1. education
2. school

COVER SHEET FOR PROPOSAL TO THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT/SOLICITATION NO./CLOSING DATE/if not in response to a program announcement/solicitation enter NSF 04-23
NSF 04-550
FOR NSF USE ONLY
NSF PROPOSAL NUMBER
10/29/04
FOR CONSIDERATION BY NSF ORGANIZATION UNIT(S)
0504248
(Indicate the most specific unit known, i.e. program, division, etc.)
DGE - IGERT FULL PROPOSALS
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943360412
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860196696
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Arizona State University
Box 3503
Tempe, AZ. 852873503
Arizona State University
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0010819000
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MINORITY BUSINESS
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IGERT in Urban Ecology
REQUESTED AMOUNT
3,184,586
$
SMALL BUSINESS
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60
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07/01/05
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(GPG II.C.2.g.(iv).(c))
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VERTEBRATE ANIMALS (GPG II.D.5) IACUC App. Date
PI/PD DEPARTMENT
PI/PD POSTAL ADDRESS
Box 1501
Department of Biology
PI/PD FAX NUMBER
Tempe, AZ 852871501
United States
602-965-2519
NAMES (TYPED)
HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS/OTHER GRAPHICS WHERE EXACT COLOR
REPRESENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER INTERPRETATION (GPG I.E.1)
High Degree
Yr of Degree
Telephone Number
Electronic Mail Address
Ph.D
1971
602-965-4734
[email protected]
PhD
1985
480-965-4735
[email protected]
PhD
1979
602-965-6561
[email protected]
PhD
1994
480-965-6838
[email protected]
PhD
1971
480-965-2975
[email protected]
PI/PD NAME
Stuart G Fisher
CO-PI/PD
Nancy B Grimm
CO-PI/PD
Edward J Hackett
CO-PI/PD
Ann P Kinzig
CO-PI/PD
Charles L Redman
Page 1 of 2
IGERT in Urban Ecology
Stuart G. Fisher
Arizona State University
PROJECT SUMMARY
This project will provide integrative graduate education, research, and training in the
crossdisciplinary field of urban ecology. Cities are not only important ecosystems to humans but
represent excellent laboratories for ecological research. Urban areas exhibit distinct boundaries,
landscape patchiness, high levels of exotic species, and conditions that mimic global-scale
change (elevated CO2 and temperature). Rapidly urbanizing Phoenix is one of only two urban
sites in the National Science Foundation’s LTER network, creating an excellent opportunity for
frontier, multidisciplinary research and graduate training and for collaborations that integrate the
social and natural sciences. The intellectual merit of this activity lies in the challenge of bringing
multiple disciplines together to train students to understand and manage liveable, sustainable
cities in a manner consistent with regional and global-scale ecological values.
Arizona State University’s IGERT in urban ecology emphasizes training in life science, earth
science, and social science. Training will involve team research, interdisciplinary “issues”
seminars, dissertation research in some aspect of urban ecology, broadly construed, and an
international experience. The project will pay explicit attention to the conduct of research
(including interdisciplinary collaboration, group dynamics, and the responsible conduct of
research) and the engagement of science with law, policy, and the public sphere. Unlike most
PhD programs in the US, which are based upon scientific independence, ASU’s IGERT will both
use and investigate the efficacy of interdependence (collaboration, cooperation) as a research
mode. The premise is that scientific investigation in important areas such as cities is increasingly
multidisciplinary, yet students receive little direct training or experience in collaborative
strategies and group dynamics. This project will thus provide innovative graduate training
appropriate to multi-investigator, multidisciplinary research.
This second five-year funding period builds upon substantial investment over the last five
years and effectiveness won by concerted trial and error. This next phase coincides with a major
reorganization of ASU’s four campuses, a synthesis of five new schools from innumerable
traditional departments, and a focus on interdisciplinarity as an organizing principle. IGERT
faculty members and students are strategically placed to both inform and influence this
reorganization. A new University Initiative on Disciplinary Integration has been stimulated in
part by IGERT activities and involves IGERT faculty members as leaders. The broader impact
of this effort lies in its scientific understanding of urban dynamics and in a lowering of
discipline-related barriers to innovative, socially relevant graduate education at this and other
American universities.
Project Summary - 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
For font size and page formatting specifications, see GPG section II.C.
Total No. of
Pages
Page No.*
(Optional)*
Cover Sheet for Proposal to the National Science Foundation
Project Summary
(not to exceed 1 page)
1
Table of Contents
1
Project Description (Including Results from Prior
NSF Support) (not to exceed 15 pages) (Exceed only if allowed by a
specific program announcement/solicitation or if approved in
advance by the appropriate NSF Assistant Director or designee)
30
References Cited
2
Biographical Sketches
(Not to exceed 2 pages each)
Budget
24
8
(Plus up to 3 pages of budget justification)
Current and Pending Support
0
Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
1
Special Information/Supplementary Documentation
12
Appendix (List below. )
(Include only if allowed by a specific program announcement/
solicitation or if approved in advance by the appropriate NSF
Assistant Director or designee)
Appendix Items:
*Proposers may select any numbering mechanism for the proposal. The entire proposal however, must be paginated.
Complete both columns only if the proposal is numbered consecutively.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
SECTION A. IGERT FACULTY PARTICIPANTS
Principal Investigators
Stuart G Fisher PI/Co-PD*
Charles L Redman Co-PI/
Co-PD*
Ramon Arrowsmith Co-PI*
Nancy B Grimm Co-PI*
Edward J Hackett Co-PI*
Ann Kinzig Co-PI*
Kevin E McHugh Co-PI*
Margaret C Nelson Co-PI*
Marjorie S Zatz Co-PI*
Senior Personnel
Jon Allen
John M Anderies*
Bob Bolin*
Anthony J Brazel*
John M Briggs*
Philip R Christensen
James Collins
Elizabeth Corley*
John Crittenden
Stanley H Faeth*
Patricia Gober
Nora M Haenn
Sharon Harlan
Paul Hirt*
Eric Keys
Mark C Klett*
Susan E Ledlow
Peter H McCartney
Jane A Maienschein
David L Pearson
David Pijawka
Stephen J Pyne*
Daniel Sarewitz*
Juliet C Stromberg
Subhrajit Guhathakurta
Sander van der Leeuw
Paul Westerhoff
Jianguo Wu*
Department or School
Area of Expertise
School of Life Sciences
Anthropology/Ctr for Environmental
Studies
Geological Sciences
School of Life Sciences
Sociology
School of Life Sciences
Geography
Honors College/Anthropology
Div.Grad Studies/Justice & Soc. Inquiry
Ecosystem ecology
Historical ecology, urbanism
Chem/Materials Engineering
School of Life Sciences
Social Science
Geography
School of Life Sciences
Geological Sciences
School of Life Sciences
School of Public Affairs
Civil/Environ Engineering
School of Life Sciences
Geography
Anthropology
Sociology
History
Geography
School of Art
Learning and Teaching Excellence
Ctr for Environmental Studies
School of Life Sciences
School of Life Sciences
School of Planning/Landscape Arch
School of Life Sciences
School of Life Sciences
School of Life Sciences
School of Plan./Landscape Arch
Anthropology
Civil/Environ Engineering
School of Life Sciences
Atmospheric chemistry
Mathematical bioeconomics
Environmental sociology
Urban climatology
Plant ecology
Planetary geology
Ecology/evolutionary biology
Environmental/science policy
Sustainability/pollution control
Populations/community ecology
Urban geog, water resources
Cultural ecology
Environmental sociology
Environmental history
Cultural/political ecology
Landscape photography
Effective collaboration, teaming
Environmental informatics
History & philosophy of science
Conservation ecology
Urban planning
Environmental history; fire
Science and public policy
Restoration/riparian ecology
Land and urban economics
Archaeology/environ issues
Water issues
Landscape ecol and modeling
*Biosketches provided
Project Description - 1
Geomorphology
Biogeochem, urban/stream ecol
Interdisciplinarity/science
Urban ecology, resilience
Social geography, populations
Interdisc research & teaching
Race, gender, ethnicity studies
SECTION B. VISION, GOALS, AND THEMATIC BASIS
We propose to continue a graduate training program in urban ecology that builds upon the
successes and experiences of our existing IGERT program. Arizona State University (ASU) is
home to one of two NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) projects focused upon urban
ecosystems, and our IGERT has developed close and continuing ties with this interdisciplinary
research program. Nowhere is collaborative, interdisciplinary effort to understand human
ecosystems more vital than in cities, where environmental problems are most severe, systems are
most highly manipulated, and over half the world’s population makes its home. Interest in urban
ecology is growing rapidly, yet well-trained scientists in urban ecology are few. Already, our
IGERT Fellows have participated actively in the development of this interdisciplinary field. It
has become clear that there is a tremendous demand in the broader society for scientists who
understand policy and decision-making, engineers conversant in biology, and social scientists
who can work closely with life scientists. The Central Arizona–Phoenix (CAP) LTER and the
IGERT program incorporate a broad spectrum of natural scientists, social scientists, and
participating faculty members and students from engineering, planning, and public policy. The
challenges and rewards of integration are many, and we are particularly excited about our
IGERT's key role in efforts to understand both the ecology of urban systems and effective
practices for interdisciplinary education and research.
