This month, the Educational Model Program on Water-Energy Research at Syracuse University was awarded a five-year $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation for graduate student training and research.

The program funded through the $3 million grant is the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship, which will ensure graduate students develop the skills, knowledge and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers, said Laura Lautz, who led SU’s grant proposal to NSF, in an email.

Charles Driscoll, who is also involved in the EMPOWER NRT program, said the idea behind the funding was to try and provide broader training for graduate students in the STEM fields, specifically focusing on water-energy fields.

Driscoll, director of the Center for Environmental Systems Engineering, added that rather than having the graduate students train solely for research purposes, they can target areas such as science communications and public policy.

“It’s great because Syracuse University has great educational opportunities and this is a very exciting opportunity for us,” said Driscoll, who is also a professor in the Earth sciences department.

Approximately 257 proposals were made to NSF requesting funding, but only eight proposals, including SU’s, were approved, said Lautz, who is an associate professor of Earth sciences and director of graduate studies at SU.

Lautz added that the award is a culmination of several years of program development as part of the Water Science and Engineering Initiative, which is funded through the Provost and Vice Chancellor’s Office.

The award provides a one-year stipend of $32,000 for as many as 46 different graduate students studying in the STEM fields to be recruited to participate in the program, Lautz said.

Since the EMPOWER NRT program’s funding is only for students from the United States, any international students who would like to participate in the program would have to receive additional funding separate from the NSF grant in order to do so, Driscoll said.

However, Driscoll said the program is hoping to have more students than the 46 the grant allows participate, even though some of them might not receive assistance from the program’s funding if the slot limit is exceeded.

Lautz said the award will also include support for development of domestic and international field courses, a seed grant program and engagement of an external advisory committee comprised of nationally recognized professionals.

Faculty and staff members from the Earth science, civil environment engineering and chemistry departments, in addition to the science communications department within the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the economics department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, will be directly involved in the execution of the program.

Donald Torrance, director of the science communications department in Newhouse, said in an email that many grants now require students to take credit-bearing science communications courses so that they are equipped to explain their work to the public.

Torrance added that students are able to communicate to the public either through traditional news media or by using new communications technologies that allow the students to directly access the public.

Pete Wilcoxen, an associate professor of public administration and international affairs, said this grant is important because often energy and water are treated as separate issues.

Wilcoxen added that the grant will break down these barriers at technical, legal, public policy and communications levels and will focus on integrated management of energy and water resources.

Published on April 22, 2015 at 7:53 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann