ECA SPIRE PROPOSAL

Jane Molofsky, Plant Biology, ChairNick Gotelli, BiologySaleem Ali, RSENR and Gund Institute FellowDennis Clougherty, PhysicsWilliam Keeton, RSENRBeverley Wemple, GeographyLeon Walls, EducationLisa Aultman-Hall, Transportation Research CenterMary Watzin, Dean and Advisor

Environmental Change and AdaptationECAECA SPIRE: Environmental Change and AdaptationGOAL: Create a nationally recognized program that will build UVM strength in the environment. Identify areas that are not already being done elsewhere.

CONSTRAINTS: resources are limited, faculty concern about Spires hogging all the resources.Identify what is being done at UVMIdentify what is not being done elsewhere

How can we reconcile the goals with the constraints?Defining the Spire:

New technological tools for forecasting and predicting environmental changeSocioeconomic indicators of environmental changeEcological economics of changeNovel adaptive management of our existing resources.Education and outreach

What is being done elsewhere?Our research did not turn up any major US programs specifically examining environmental change and adaptationSchool ProgramColumbia UniversityThe Earth InstituteMassachusetts Institute of TechCenter for Global Change ScienceArizona State UniversityThe Global Institute of SustainabilityUniversity of MichiganEnvironmental Sustainability InstituteDuke UniversityNicholas School of the EnvironmentCornell UniversityCenter for a Sustainable Future

Consortium of Australian UniversitiesFocus on pest management primarily so little overlap Internationally, we turned up one Institute that included adaptation in the titleExisting UVM strength in Environmental ProgramsSierra magazine ranks UVM fourth"Coolest School" in countryUVM named one of nation's most environmentally responsible schoolsand over 160 faculty doing environmental research14, it's not surprising that the Sustainable Endowments Institute ranked UVM one of the six greenest schools15 in the country.17% of UVM undergraduates have majors identified with the SPIRE

UVM already has top scholars in the field of the environmentFaculty from more than 10 Departments/Programs would participate.These faculty have already produced top quality papers:53 SCIENCE,NATURE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences papers done by UVM faculty (excludes COM).These faculty already bring in competitive research dollars$35 million dollars in environmental grants last 5 years

UVM already has a PhD program in the area of the SPIREUVM currently has over 90 PhD students in the area of the SpireThese students are dispersed in small departmentsThis makes it difficult to recruitAffects the NRC rankings because individual programs too smallComponents of the SpireFive inter-related componentsModeling, forecasting, computational tools, new technologyDevelop socio-economic indicatorsJoint modeling of ecological/economic impactsDevelop novel adaptive managementIncrease educational/society outreachForecasting environmental ChangeModeling, forecasting, computational tools, new technologyExamples:Institute long-term monitoring studies (Beckage et al 2008 PNAS)Use tools from complex systemsDevelopment of sensors for better environmental monitoringDevelopment of Socio-economic indicatorsFaculty lead seminar in 2005 lead to several papers on socio-economic indicatorsVermonts small size makes it possible for the development and testing of indicators

Ecological and Economic impactsJoint consideration of ecological/economic indicators (ecological economics)GUND institute world leader in ecological economicsModels being developed at Transportation Research Center (TRC).Large NSF project (run out of GUND) is considered cutting edge of this field (aries project)Adaptive management of ecosystemsHow to make decisions in the face of uncertaintyPrograms in place on Lake Champlain, forest carbon sequestrationSocial networking can be considered a kind of adaptive management where social/societal pressure is used to drive decision makingFocus will be on finding best solutions

What will the SPIRE do for the undergraduate community at UVM?14 majors at the University are related to the environment17 % of students have majors identified by the SPIREGreater coordination of programs, faculty offering cross-disciplinary courses, greater research/intern opportunities.What will the Spire do for education and outreachSpire provides an opportunity to apply for GK-12 education grantFaculty work with teachers to develop curriculum around area of the SpireSends PhD students into local schools to implement the program (grade, middle, high).Multiple benefitsPhD students paid by grant, not TA supportLong-term changes in Curriculum

What will the Spire do for the community?Vermont can be a test lab for many programs developed at UniversityEnergy Minder program (Hines, Engineering and Bongard, Comp. Sci.)Paying farmers to not hay their fields (Strong, Donavon,RSENR)Enhanced outreach with ECHO and Shelburne FarmsGreater grant money coming in to the University, greater and higher tech jobs for the communityDevelopment of technology can lead to small business opportunities VCET

Proposed activitiesProvide faculty release time for trans-discplinary proposal developmentWhy release time and not grants?Faculty associated with the Spire already have competitive grant supportNASA,DOE,DOD, EPA, NSF, AFRI, NOAA, DOTFaculty need time and incentive to develop these cross-disciplinary proposals

Proposed ActivitiesFour faculty hires are proposedForecasting and TechnologyEcological/evolutionary response of both human and natural systems (2 )Human decision making/adaptationWhy not more?New faculty are expensive, especially in hard science where start-up money is substantialNew faculty can take up to 5-6 years to get important papers out in the area of the SPIRE.Many UVM faculty already excellent in the areas proposed.Dont be greedy. Other programs on campus deserve University support. SPIRE should prove its worth before commanding so many resources

Proposed ActivitiesOffer competitive graduate fellowshipsDevelop named post-doctoral fellowsBuild a Spire communityOffer a first year Spire experience for graduate studentsBring in world-class researchers to interact with faculty and studentsStart a short-faculty run workshop on a Spire topic to facilitate collaborations among faculty.

Many Spire activities are designed to build the UVM Environment brandMaking ECA Spire VisibleInitiate a summer institute10 day institute in areas of the SpireTaught by UVM scholars and bring in 1-2 other experts to leadNano-sensors and the environmentEnvironmental forecastingDevelopment of Socio-economic indicatorsOffer fellowships but also charge tuition.Advertise in Science, Nature and other top journals etc.

Making ECA Spire VisibleDevelop a model of bringing working groups to campus (model already exists on campus 4-day summer workshops for faculty across campus).Bring top scholars to UVMDevelop working relationship with these people that extends beyond the period of working groupAt the end of each working group, one of the UVM faculty involved will have the responsibility of producing a review/opinion paper in the area of the topic.These review papers are highly cited and establish policy/research guidelines for years to come.

Making ECA Spire VisibleNamed post-doctoral fellowshipsWhy? Few post-doctoral awards availablePeople at the beginning of their career often most creative and productiveDevelop a life-long relationship with UVM.Excellent scholars will go on to other big UniversitiesWill always be associated with UVMWill recommend UVM as a place to do graduate workWill establish long-term collaborative relationships with faculty on campusIf they receive competitive grants while in residence, UVM will benefit.Advertising for the fellowships will put University on the map.Similar programs exist at Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan.

Why a UVM summer institute?UVM has groups of internationally recognized scholars that could lead summer institutes that would be desirable for graduate studentsAdvertisement for the summer institute would create the buzz factorSome students may choose UVM Bring in some scholars in the area to supplement UVM scholarsTopic would vary among groups Potential avenue to establish collaborative relationships with some of the other instructorsBring in some funding, may be self-sustaining.

We can create the ECA Spire right now!We can create a Spire community by1. initiating a semester long faculty lead seminar series in Fall 20102. initiating a prominent seminar speaker series in Spring 2011.3. Developing a faculty lead workshop for beginning (first, second year graduate students) in May 2011.4. Advertising competitive graduate fellowships5. Plan for a summer institute in Summer 2011

Thank you for your attention