Our goals are severalfold. First and foremost, we will continue to develop a multifaceted
training program that strongly connects graduate, undergraduate, and faculty learning and
research in urban ecology. Second, we will continue to nurture interactions among scholars (at
all levels) of several social and natural science disciplines to better understand urban ecology.
Third, we will continue to reflect systematically on how interdisciplinary research is most
effectively accomplished.
Increasingly, scientific problems are complex and their solution is demanding of broad skills.
However, graduate training continues to focus on independent, single-investigator science that
may be maladaptive in postgraduate, real-world research where collaborative teams are essential.
Therefore, this IGERT program deliberately confronts issues of research collaboration. We do so
through: 1) explicitly evaluating collaborative practices through seminars and workshops on
research values, methods, and patterns of organization; 2) incorporating social scientists as
analysts of research collaboration and interdisciplinary integration through two ongoing projects
(an IGERT student’s dissertation [Parker] and a new NSF-funded research project [Rhoten and
Hackett]); and 3) assessing educational successes and shortcomings through feedback from
student participants as they complete graduate school and move into more senior research roles.
We are convinced that traditional methods of graduate training are insufficient to produce
effective members of the multidisciplinary, collaborative research groups needed to achieve
understanding in urban ecology and other emerging crossdisciplinary scientific enterprises. Our
training program is intended to remedy that deficiency.
In this second IGERT funding period, we will continue our concerted effort to perfuse the
rest of the University and the institutions of the community in which we are embedded, with an
evolving vision of interdisciplinarity. As part of this effort, we: 1) developed an integrative
committee with the Division of Graduate Studies and the two other IGERT programs at ASU;
2) enabled five interdisciplinary faculty hires dedicated to IGERT; and 3) worked to lower
barriers to interdisciplinary programs such as tenure policies, course requirements, teaching
credits, and dissertation structure.
Project Description - 2
In the next five years, ASU will change dramatically, with four restructured campuses and a
reorganized Tempe campus that replaces traditional departments with new schools focusing upon, for
example, Sustainability Science, Global Health and Technology, and Earth Science. The School of
Life Sciences, the first of these new schools, is in its second year, having emerged from three
separate departments. President Michael Crow recently met with four Urban IGERT faculty
members and agreed to support the infrastructure for a new University Initiative in Disciplinary
Integration, which will include such features as crossdepartmental graduate-degree programs,
University professorships awarded to those most creatively and effectively pursuing
interdisciplinarity, and campus-wide synthesis centers and fellowship programs. Our IGERT
program is in a prime position to inform and to benefit from this effort. The commitment of local
investment in IGERT is promising, and we expect our experience with IGERT to spur development
of new programs over the next two to five years. To help institutionalize our IGERT, an expanded
list of Co-PIs includes associate deans of both the Division of Graduate Studies (Zatz) and Honors
College (Nelson), as well as the director of the Center for Environmental Studies (Redman). Because
institutionalization includes the entire campus and enriches our perspective on urban ecology, we
have added faculty participants in Humanities (Pyne, Hirt) and Fine Arts (Klett). Although our
efforts remain firmly embedded in the sciences, we believe boundaries at the edges of science are as
difficult and necessary to cross as those within.
SECTION C. MAJOR RESEARCH EFFORTS
Five years ago when our IGERT program started, six
academic departments—Biology, Anthropology, Geography,
Geology, Plant Biology, and Sociology—formed its core and
provided research opportunities to IGERT students. Since then,
two departments have merged (with microbiology) to form the
School of Life Science (SoLS), and plans are underway to sort
the others into new integrative alliances. Our CAP LTER urban
research program was just beginning and discipline-specific
Figure 1. IGERT in Urban
research dominated the scene. The research landscape is
Ecology’s five major research
efforts: BGC-Biogeochemical
different now, and the differences are apparent in the research
Retention, Transport, and
descriptions below. Not only have these narrower research
Transformation; URBDYNprograms begun to broaden, but they are increasingly
Urban Dynamics; BIODIV-Urban
overlapping and becoming interdisciplinary in response to the
Biodiversity; SCIPOL-Science,
reality of dealing with complex environments that include
Policy, and the Public; and
GEOLND-Geomorphic and
humans. For the five research areas (see Figure 1) featured
Human Landscapes.
below, evidence of this broadening, integrative evolution and
melding of natural and social sciences is clear. In these descriptions, we focus on the
dissertation-research opportunities provided IGERT Fellows. In addition to a marked
disciplinary evolution of the research pillars of the IGERT program, a higher-order development
of the Center for Environmental Studies (which houses IGERT), soon to become the
International Institute for Sustainable Societies, has occurred. This growth has generated new
integrative urban-centered research thrusts that are integrative and interdisciplinary from
inception. These nascent research initiatives (described at the end of this section) provide an
exciting environment for IGERT dissertation research and, in many cases, received inspiration
from IGERT/LTER efforts.
Project Description - 3
In the following descriptions, research is organized around five exemplary research programs
in which students are engaged and conduct dissertation research. Questions posed at the
beginning of each section give an idea of just a few of the many, broad topics under which
dissertation research might be designed. The definition and scope of each research area
circumscribe the domain of inquiry and its relationship to urban ecology. For each section, we
then present dissertation opportunities in the field. Within the descriptions of each of the five
research foci, a final section describes examples of opportunities for connection with other
research efforts.
