Graduate Program in Regional Resilience and Adaptation
Applications are being accepted for the Integrative Graduate Education
and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks
For more information see the IGERT website at:
http://www.regional-resilience.uaf.edu
Target date for applications is 1 February 2003
Applications will continue to be considered after that date
The University of Alaska Fairbanks offers a graduate training program in
Regional Resilience and Adaptation (RR&A) to train scholars,
policy-makers, and managers to address issues of regional sustainability
in an integrated fashion. This program prepares students to address a
major challenge facing humanity: To sustain the desirable features of
Earth's ecosystems and society at a time of rapid changes in all of the
major forces that shape their structure and functioning. The program
provides training at the PhD and Masters level. It integrates the tools
and approaches of ecology, economics, anthropology, climate dynamics,
philosophy, and community and regional development in a systems
framework to understand the functioning of regional systems. Our
underlying assumptions are: The major problems facing the world must be
addressed at the regional scale, and no solution is tenable unless it is
ecologically, economically, and culturally sustainable. The program
emphasizes high-latitude ecosystems, where current management issues
require an application of the integrated understanding of these
disciplines. This approach is, however, equally applicable to all
developing and developed nations, and we welcome students who seek to
apply this training to any region of the globe.
The RR&A program provides training at the PhD and Masters levels. Our
goal is to educate a new generation of scholars, policy makers, and
managers to integrate the perspectives of natural and social sciences in
addressing both the basic understanding of regional systems and the
application of this understanding to management issues. The program
provides training to graduate students from the University of Alaska and
to graduate students at other universities who wish to enroll for one
year of intensive course work in Regional Resilience and Adaptation at
the University of Alaska. We provide course work and a seminar program
that integrates ecology, economics, political science, and anthropology
in a systems-modeling framework. We also provide faculty mentorship and
internships in areas outside each student's parent discipline. The RR&A
program is associated with numerous research programs at the University
of Alaska and in state and federal agencies. These research programs
provide interdisciplinary research opportunities for RR&A students. The
program emphasizes cross-cultural communication through heavy
involvement with the Alaskan Native American community and with
managers, businesses, and conservation groups.
We offer NSF-funded fellowships to PhD candidates entering the program.
Additional funding is available to both PhD and Masters students through
participating departments.
A detailed description of the program and application forms are
available at:
http://www.regional-resilience.uaf.edu
or by contacting:
F. Stuart Chapin, III (terry.chapin [at] uaf.edu)
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, AK 99775
February 1 is the target date for reviewing applications to the RR&A
program, although applications received after that date will also
receive consideration.
We strongly encourage applications from ethnic minorities and other
under-represented groups.