IRES: U.S.-Czech Student Research Experience on Understanding Water and Chemical Transport in the Earth's Vadose Zone

IRES：美国-捷克学生了解地球包气带水和化学物质传输的研究经验

• 批准号: 1460129
• 负责人: Chittaranjan Ray
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1460129&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; U.S.; Czech; Student; Research

This U.S.-Czech international research experience for students (IRES) project supports a partnership between scientists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Czech Technical University-Prague (CTU) that is designed to prepare U.S. students for STEM graduate-level study through an early career cooperative research experience focused on the earth's vadose zone, known as the geologic "skin of the earth." For each of the three years of this IRES project, cohorts of four U.S. science and engineering students will expand their global competence through a well-integrated, eight-week international research and educational experience in the Czech Republic. Principal Investigator Chittaranjan Ray (UNL), along with lead counterparts Michal Snìhota and Martin Sanda (CTU), will serve as mentors. In their collaboration with CTU scientists and students, U.S. participants will jointly conduct hypothesis-driven laboratory experiments and field investigations designed to characterize water and chemical movement in unsaturated soils with macro pores (large pores due to wormholes, cracks etc.) at site-to-watershed scale in the Czech Republic. The U.S. students will learn about creative, original, and potentially transformative methods the Czechs are using to study the fate and transport of water and contaminants through the unsaturated zone, particularly in terms of preferential flow. New research results and knowledge of novel technologies being used in Europe will be shared in the U.S. through this project, thereby contributing to the development of a more globally engaged science workforce as well as to the sustainability of valuable water resources which affect economic competitiveness both domestically and internationally.U.S. IRES participants will collaborate with the Czech researchers to evaluate the utility and accuracy of these new methods, which promise to significantly expand scientific understanding of vadose zone processes. These are considered critical to protecting and preserving ground water resources. As the "skin" of the earth, the vadose zone, or the unsaturated zone, regulates various functions like water percolation and contaminant attenuation, among others. Over the course of their IRES research abroad, U.S. students will learn about and use new technologies and methods developed in Europe. Understanding flow and transport processes in the vadose zone is a key to identifying ground water pollution potential and to developing mitigation strategies. IRES participants also will work with Czech partners to evaluate the utility and accuracy of innovative Czech technologies used to study water flow at different scales. Their findings are expected to materially contribute data about the correlation of small-scale measurements of soil properties to watershed processes. Overall, the IRES experience is intended to encourage a diverse group of undergraduate participants to pursue graduate education in STEM fields. The U.S. students will be encouraged to publish and to share their experiences via the UNL-maintained IRES website and through presentations at appropriate professional meetings, such as meetings of the American Society of Engineering Education.

这项针对学生（IRES）项目的美国 - 捷克国际研究经验支持了Brbr Aska-Lincoln（UNL）的科学家之间的合作伙伴早期的Caireer研究经验集中在地球的vadse区域，被称为地质的地质学。教育经验。捷克共和国的不饱和土壤中的水运动。在欧洲将在美国分享美国科学劳动力，即有价值的水资源的可持续性，这些水资源会影响国内和tion.u.s的经济竞争。对vadose区域的理解显着，这是保护和保护地下水区的至关重要的。在欧洲，vadose区的Rocesses是识别水力和缓解策略的关键。 E toitershed流程旨在鼓励STEM领域的一系列从事的研究生教育。