1. Biogeochemical Retention, Transport, and Transformation
x
x
x
What are the consequences of large atmospheric inputs of nutrient elements and/or toxic
materials for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem productivity and functioning in urban and
surrounding desert ecosystems?
At what scales are human perturbations of biogeochemical cycles manifested? Are resulting
patterns related in some consistent way to social distributions?
What are the consequences of hydrologic modification and massive nutrient inputs (from human
imports) for aquatic biogeochemical processes and aquatic-terrestrial interaction?
Definition and Scope
Understanding biogeochemical pools and processes in an urban environment requires not
only the usual complement of disciplines (e.g., geochemistry, microbiology, ecology,
atmospheric science, and hydrology) but also the knowledge of human activities and the
biogeochemical properties of a built environment. Material fluxes and biogeochemical linkages
between atmosphere, land, and water have been studied for decades in relatively undisturbed
ecosystems, but not in urban ecosystems where human-generated fluxes of nutrients and toxins
are coupled with nonhuman biogeochemistry. The most expansive question that underlies our
research on urban biogeochemistry is: How do urban element cycles differ qualitatively and
quantitatively from those of nonurban ecosystems?
Dissertation Opportunities
Nutrient dynamics. CAP LTER researchers are building elemental mass balances for the
nutrients N, C, and P for an urban ecosystem. These budgets provide context and suggest
important questions for biogeochemical research. For example, the N mass balance for CAP
(Baker et al. 2001) showed large anthropogenic N inputs (imported food and fertilizer, and NOx
produced from extensive automobile use), large engineered gaseous outputs, and an
accumulation of N in unknown compartments of the CAP ecosystem. Deposition rates of aerosol
C and N, using new methods for sampling this material (Allen), serve as a foundation for studies
of microbial nutrient cycling in soils exposed to the urban atmosphere (Grimm). We hypothesize
that high rates of N deposition drive desert ecosystems toward phosphorus limitation and will
test the hypothesis using a new LTER fertilization experiment of N, P, and N+P. IGERT Fellows
will be able to develop research projects in the context of this long-term experiment. To
determine the fate of excess N (i.e., input>output by mass balance), IGERT and other students
working with Grimm are investigating the location of landscape “hot spots” (sensu McClain et
al. 2003) of N retention and transformation. Natural riparian-stream ecosystems that are the most
likely sites of nutrient retention in desert landscapes (Belnap et al. in press; Fisher et al. 2004)
have been eliminated from the urban landscape (Grimm et al. 2004). Widespread, manmade,
aquatic features like golf-course lakes may be effective sites of N retention, or hot spots may be
Project Description - 4
shifted to more terrestrial recipient systems like neighborhood retention basins (Zhu et al. in
press). How do rates of denitrification (a major mechanism of N removal) vary among lake,
stream, and floodplain habitats in a highly modified urban versus nonurban streams?
Contaminants and environmental justice. Linkages between four reactive compartments of
the ecosystem (atmosphere, land, surface water, and groundwater) constrain material transport
through landscapes. Toxins and pollutants may concentrate in recipient systems to generate
biogeochemical “riskscapes” for urban inhabitants; research by LTER biogeochemists will
quantify distributions of toxic materials in soil and water systems. This understanding provides a
basis for assessing hazard burdens, risk distributions, ecosystem effects, and environmental
equity. Individual behavior explains variation in spatial and temporal distribution of
contaminants at home-lot or neighborhood scales, whereas at municipal scales, distributions
respond to perturbations arising from institutional decisions (e.g., park management, zoning).
Research being conducted by social scientists Bolin, Hackett, Harlan, and their IGERT students
examines the relationship of spatial distributions of technological hazards to the demographic
composition of adjacent neighborhoods. Clear patterns of social inequities in the distribution of
risk burdens illuminate environmental injustices by class and race in the Phoenix area (Bolin et
al. 2002; Bolin et al. in press). IGERT Fellows have a rare opportunity to couple analyses of
environmental risk with high-quality data on contaminant distributions. Their interest would help
to motivate the biogeochemical studies to understand the reciprocal dynamics among generation
and transport of toxic material, social response, and ecosystem response.
Opportunities for Connection with other Research Efforts
Studies of biogeochemical cycling and transport are shaped by the
nature of geologic landscapes (GEOLND) which, in turn, shape the
distribution, abundance and diversity of plants and animals (BIODIV).
An example of the latter would be effects of atmospheric N deposition (a
fertilization effect) on desert annual plants. A longer-term view of this
dynamic can be understood only in the context of urban growth (URBDYN).
2. Urban Dynamics: Land-Use Change, Community Structure,
and Social Relationships
x
x
How have Phoenix’s human and natural environment shaped contemporary urban growth
processes and social change? What are the legacy effects of past land use?
What are the spatial and social distributions of environmental hazards and benefits in the
metropolitan Phoenix area? How are these hazards and benefits distributed across ethnic groups,
age categories, and social classes?
Definition and Scope
This research effort focuses on the urban-growth process from the ramifying perspectives of
historical development, natural systems, built environment, social organization, and policy
implications. The emphasis is on how people use urban space in creating cultural landscapes and
the implications for the larger social, economic, demographic, and political systems in which
they function. Opportunities are offered by research programs in core (anthropology, sociology
and geography) as well as in associated disciplines, such as history (Pyne, Hirt) and planning and
landscape architecture (Guhathakurta).
Project Description - 5
Dissertation Opportunities
Ancient settlement. Phoenix was once the site of one of the greatest metropolitan centers of
prehistoric North America. The Hohokam, a society of irrigation agriculturists, lived in this
location for a millennium, with the city reaching its zenith about 800 years ago. Interestingly,
this achievement was not long-lived, as the city was essentially abandoned during the next two
centuries. It remained vacant until a century ago when new settlers reexcavated the Hohokam
canals and established the city of Phoenix. An exciting intellectual challenge has been to
compare how ecological relationships changed for prehistoric and historic populations over time
(Nelson, Redman). ASU archaeologists, IGERT Fellows, and others have identified qualitatively
different trajectories of settlement dynamics that led to the development of large towns in the
Southwestern US and other regions of the world (Knowles-Yánez et al. 1999).
Current and future change. In recent times, the Phoenix metropolitan area has become a
dynamic laboratory for studying social change, with a population growth greater than any other
county in the nation between 1990 and 2000 (+1 million persons). More than 75% of the housing
stock has been built since 1970, land markets are largely unregulated, and competition among
municipalities for new development is fierce. Thus, the nature of growth at the urban fringe,
attitudes about development and its regulation, and the assimilation of new residents are
decidedly different in Phoenix than in older, more established urban areas, yet represent an
emerging pattern in the US and abroad. Opportunities abound for exploring how Phoenix's
human and natural environments shape contemporary growth processes and social change
(Gober, Kinzig).
Urban developmental trajectories. Socioecological factors provide the context in which
human action occurs and cities grow. IGERT Fellows have been collaborating with CAP LTER
scientists to provide geological, historical, and paleoecological background for the growth of
cities in central Arizona. We also know from studies of many of the great cities of the world that
urban growth and longevity rely on more than physical and economic conditions. Human
communities are marked by a “sense of place,” identities that evolve over generations, offering
identity and special value. Eliciting human dimension of the urban condition in Phoenix’s mobile
society requires that anthropologists, sociologists, and geographers collaborate in studies at
varying scales of space and time, revealing complex meanings of community and place, as well
as the attitudes, values, and institutional arrangements that underpin these meanings (McHugh,
Redman, Gober).
