IRES: Track I: Andean-Amazonian Watershed Experience: Exploring Sustainability of Mountain Ecosystems in Ecuador (AWESOME)

IRES：第一轨道：安第斯-亚马逊流域体验：探索厄瓜多尔山区生态系统的可持续性（很棒）

• 批准号: 1952541
• 负责人: Heidi Asbjornsen
• 金额: $ 39.14万
• 依托单位: University of New Hampshire
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1952541&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Track; Andean; Amazonian; Watershed

This IRES project is co-funded by Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and Hydrologic Sciences programs (GEO/EAR). Part 1: Nontechnical description. As our world becomes increasingly globalized and interconnected, providing opportunities for U.S. students to engage in international research and cultural exchange is essential to creating a globally aware and skilled workforce capable of tackling the challenges of the future. This is especially true for global issues related to water, given that the scarcity of reliable and clean water supplies to support growing human populations is one of the world’s most pressing environmental and social issues today. This IRES supports an international program for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, the “Andean-Amazonian Watershed Experience: Exploring Sustainability of Mountain Ecosystems in Ecuador” (AWESOME). The program takes place in the Andean-Amazonian region of Ecuador, which is currently experiencing a range of water-related issues along with a diversity of policy responses aimed at finding solutions, and thus provides an ideal landscape for engaging students in international research experiences. AWESOME will support 18 U.S. students over three years to conduct individual research projects over two months at two sites in the upper Andean-Amazonian region: alpine paramo in the Paute watershed, and rainforest in the Napo watershed. Students will be supported by faculty mentors from three collaborating Ecuadorian institutions, theUniversity of Cuenca, the Regional University of Amazonia, and the University of Azuay, and UNH faculty mentors from diverse disciplines. Two cohort experiences, an orientation watershed tour and a synthesis workshop (10 days each), will introduce students to water resource science and policy across diverse natural ecosystems and human communities, foster their capacity for systems-thinking and interdisciplinary analysis, and help them to conceptualize their own research as part of a complex and interconnected world.Part 2: Technical description. Addressing global water-related challenge requires that future leaders have a strong understanding of the science of watershed sustainability and complex socioecohydrological systems (SEHS), and the ability to apply that understanding to developing effective policy solutions using transdisciplinary approaches. The goals of AWESOME are to, (1) provide an international research experience that enhances student understanding of the complex dynamics of coupled SEHS in response to diverse global change drivers, and (2) investigate science-based policies for improving watershed sustainability. Student research projects will focus on six themes: 1) hydrologic regulation–from leaves to watersheds; 2) biogeochemical cycles—water quality and carbon storage; 3) biodiversity–biotic interactions and watershed functions; 4) social dynamics andcommunity resilience; 5) economic-ecological tradeoffs of water funds, and 6) water policy. Themes are unified under a conceptual framework of watershed sustainability that incorporates the complex interactions and feedbacks between the human and biophysical systems within SEHS. This conceptual model is grounded in the theories of coupled natural-human systems dynamics, watershed sustainability, community resilience, and inter/transdisciplinary research, providing a strong intellectual framework for guiding the AWESOME experience. Students will participate in interdisciplinary and intercultural research teams and engage in transdisciplinary discussions with diverse watershed actors, which will support their development and refinement of mental models of watershed sustainability. By leveraging ongoing research collaborations between Ecuadorian and U.S. faculty and partner academic institutions, our research team will offer a unique and transformative international research experience that will have an impact on students’ personal and professional trajectories. AWESOME will result in an innovative model for international research and experiential learning around SEHS and watershed sustainability, with broad impacts on educational programs between the U.S., Ecuador, and beyond. Through established partnerships and interactions with local watershed actors, research results and their implications for water resource policy will be shared and discussed at a synthesis workshop and in student reports. A seminar will be organized through the NH International Seminar Series to highlight the AWESOME experience, with U.S. and Ecuadorian students and researchers giving presentations and facilitating discussions, which will be widely disseminated via a webinar. Pedagogical approaches will be developed for using international research opportunities to enhance student learning regarding issues of watershed sustainability while cultivating academic, professional, and personal growth. Finally, this IRES will create international research collaborations and exchange programs that will be sustained beyond the tenure of the AWESOME program.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.

