和干预拉丁美洲城市在不同文化背景下城市化和气候变化带来的环境和社会挑战。在拉丁美洲，许多城市因快速城市化和经济增长而面临气候和其他环境威胁，部署基于自然的解决方案（NBS）提供了另一种发展途径，有可能满足社会、生态和基础设施需求。尽管国家统计局做出了承诺，但它并未被广泛纳入学术研究或地区规划议程。我们提出了一个学生国际研究经验（IRES）项目，该项目将与NATURA（人类世中基于自然的城市弹性解决方案）项目相关联，重点是与拉丁美洲城市的当地从业者和科学家合作，研究、设想和开发创新的NBS来应对城市挑战。该计划的主要目标是帮助学生学习在不同的社会和政治文化中工作，以便他们可以成为人类世有效的变革推动者。该IRES项目每年将派遣5名本科生和研究生到瓜亚基尔（厄瓜多尔，2022年）、圣地亚哥（智利，2023年）和埃莫西约（姆莫希科，2024年），以及波哥大<e:1>（哥伦比亚）和圣何塞（哥斯达黎加）进行为期10周的交流。作为培训的一部分，美国研究生将参加与东道国教师共同教授的跨学科双语在线春季学期课程，这将有助于他们制定研究计划，并在出发前熟悉当地情况。主办机构的导师们，瓜亚基尔高等理工学院（ESPOL）、圣地亚哥市长大学（UM）、埃莫西约Tecnológico索诺拉尔研究所（ITSON）、波哥大拉萨尔大学（ULS）和圣何塞哥斯达黎加大学（UCR）已经或将成为NATURA的合作者，并已经在这些城市领导NBS的研究。在这个方案中，我们强调学生的创造力，并与当地的环境相适应；因此，每年潜在的研究课题都会根据具体需求而改变。研究生将撰写研究计划作为申请的一部分，并在课程中进一步完善；本科生将在他们逗留期间在研究生或主持研究的背景下开发小型项目。作为IRES项目的一部分，所有学生都将有在拉丁美洲城市进行环境和社会挑战的跨学科合作研究的经验。对美国学生的辅助好处将包括文化理解和语言学习，以及可能与他们的论文或荣誉研究相结合的项目，并为主办城市的整体知识到行动的努力做出贡献，所有这些都将有助于发展全球参与气候科学研究和实践的美国劳动力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cities all over the world are looking for innovative ways of envisioning and implementing nature-based solutions to complex urban development challenges in the context of global climate change. Latin American cities offer unique opportunities for North American students to build critical skills for working across diverse social and political cultures while learning from scientists and professionals about ways of advancing more resilient and sustainable cities. In collaboration with the NATURA (NATure-based solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene) project, this International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project supports the training and development of 15 students in cross-cultural and international research approaches that advance a scientific and cultural understanding of the benefits of nature-based solutions in urban areas. For three years, this program will bring together a cohort of five U.S. undergraduate and graduate students annually to spend ten weeks learning from host city professionals and scientists about creative solutions that respond to local needs in Guayaquil (Ecuador, 2022), Santiago (Chile, 2023), and Hermosillo (México, 2024). Furthermore, students will participate in an interdisciplinary, bilingual, online spring-semester course co-taught with faculty from their host country, to develop their research proposals and become familiar with the local context prior to departure. Training a new generation of students capable of tackling climate change and urbanization requires crucial social competencies not traditionally taught in universities, such as collaboration skills and the ability to communicate and navigate across different disciplines and sectors in society. Students in this IRES project are developing these skills through direct field experience with a collaborative research team to understand and intervene in the environmental and social challenges of urbanization and climate change across diverse cultural contexts in Latin American cities. In Latin America, where many cities face climatic and other environmental threats compounded by rapid urbanization and growth, the deployment of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) offers an alternative development pathway with the potential to satisfy social, ecological, and infrastructural needs. Despite their promise, NBS have not been broadly incorporated into academic research nor into regional planning agendas. We propose an International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program that will be linked to the NATURA (NATure-based solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene) project, focusing on working with local practitioners and scientists in Latin American cities to study, envision, and develop innovative NBS to urban challenges. The main objective of the proposed program is to help students learn to work across diverse social and political cultures so that they may be effective change agents in the Anthropocene. This IRES program will bring a cohort of five undergraduate and graduate students each year for ten weeks to Guayaquil (Ecuador, 2022), Santiago (Chile, 2023), and Hermosillo (México, 2024), with Bogotá (Colombia) and San José (Costa Rica) as alternates. As part of their training, US graduate students will participate in an interdisciplinary, bilingual, online spring-semester course co-taught with faculty from their host country, which will help them to develop their research proposals and become familiar with the local context prior to departure. Mentors at the host institutions, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral in Guayaquil (ESPOL), Universidad Mayor in Santiago (UM), Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora in Hermosillo (ITSON), Universidad de LaSalle in Bogotá (ULS), and Universidad de Costa Rica in San José (UCR) are, or will become, collaborators of NATURA and are already leading research on NBS in these cities. In this proposal, we emphasize student creativity and fit with the local context; hence, each year potential research topics will change in response to specific needs. Graduate students will write research proposals as part of their applications and further refine them in the course; undergraduate students will develop small projects within the context of graduate student or host research during their stay. As part of the IRES program, all students will have experience with transdisciplinary, collaborative research on environmental and social challenges in Latin American cities. Ancillary benefits to U.S. students will include cultural understanding and language learning, and projects that potentially integrate with their dissertation or honors research and contribute to the overall knowledge-to-action efforts in the host city, all of which will contribute to the development of a globally engaged U.S. workforce in climate sciences research and practice.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.