Opportunities for Connection with other Research Efforts
Patterns of urban growth may be constrained by geologic features
such as mountain fronts and rivers, a spatial pattern that develops in
concert with the physical template (GEOLND). Although the long-term
perspective on urban growth offered by archaeology expands the
temporal scale of our enterprise, quaternary geology extends this view
even further and allows development of a truly multiscale vision of human-driven landscape
change (GEOLND). Science Policy (SCIPOL) provides a suite of alternative future patterns of
growth with respect to both built and social environments of humans and plant and wildlife
species (BIODIV).
Project Description - 6
3. Geomorphic and Human Landscapes
x
x
How are the linkages between the human and natural systems operating in the region influenced
by the surficial geology and the configuration of the landscape?
How can the archaeological record of human interaction with the landscape help to establish
ranges of possible changes in both the human and the natural systems?
Definition and Scope
A broad spatial and long temporal emphasis on the surficial materials and processes
operating at or near the earth’s surface is the physical foundation for urban ecology. Geology and
geomorphology provide the template for the ecologically defined patches, the pathways that link
them, and the processes operating over and through them. Archaeology offers a long time frame
over which to view human modifications of the landscape and strategies for selection and use of
different landscape features or patches. With a temporal perspective ranging from millions of
years to single events lasting seconds and a synoptic spatial view, these perspectives are essential
for understanding the context of urban systems. In addition to providing the pattern upon which
the human and natural systems interact, the context defines natural hazards, directs the flow of
resources and waste, establishes the natural beauty for which a region is known, and consumes
energy at various rates in its transformation by urbanization.
Dissertation Opportunities
Quaternary geology. Arrowsmith’s group has documented the actual landscape change of the
greater Phoenix area over the last 2 Myr (Robinson 2002). Robinson was one of the first IGERT
Fellows to receive her Ph.D., and now she holds a prestigious Mendenhall Postdoctoral
Fellowship with the US Geological Survey. This research left us with a number of important
additional avenues to pursue: 1) the use of remote sensing to delineate surficial geologic and
geomorphic units and test the hypothesis that they do provide a template for the spatial
distribution of urban ecological processes, and 2) characterizing late Pleistocene and Holocene
landscape change with changing climatic and the variable human impacts on the system that
began with the extensive Native American occupation of the region, changed with European
settlement, and continues with urbanization today.
Artificial hydrologic controls and fluvial processes on piedmont systems in greater
Phoenix. We are characterizing the changes in the fluvial systems of the region from
urbanization and the balance between structurally engineered solutions and utilization and
consequences of multiuse green belts in floodways (Robinson 2002; MacLeod 2003). As
manifest by the many students already involved and the extant collaborations, numerous
dissertation topics can be developed in direct collaboration with the stream-ecology groups
(Grimm, Fisher) and with faculty in Geological Sciences and Geography interested in fluvial
geomorphology and sediment transport. In addition, we can build upon MacLeod’s work to
develop a comprehensive model for the fluvial systems in the region and the changes in them as
they traverse the urban system. This model can then be used to test for feedbacks between fluvial
network activity and the human system that is drawn to it and modifies it.
Groundwater, aquifer structure, surface subsidence, and water balances. Groundwatersurface water resource management is a central concern for the desert region (as manifest by the
Decision Center for a Desert City project). Our integrative efforts at improving understanding of
the aquifer structure and applying the spectacular view of uplift and subsidence associated with
Project Description - 7
groundwater pumping and recharge that INSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar)
provides has moved along steadily with students working at the master’s level. We are ready
now to have PhD-dissertation-level efforts develop a comprehensive physical understanding of
the region’s groundwater system with emphasis on its management.
Long-term human-landscape interaction. The prehistoric Hohokam modified the river
systems and landscape adjacent to rivers as early as AD 600 through construction of a massive
irrigation system. Their shaping of the landscape and control over water distribution is among
the most extensive in prehistoric North America. The interaction of human and technological
investment in landscape modification, intensification of resource extraction, and environmental
and social change can be studied over the 1,400-year span from early irrigation to the present.
Archaeological field studies and information from historical records are being combined with
contemporary remote-sensing information and field ecology to uncover the continuously
changing palette upon which the urban landscape developed.
Opportunities for Connections with other Research Efforts
Given a synoptic view of groundwater-surface water interactions such
as that available from INSAR, geology, and geophysics, how does the
complex natural system respond (past, present and future) to the multiple
levels of urban dynamics (URBDYN) that influence water use and quality
(BGC)? What policies (SCIPOL) can ameliorate the cost of land
subsidence on built structures in one segment of the population caused by
groundwater withdrawal to benefit another?
4. Urban Biodiversity: Population and Community Ecology
x
x
x
How do humans alter the composition of plant and animal communities in cities compared to the
surrounding, less-altered matrix? Do cities increase or decrease diversity?
How do food-web structure and dynamics vary in human-dominated environments? What does
this teach us about general ecological theory?
How does the human-enhanced urban tree community feedback on desired values for human
habitation and natural animal populations?
Definition and Scope
The interactions and relationships of organisms with the biotic and abiotic environment, and
the effect of these interactions on the distribution and abundance of organisms over time and
space, is a major focus of modern ecology (Molles 2005). An increasing fraction of plant and
animal populations and communities now occur, or soon will occur, within cities or within the
“footprint” of urbanization. Because humans have drastically altered the distribution and
abundance of organisms, it seems logical to study populations and communities in urban
settings. Whereas the first IGERT afforded graduate student opportunities to study patterns of
biodiversity in more and less human-dominated environments, the current proposal offers
opportunities for experimentally elucidating the mechanisms underlying these established
patterns. We know from long-term and ongoing CAP LTER studies that urbanization may or
may not alter diversity of various groups of species in that some groups of taxa (top predators)
decrease in diversity while others increase (e.g., plants). However, species composition is
radically altered in all major groups of taxa (e.g., Shochat et al. 2004), with some urban-adapted
species becoming abundant while others wane or disappear. This change in species composition
sets the stage for addressing a long-standing and central question in ecology: What factors
Project Description - 8
determine food web and trophic structure? Theory and empirical studies show that both
carnivores (top-down) and resource availability (bottom-up) influence community structure and
trophic dynamics to varying degrees, depending on herbivore and predator or parasite species
composition, intraguild predation, spatiotemporal variation in environmental resources, and plant
competition. However, most studies of resource and consumer forces on plant-herbivore-natural
enemy communities have ignored human activities, except for agroecosystems. This omission is
unfortunate, as one of the most intensive and expanding human activities, urbanization, alters
top-down and bottom-up forces in dramatic ways, but rarely has been incorporated into studies
of trophic dynamics and food webs. Yet, given dramatic shifts in species composition, we can
expect that both control and the structure of food webs in cities differ from less humandominated ecosystems.
Dissertation Opportunities
Food- web manipulations. To address the fundamental question of what controls food-web
structure and function, Faeth and colleagues are experimentally examining the role of bottom-up
(resources) and top-down (predators and parasites) in structuring food webs associated with a
focal plant species, Encelia farinosa (brittlebush), a native Sonoran Desert plant that is widely
used as a landscaping plant in urban areas. They are experimentally manipulating the effects of
vertebrate (birds) and ground-dwelling vertebrate (lizards) and invertebrate predators and
resources (water) in series of controlled experiments in the urban environments (mesic yards and
desert remnants) and in outlying “natural” desert regions in a replicated, full-factorial design.
