REU Site: Resilience and Adaptation to Coastal Change Across Communities

这个REU网站将有助于开发一个跨学科的，系统级的理解在沿海地区的环境和社会之间的相互作用，使用团队科学的方法。该项目将接待东卡罗莱纳大学海岸研究所的REU学生，以及来自克莱姆森大学和波多黎各大学阿雷西博分校的额外远程导师。研究小组将调查和记录人类行为如何在极端天气事件、海平面上升和人口增长的情况下对沿海恢复力产生积极或消极的影响。本科研究人员将与这三个机构的教师合作，解决沿海恢复力问题，这是一个社会紧迫的问题，因为这些地区面临着基础设施、食品和能源安全、人类健康和生态系统可持续性方面的重大挑战。该项目包括团队科学的重要训练元素，将使学生能够有效地解决跨学科工作和研究生研究环境中的问题，建立他们向公众传播科学的能力，并以系统的角度解决社会挑战。有针对性的专业发展活动，参与者的多样性，以及使用虚拟协作工具来支持来自多个领域和机构的一系列研究人员的团队科学，因此也将使学生参与跨学科，地理和文化界限的工作。这些技能将使学生在研究团队成员之间不可能直接接触的情况下参与研究，包括当前大流行等情况，其中隔离是由于健康和安全问题，而不仅仅是地理或文化因素。学生将从事一系列跨学科领域的研究项目，这些领域将推动环境和社会系统的演变。系统科学概念将整合整个REU的项目，使学生能够识别和理解地球科学与其他学科之间的依赖关系如何影响社会。团队科学和协作工作的虚拟化将使REU参与者在北卡罗莱纳州外滩的ECU海岸研究所参加为期一周的强化培训训练营，随后进行为期九周的强化研究。专业发展活动的结构将使学生克服地理和文化障碍的合作，从而为他们提供一个独特的技能，追求全球变化研究作为一个有效的跨学科团队成员。培训活动的例子包括增强学生在全球变化、数据科学和复原力方面的知识基础；使用地理信息系统、系统动力学模型和专业通讯工具等技术；以及在个人和团队研究的进行和展示方面的专业发展。通过波多黎各路易斯斯托克斯少数族裔参与联盟以及与HBCUs和两年制大学的合作，将从卡罗来纳州和波多黎各的大学招募学生，以接触到具有不同人口背景和有限研究机会的广泛人群。该项目将以一个学生专题讨论会结束，其中包括利用科学传播策略制作的海报展示和学生研究视频，以吸引公众参与研究。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。

This REU Site will contribute to developing an interdisciplinary, systems-level understanding of the interplay between the environment and society in coastal regions using a Team Science approach. The project will host REU students at East Carolina University’s Coastal Studies Institute with additional remote mentors from Clemson University and the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. Research teams will investigate and document how human actions positively or negatively influence coastal resilience in the face of extreme weather events, sea level rise, and population growth. Undergraduate researchers will work with faculty at these three institutions to address issues in coastal resilience, which is a problem of societal urgency as these regions face critical challenges to infrastructure, food and energy security, human health, and ecosystem sustainability. The project includes important training elements in Team Science that will prepare students to effectively address problems in interdisciplinary work and graduate research settings, build their ability to communicate science to the public, and take a systems perspective on solving societal challenges. Targeted professional development activities, a diversity of participants, and use of virtual collaboration tools to support Team Science with a range of researchers from multiple fields and institutions will therefore also engage students in working across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. These skills will prepare the students to participate in research when direct contact between research team members is not possible, including situations such as the current pandemic where isolation is due to health and safety concern and not just geographic or cultural factors. Students will pursue research projects across a range of interdisciplinary areas that drive the evolution of environmental and social systems. Systems science concepts will integrate projects across the REU, enabling students to identify and understand how dependencies between earth science and other disciplines impact society. Team Science and virtualization of collaboration efforts will engage REU participants in an intensive week-long training bootcamp at ECU’s Coastal Studies Institute in the Outer Banks of North Carolina followed by nine weeks of intensive research. Professional development activities will be structured to enable the students to overcome geographic and cultural barriers to collaboration, thereby providing them a unique skill set to pursue global change research as an effective interdisciplinary team member. Examples of training activities include enhancing the students’ knowledge base in global change, data science, and resilience; use of technologies such as GIS, systems dynamics models, and professional communication tools; and professional development in the conduct and presentation of individual and team-based research. Students will be recruited from universities across the Carolinas and Puerto Rico through the Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and partnerships with HBCUs and two year colleges to reach a wide population with varying demographic backgrounds and limited access to research opportunities. The project will conclude with a student Symposium with poster presentations and student research videos developed using science communication strategies to engage the public in research.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.