该IRES项目由国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）和水文科学计划（GEO/EAR）共同资助。第1部分：非技术描述。随着我们的世界变得越来越全球化和互连，为美国学生提供国际研究和文化交流的机会对于创造一个能够应对未来挑战的全球意识和熟练的劳动力至关重要。对于与水有关的全球问题，尤其如此，鉴于可靠，清洁的水供应缺乏支持不断增长的人口的供应是当今世界上最紧迫的环境和社会问题之一。这项IRES支持了一项针对美国本科生和研究生的国际计划，即“ Andean-Amazonian流域经验：探索厄瓜多尔山区生态系统的可持续性”（真棒）。该计划发生在厄瓜多尔的安第斯 - 阿马佐尼亚地区，该地区目前正在经历一系列与水有关的问题，以及旨在找到解决方案的各种政策响应，因此为吸引学生参与国际研究经验提供了理想的景观。 Awesome将在三年内支持18名美国学生，在两个月的两个地点进行两个月的个人研究项目：在贫民区的高山帕拉莫（Alpine Paramo），在Napo Platershed中进行雨林。学生将得到来自三个合作的厄瓜多尔机构，昆卡大学，亚马逊区域大学和阿祖大学的教师导师的支持，以及来自潜水员学科的UND教师导师。两种队列的经验，一个方向流域之旅和一个合成研讨会（每次10天），将向学生介绍跨潜水员自然生态系统和人类社区的水资源科学和政策，促进他们进行系统思维和跨学科分析的能力，并帮助他们将自己的研究概念化为复杂和互联的世界的一部分。应对全球与水相关的挑战要求未来的领导者对流域可持续性和复杂的社会学水文系统（SEH）的科学有深刻的了解，并且能够将这种理解应用于使用跨学科方法来开发有效的政策解决方案的能力。令人敬畏的目标是，（1）提供国际研究经验，以增强学生对SEH耦合SEH的复杂动态的理解，以应对潜水员的全球变化驱动因素，以及（2）调查基于科学的基于科学的政策，以改善流域的可持续性。学生研究项目将重点介绍六个主题：1）水文法规 - 从叶子到分水岭； 2）生物地球化学周期 - 水质和碳存储； 3）生物多样性 - 生物相互作用和流域功能； 4）社会动态和社区弹性； 5）水基金的经济生态权衡和6）水政策。主题是在分水岭可持续性的概念框架下统一的，该框架结合了SEH中人类和生物物理系统之间复杂的相互作用和反馈。这种概念模型基于耦合的天然人类系统动态，分水岭的可持续性，社区弹性和跨学科研究的理论，为指导出色的体验提供了强大的知识框架。学生将参加跨学科和跨文化研究团队，并与潜水流域演员进行跨学科讨论，这将支持他们的发展和完善分水岭可持续性的心理模型。通过利用厄瓜多尔和美国教职员工与合作伙伴学术机构之间正在进行的研究合作，我们的研究团队将提供独特而变革性的国际研究经验，该研究将对学生的个人和专业轨迹产生影响。 Awesome将为SEH和分水岭的可持续性提供创新的国际研究和专家学习模型，对美国，厄瓜多尔及其他地区之间的教育计划产生广泛的影响。通过既定的合作伙伴关系以及与当地流域参与者的互动，研究结果及其对水资源政策的影响将在合成研讨会和学生报告中共享和讨论。 NH国际研讨会系列将组织开创性的经验，以突出美国和厄瓜多尔的学生和研究人员提供演讲和支持讨论，这将通过网络研讨会广泛传播。将开发教学方法，用于利用国际研究机会，以增强学生对流域可持续性问题的学习，同时培养学术，专业和个人成长。最后，该国税局将创建国际研究合作和交流计划，这些计划将超出令人敬畏的计划的任期。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估，被认为是珍贵的支持。