The four treatments include: 1) exclusion of vertebrate predators, 2) exclusion of invertebrate
predators, 3) supplemental water, and 4) controls (no caging, ring barriers, or supplemental
water). This research is among the first to rigorously test how trophic dynamics differ among
human-dominated, less human-dominated, and “natural” habitats.
Anthropogenic impact on vegetation cover. The influence of urbanization on landscapelevel vegetation coverage and structure will be analyzed by remote-sensed high-resolution aerial
photography, essentially creating a tree cover map of the entire CAP study area. To determine
how humans create and modify the urban biotic matrix, these data will be analyzed with
socioeconomic and housing variables using structural modeling (Briggs).
Opportunities for Connection with other Research Efforts
Knowledge of the size, shape, and spatial arrangement of land
use/land cover patches in the urban environment is key to understanding
biotic distributions (GEOLND). In fact, CAP LTER’s intent is to integrate
patch-based studies of arthropod and bird distributions using GIS and a
patch-dynamics model. How ecological mechanisms of food-web control
map on this patch structure is a question rich with possibilities for
graduate dissertations.
One of the most intriguing questions of modern ecology is how community structure
influences ecosystem properties (e.g., productivity and nutrient cycling). The diverse array of
plant and animal communities in the urban matrix provides a lucrative opportunity to explore
biotic-diversity effects when biogeochemical dynamics are simultaneously measured (BGC).
Project Description - 9
5. Science, Policy and the Public
x
x
x
How are new forms of scientific organization shaping scientists’ work, work lives, and careers?
How do collaborations influence scientists’ human and social capital, and what can we
generalize from IGERT and other interdisciplinary collaborations?
How do connections with decision-makers, policy, media, and the public shape environmental
research?
Definition and Scope
In recent years, scientific research and graduate education have become increasingly
interdisciplinary, partly for reasons arising within the sciences and partly as a result of federal
policies and programs (including IGERT, of course, but also others in ecology, cognitive
science, nanoscale science and engineering, and across the biomedical sciences). Science and
engineering research has also become more collaborative, drawing larger and more diverse
groups of scientists into new forms of organized interaction (Hackett et al. 2004). For more than
a decade, analysts of science have detected changes in the “social contract” between science and
society, with concomitant changes in the organization of science, the careers of scientists, and
the conduct and content of scientific work. Such changes, in turn, alter the ethical principles that
guide scientists and that define responsible research conduct (Chubin and Hackett 1990; Gibbons
et al. 1994; Croissant and Restivo 2001; Nowotny et al. 2001). The borders between sciences and
between science and the public have become blurred, and there are rising expectations for a
shorter and more certain path from research to its application in decisions or products (Hackett
1990, 1994). Taken together, such changes in the organization and conduct of science are likely
to influence the education of scientists, their work and work lives, career patterns, principles of
ethics, and the responsible conduct of research.
Research concerned with urban ecology and related environmental processes, as performed
within the CAP LTER and the Decision Center for a Desert City, offers a site for exploring
issues that arise when science is conducted in an arena that spans disciplines and extends into the
worlds of business, policy, and the public. IGERT students are involved in this theme through a
spectrum of seminars, collaborative workshops, research opportunities, and interactions that
spark an understanding—founded in experience, scholarship, and empirical research—of the
issues that arise from changes in the organization and conduct of science.
Dissertation Opportunities
Innovative, interdisciplinary, integrative graduate education project (I3; Hackett and Diana
Rhoten, Social Science Research Council, funded by NSF 2004-2007). This project aims to
understand the distinctive research and educational features of interdisciplinary graduate
education and to assess their effects on scientific research and the early career. The study uses a
combination of questionnaire surveys, interviews, and panel evaluation of scientific work, which
affords students different ways to become involved.
Scientific decision-making under uncertainty. The Decision Center for a Desert City
(DCDC; Gober, Redman, Sarewitz, Corley, Hackett) brings social scientists, scientists, and
decision-makers together to explore how scientific evidence, analysis, modeling and their
representations can best inform decisions about water quality and supply for Phoenix. DCDC
offers an unparalleled opportunity to observe the border crossings and translations needed to
transcend disciplinary differences in the service of informing decisions and policies (see IGERTRelated Integrative Successes below).
Project Description - 10
Collaborative patterns in science research. One of our Fellows (Parker) is examining
ecology’s integration with social science, exemplified by the recent rise of urban ecology, in
historical and cross-national perspective. Of particular concern is the role that new organizations,
including LTERs, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and the Resilience
Alliance, have played in the integration. Opportunities to study collaboration patterns of IGERT
faculty and students exist (Corley). The purpose of this line of research would be to delineate
how social scientists and natural scientists use different (or similar) collaboration patternsʊand
how future IGERT programs could benefit from this information.
Opportunities for Connections with other Research Efforts
This research effort is applicable to all others in that it shapes and reveals
how effective integrative research is done, how results are transferred among
scientists and the public, and how ethical constructs guide the enterprise.
Although some view urban ecology as an earth and life science, humans are
central, not only as subjects, but also as observers and interpreters of the
dynamic. We believe the challenge to gain new insights through intellectual
fusion of natural and social sciences to be our most worthy objective.
IGERT-Related Integrative Successes
Initially, our IGERT program was based upon an array of rather conventional research
projects in conventional disciplines. The integration and cross-fertilization of this array has led to
exciting successes over the past five years that have transformed the larger CES (upon which
IGERT is centered) into a new and innovative structure. Examples of these higher-order
integrative efforts are below. All provide training opportunities for IGERT students.
We are in the third year of Agrarian Landscapes in Transition, an NSF-funded project that
focuses on coupled human-nature interactions at the periphery of our urban center. The ASU
project, conducted Kinzig and Redman, is the center of a six-LTER collaboration examining the
long-term cycle of land-use change affecting human landscapes. We are partnering with the
Nature Conservancy to improve eco-regional planning and scenario building.
ASU’s recent membership in the Resilience Alliance (RA) has led us to explore what a
“resilience” approach offers to IGERT students. The Alliance is an international consortium that
seeks novel ways to integrate science and policy in order to discover foundations for
sustainability. Resilience researchers are interested in complex systems and the coupling of
ecological and human sciences. Resilience theory is used to help us understand the source and
role of transforming change in these adaptive systems (Gunderson and Holling 2002). Kinzig,
Redman, Anderies, and van der Leeuw have forged an alliance with this interdisciplinary group.
With ASU input, the RA is examining whether archaeology and studies of the past can enhance
understanding, and ASU is at the core of a new urban-resilience initiative (Redman and Kinzig
2003). Five IGERT Fellows have worked with RA scientists in Sweden, Australia, and France.
We received NASA renewal grant to expand our Urban Environmental Monitoring project,
which uses data collected by the Terra and other satellites to record the changing structure and
composition of 100 cities across the globe. A subset of partner cities then enhances this remotesensed data with local information, with the goal of improving their ability to monitor and
manage rapid urbanization. IGERT faculty (Arrowsmith) and students in geology and geography
are leading this effort. Social and ecological processes are strongly interdependent and
understanding their relationship within different geographic and cultural settings promises a
firmer foundation for projecting urban futures and evaluating sustainable trajectories.
Project Description - 11
ASU recently became home to the Consortium for the Study of Rapidly Urbanizing Regions
(CSRUR), which is incubating a variety of initiatives and partnerships focused on urbanenvironmental interactions and the built environment. Included are projects on sustainable
materials, transportation alternative, energy futures, and ameliorating the urban-heat island
effects that threaten Phoenix’s quality of life. In Summer 2004, Redman was appointed to cochair of the Task Force on Rapid Urbanization for the National Academy’s Roundtable on
Science and Technology for Sustainability’s. His appointment came from his work on research
projects allied with IGERT and the directorship of CSRUR. He will lead a collaboration of social
and life scientists as well as engineers, city planners, and financiers with the goal of identifying
specific ideas and actions that will guide rapid urbanization down more sustainable pathways.
IGERT students will benefit through attending meetings held at ASU and by participating in the
preparation of state-of-the-science papers for meetings and their follow-up discussions.
CES has become home to one the NSF’s three new centers for studying Decision Making
under Uncertainty. This opportunity is unparalleled for IGERT students because it evolves from
an ongoing collaboration of social, life, and earth scientists into policy and management
domains. Our Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC)—was founded to focus on watermanagement decisions in our rapidly urbanizing desert (Gober, Redman). The broad array of
scientists and practitioners engaged in this project will be available to IGERT Fellows. DCDC
research aims to apply the most sophistical models of decision science to water allocation.
DCDC will investigate the cognitive processes by which individuals and water managers make
decisions. To improve the scientific foundation of these decisions, the Center will focus on
improving mesoscale climate models of temperature and precipitation and GIS-based support
decision support tools. Associated with the DCDC is the Decision Theater—currently under
construction—that will feature a cave environment with a 270o 3-D screen that can project
interactive visualizations of projected scenarios considered by DCDC. The Decision Theater will
be available for visualization and interactive evaluation of IGERT-generated projects as well.
The goal for the NSF-funded Networking Urban Ecological Models project (McCartney) is
to develop and deploy a distributed information infrastructure so that the ecological and regional
research community, urban planners, and resource managers can benefit from integrated urban
ecological models. The pilot project for this grant, in which IGERT Fellows may participate, will
be a modeling exercise that couples climate, water, and land-use change models to improve the
public policy debate. Integrated urban ecological models will be used in the Decision Theater to
allow citizens to visualize scenario futures for their cities.
Lastly, The Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) has just moved to ASU
from Columbia University (Sarewitz). CSPO is devoted to enhancing the capacity of public
policy to link scientific research to beneficial societal outcomes. It creates knowledge, cultivates
public discourse, and fosters policies to help decision-makers and institutions grapple with the
immense power and importance of science and technology. Working with ASU’s IGERT in
Biomolecular Nanotechnology, CSPO has developed a semester-long graduate science-andsociety seminar, with a two-week workshop held in Washington DC, in which students engage in
participatory exercises designed to broaden understanding of the social and political context for
science. This program will be expanded to include urban ecology IGERT students and will bring
together graduate students with biochemists and bioengineers. IGERT graduate students will also
play a productive role in a new, five-year CSPO research project on climate-science policy.
Project Description - 12
SECTION D. EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Philosophical Tenets of the IGERT Program
Being reflective and adaptive, this program is continually evaluated and adjusted as we
discover effective strategies and identify opportunities for improvement. Several philosophical
tenets serve as guiding ideas, precepts, and values. These tenets are a visible part of the program,
are distributed to participants, and are frequently discussed, clarified, and elaborated.
1. An integrated view begins with established disciplines. Our intention is not to establish a
new discipline but to work in an evolving network of multiple disciplines. Students earn degrees
from established departments. No new degree-granting program is proposed here.
2. Experience in a collection of disciplines does not a multidisciplinary program make. Our
goal is to integrate the stuff of disciplines to produce researchers who can move among
disciplines with a confidence built on experiential breadth.
3. Solution of complex problems requires collaboration. We aspire to educate scientists who
are more collaborative and interdependent than typical of most existing graduate programs. All
components of our program require collaborative skills.
4. Effective collaborative groups have flexible participants. Graduate students,
undergraduates, postdocs, faculty members, and others are involved in the enterprise. The
IGERT community provides a research capability that is a flexible, invertible hierarchy.
Community members must be able to shift among group roles of leadership and support
depending on the task at hand.
5. Faculty members are also students. IGERT faculty members are selected based upon their
willingness to operate in this flexible network of learning and teaching. We do not presume to
know how best to organize an optimal interdisciplinary enterprise. Rather, we see IGERT as a
research project designed in part to learn how to do that.
6. The IGERT program is graduate-student centered. Although faculty members are
ultimately responsible for the IGERT program, students take an unusually high level of
responsibility for organizing and operating classroom, experiential, and research programs.
7. There is more than a single track to understanding. Innovation requires a diversity of
views. Although we focus on a core of IGERT Fellows, we deliberately incorporate IGERT
Associates, i.e., students interested in urban problems, and whose academic aspirations enrich the
IGERT program core. Diversity of view benefits both Fellows and Associates.
8. Our goal is to understand how we understand. Our program is deliberately reflective and
self-conscious. We are interested both in understanding the world and the processes, group
dynamics, collaborative structures, and methodological approaches that best lead to this
understanding. Members of the IGERT community continually examine the ethical and value
dimensions of their work.
9. Our approach is experiential and empirical. An understanding of urban ecology is gained
by engaging the city as a research laboratory. Field studies form the core of our knowledge,
supplemented by laboratory experiments and models.
10. Research questions are motivated by both basic and applied objectives. We will fully
engage public concerns yet we seek to identify scientific principles of general application (i.e., to
other cities, social groups, ecosystem types).
Project Description - 13
Diverse Disciplinary Foundations
Five departments form the core of this IGERT program and will grant doctoral degrees to
IGERT Fellows in Anthropology, Life Science, Geography, Geology, and Sociology. These
departments were chosen because of their excellence in training graduate students and their
relevance to the urban ecology theme, as expressed through participation in the CAP LTER.
However, many other disciplinary units in colleges other than Liberal Arts and Sciences are
involved both in urban studies and in the planning of this education and training program. These
include the College of Engineering, Schools of Planning and Public programs, and the College of
Fine Arts. In our efforts to establish a broad base of graduate-student participation, IGERT
Associates from both core and associated units are encouraged to participate in IGERT activities
and are eligible for IGERT support for research and travel.
To ensure disciplinary diversity among IGERT Fellows, we will aim for an even distribution
across earth, life, and social sciences. While disciplinary diversity is laudable, the challenge is to
integrate these disparate disciplines. The heart of our IGERT programs consists of the
integrative elements described below.
Integrative Components of the IGERT program
Although strong disciplinary foundations are crucial to success of this program, we have
designed the program components to be integrative. We stress that all of these activities and
program elements (Figure 2) will involve participation of faculty members, Fellows, and
Associates from many disciplines at any given time. All IGERT faculty participants have
committed to participate in at least one (and in many cases, more than one) component.
Figure 2. IGERT program elements.
1. Group dynamics of Fellows. The IGERT Synthesis Center has been one of our greatest
successes. IGERT students have offices in home departments all over campus, thus a magnet
facility was needed to bring students together for brainstorming, small seminars, or simply
informal interactions. Believing that a shared physical space was key to developing a supportive,
intellectually stimulating community, we set aside a 767 sq ft research and conference space
Project Description - 14
solely for IGERT students. Students themselves designed the space and its amenities. Movable
tables, comfortable chairs, wall-to-ceiling whiteboards, and a small kitchen characterize the
space. State-of-the-art computer facilities are provided with printers, scanners, and wireless
internet access. To ensure that that students visit the Center often, we provide free parking, a
much appreciated amenity on the ASU campus.
2. Distributed leadership. Our philosophy is to support student ownership of the program.
IGERT students share leadership responsibility with a faculty Executive Committee and CoDirectors Fisher and Redman. Two students, designated Senior Fellows, coordinate a host of
IGERT activities and initiate others. Students rotate in coordinating the reading group, steering
distinguished visitor programs, facilitating workshops, and overseeing the Synthesis Center.
3. Urban ecology course and reading group. It is important to initiate new IGERT students
with an overview of the subject matter and the philosophy of this training program. A facultytaught formal course in urban ecology is offered every year and required of all Fellows and
Associates. In the alternate semester, a brown-bag style current readings course is offered.
Advanced IGERT students organize and lead readings and discussion on a full range of topics in
urban ecology. This participatory seminar is required of all IGERT Fellows and Associates
during each semester of their tenure.
4. Intellectual issues (seminar). This seminar, offered yearly by Co-Directors Fisher and
Redman, exposes students to broad issues varied by discipline-specific perspectives. The purpose
of the seminar is to attack and critically analyze an integrative multidisciplinary issue and, more
importantly, to use that forum to learn how to overcome barriers that disciplinary traditions
generate. The subject of this seminar varies yearly but has included discussions of works by Paul
Ehrlich, Bill Cronon, Jared Diamond, and C.S. Holling.
5. Collaborative workshops. A pivotal experience for each IGERT Fellow involves
participation in two collaborative workshops. Each of these research experiences involves a
sustained interaction to answer a question generated by interdisciplinary IGERT Fellow and
faculty groups. These collaborative projects are intended to span the range of research activities,
from proposal writing to data analysis to proposal or manuscript submission, but all work is
completed as a team. Either faculty members or students can initiate workshops, but the most
productive workshops have student-originated. Successful workshops have included
multidisciplinary studies of city parks, urban lakes, geography of environmental justice, the
concept of the ecological footprint, and the ecological impact of a proposed light-rail system.
6. Ethics and values in urban ecology. IGERT Fellows and other students take a semesterlong graduate seminar (Hackett) that examines the nature, conduct, and uses of scientific
knowledge. The course questions what is distinctive about scientific knowledge and its
production; compares the research process in several fields; examines patterns of collaboration
and the scientific career; considers the relationships among science and law, policy, and the
public sphere; and discusses the responsible conduct of research.
7. Visiting Scholars Program. Departments co-sponsor frequent seminars with us. We use
department venues because it forces us to move among the buildings that house the several
Project Description - 15
disciplines we integrate. In the past few years, the IGERT program has co-hosted visits by
William Cronon, C.S. Holling, Sir Crispin Tickell, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Sheila Jasanoff.
IGERT Fellows arrange to meet separately with these distinguished visitors, usually over lunch.
8. IGERT dissertation advisor, supervisory committee, and dissertation. Although we are
not proposing a new degree program, we are reaching into established programs with IGERTspecific dissertation requirements: 1) IGERT Fellows must have at least one supervisory
committee member from outside the department in a field identified as the student’s
complementary discipline; 2) the Executive Committee evaluates student progress as it relates
to IGERT responsibilities and opportunities; 3) dissertations must be integrative, reflect an
understanding of multiple disciplines, and include a component that demonstrates
collaborative research abilities. The collaborative component would be co-authored. A fully
successful dissertation exhibits linkages among disciplinary perspectives, as well as connections
to issues that professionals in industry, government, and the public deem important
9. Team building and collaborative skills. We believe experience in collaborative
interdisciplinary science is not sufficient to develop effectiveness as a collaborator; formal
training is needed. Therefore, we recently initiated, and will continue to provide, formal training
for all IGERT students and faculty members in the skills needed for effective teamwork in
interdisciplinary settings. The Center for Learning and Teaching Excellence (Ledlow) runs the
program, which consists of a workshop on effective collaboration skills at our annual fall
orientation retreat and several short individual-skills seminars and teambuilding exercises
presented each semester as part of the brown-bag reading group. An initial session to develop a
plan for effective meetings and discussions will be required of each collaborative workshop at
the outset of their work. We expect faculty members to participate fully in these sessions aimed
at developing effective collaborative skills.
10. Training in Mentoring. We are committed to the idea of a continuum of learning from
undergraduates to senior faculty members and thus include undergraduate Fellows (“REU”
Fellows) in our program. Many Co-PIs support REU Fellows through supplements to regular
grants, and department-based programs support others. IGERT REU students are paired with
IGERT Fellows and are involved in hands-on research. The graduate student’s major professor
and an IGERT mentoring workshop led by Co-PIs Fisher and Nelson (Associate Dean of ASU’s
Barrett Honors College) coordinate this activity. A multidisciplinary undergraduate program,
“Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars,” parallels the graduate workshop.
Approximately 6-8 mentor-protégé pairs are accommodated in this manner. Although it is not
unusual for undergraduates to gain research experience working with graduate students, we
believe our providing instruction in the nature of this interaction to be innovative. Our mentoring
program is coordinated with the Division of Graduate Studies’ Preparing Future Faculty
program, led by another Co-PI (Zatz, Associate Dean of the Division of Graduate Studies).
11. IGERT Associates. To take advantage of the great student interest in issues surrounding
urban ecology and to diversify the contacts made in seminars and workshops, elements of the
program are open to a wider student audience. We attract applications from a large cadre of very
talented students. Although this number lies beyond our ability to fund as IGERT Fellows, the
associate program doubles the number of students reached. IGERT Associates participate in
Project Description - 16
many, although not necessarily all, IGERT activities and have their primary funding from
departmental or other sources. In this way, we leverage the training opportunity to incorporate
more students than supported by IGERT Fellowships alone.
12. International Experience. IGERT expands disciplinary breadth of thinking but in a
multicultural, increasingly globalized world, cultural breadth is also essential developing
effective collaborations in multiscale urban science. Several IGERT students have participated in
international collaborations. We propose (see later section) a three-tiered option of international
experience that we hope will reach all IGERT Fellows. No small part of this is bringing
international scientists to us as part of our visitors’ series.
13. CAP LTER Activities. IGERT Fellows benefit in many ways from their active
involvement with the CAP LTER project.
• All 26 LTER sites in the US network feature long-term monitoring and maintain
extensive, Web-accessible databases. Use of such long-term data has the potential to
greatly enhance the generality of dissertation research.
• Scientists from the CAP LTER and its community partners are conducting over 30
research projects, and almost all are interdisciplinary in nature. These will provide many
collaborative research opportunities for IGERT Fellows.
• Monthly All Scientist Meetings are an opportunity to mix with CAP LTER researchers
and community partners and learn about their projects. IGERT Fellows are expected to
attend.
• Monthly meetings of all of the CAP LTER graduate-research assistants and Associates
are held to share research results and ideas about potential collaborations.
• The CAP LTER Annual Poster Symposium is an opportunity to present research results
and explore integrative topics with faculty members and community partners.
• The CAP LTER has an active K-12 outreach program called “Ecology Explorers.” Many
activities in this award-winning program are appropriate for IGERT Fellows, including
graduate student-teacher partnerships and working with high-school interns.
14. Job placement and counseling. Annual reviews of graduate-student progress will always
involve career planning and a clearinghouse for job opportunities in multidisciplinary science.
We believe that our active graduate program will provide students with an unusually broad
spectrum of contacts, both locally and nationally. Because we are among those defining the field
of urban ecology, we should be well connected to employment needs and directions therein and
our past graduates have been very successful in finding employment in the field. The gained
skills of cooperative research, combined with rigorous disciplinary training, also make
IGERT Fellows competitive applicants for employment in their own disciplines. Our
philosophy is that there are many rewarding ways in which IGERT Fellows can continue to
contribute after graduation; the traditional academic job is just one of these. Equally important
are opportunities to work with the private sector (industry, technology), public agencies
(planning, environmental management), or with innovative educational efforts (advertising,
communication, experiential schools). Our goal is diversity of view, and we would be
disappointed if our graduates aspired only to traditional academic careers.
Project Description - 17
Melding Research and Structured Training
Our goal during the ontogeny of the individual Fellow and during the development of our
IGERT program, is to move toward an experience that mimics as near as possible the real world
of research and problem solving. Although some formal coursework is needed and may represent
the most efficient way to communicate certain concepts and skills, our goal is to enable students
to use these concepts and skills to answer significant research questions. While seminars are
useful in developing abilities to express and exchange ideas, we want to use these tools to ask
and answer new questions of significance and to disseminate results. To achieve this end, we see
the collaborative workshop as the central element of our program. Workshops are by definition
collaborative and must be interdisciplinary. Both faculty members and Fellows are involved, but
undergraduates and postdocs may be as well. The best workshops have been initiated by
students. Results are to be published in professional journals or form the basis for innovative
grant proposals. What we learn formally about collaborative skills or science ethics are applied
in the context of these activities. Courses provide a framework for thinking about motivating
principles or techniques used to collect or analyze data, but the program is centered on research.
Workshops will be well supported with IGERT funds at all stages. Although individual
grants contribute greatly to the resources needed for IGERT research, we aspire to explore
interfaces between conventional activities and expect to provide support for that effort. Faculty
members involved in workshops will receive full credit for participating as part of their teaching
responsibilities. Results of these integrative ideas will appear in collaborative dissertations and
will help nurture new approaches from the interstices between the traditional disciplines we
represent. Success will be marked by a blurring of boundaries between teaching and research,
faculty members and students, pedagogy and science, as well as the disciplinary boundaries that
would otherwise divide participants in the enterprise.
Student Progression through the IGERT Program
Our program is flexible while retaining disciplinary rigor and a multidisciplinary,
collaborative approach. No single program of study will fit all IGERT Fellows, but the following
phases are typical. Programs can be completed in a reasonable time (4-5 years) even though core
department requirements remain substantial. IGERT course requirements vary with the student,
but will fit within the 84-hour course requirement for the PhD. We do not claim the Urban
Ecology IGERT program is easy, but with financial support secure, Fellows can focus their full
energy on their studies and collaborations. We will recruit vigorously, attract talented students,
and expect them to achieve at a high level.
Phase 0: Recruitment, orientation, advising. Specific plans for recruitment are described in
Section G. Students entering the IGERT program will attend an orientation retreat before
classes begin. There they will meet IGERT faculty members and current IGERT Fellows and be
assigned an initial IGERT faculty advisor from their home department. The orientation retreat
offers stimulating discussions, practical advice, and socializing. Faculty attendance is required.
The goal from the beginning will be to establish a community of collaborators that will work
together throughout the student’s tenure at ASU and beyond.
Phase 1: Establishing the IGERT approach and satisfying disciplinary requirements (1 to
2 years). During his or her early years in the program, the IGERT Fellow becomes acquainted
with the IGERT philosophy and subject matter, while completing the disciplinary requirements
Project Description - 18
of his or her chosen department and developing a proposal for dissertation research. During this
phase, students are expected to participate in the urban ecology course, the urban ecology
reading group, the intellectual issues seminar, and two semesters of collaborative workshops.
It is essential for graduate students to become involved in research from the outset, and
participating in collaborative workshops will help to accomplish this goal.
Phase 2: Building collaborative relationships (1 to 2 years). The focus of this phase is
research, collaboration, and establishment of the Fellow as a mature scholar. Fellows complete
remaining course work and continue to participate in the urban ecology reading group and the
ethics and values course. They will increase their participation in CAP LTER activities beyond
attending meetings to include presenting posters at the CAP LTER Annual Poster Symposium
and interacting more actively with LTER scientists. International experience is typically gained
during this period and fieldwork is conducted. It is also during this or the following phase that
IGERT Fellows serve as teaching assistants (required by most core departments).
Phase 3: Maturing of the IGERT Fellow (1 to 2 years). By this time IGERT Fellows
assume a leadership role in the program, becoming more like professional colleagues as they
complete their dissertations and prepare for postgraduate careers. As steps in that process,
experienced Fellows will: 1) lead the urban ecology reading group; 2) supervise the research of
an REU Fellow; 3) continue to present posters at the CAP LTER Annual Symposium. As part
of their burgeoning professionalism they will present papers at national conferences and publish
their research results. Those who have built external relationships through their internship or
field research will extend them as one possible bridge to the next stage in their careers.
Support during Phases 1-3. Fellows receive IGERT Fellowships during the first two and the
last year of their PhD program. In Years 3 and 4, support will come from a variety of sources:
departmental teaching assistantships (TAs), College of Liberal Arts and Sciences TAs committed
to IGERT Fellows, CAP LTER research assistantships (RAs), internships, or other new
sponsored research projects. We will support IGERT students during all summers of their tenure.
We believe the first two and last year fellowship support regime is ideal in that it maintains full
engagement of the Fellow in IGERT activities for their entire PhD career. Experienced IGERT
students serve an important role as mentors for new students and we feel it would be difficult to
maintain this support structure without providing final-year support. In addition, we believe that
supporting students in their final year, and counseling them to this end, will encourage the timely
completion of their PhDs.
SECTION E. ORGANIZATION, MANAGEMENT, AND INSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENT
Organization and Management
Fisher and Redman will continue to co-direct the IGERT in Urban Ecology program,
maintaining contact with the NSF and coordinating student, faculty member, and staff activity
(Figure 3). Fisher will have primary responsibility for academic activities, which include student
recruitment, faculty coordination, curricular issues, and maintaining contact with the NSF.
Redman will have primary responsibility for coordinating research opportunities with CAP
LTER and other CES projects, as well as University relations, community partners, and chairing
the Executive Committee. Fisher and Redman devote a substantial portion of their time to these
responsibilities and to teaching in the IGERT program (this represents a University commitment
Project Description - 19
of contributed effort). Fisher was formerly Director of Graduate Programs in the Biology
Department and has a strong record of providing a challenging and supportive atmosphere for
graduate students. Redman served as chair of the Department of Anthropology for nine years,
during which their PhD program in archaeology was rated as one of the two most improved in
the nation (Society of American Archaeology 1993). Both Fisher and Redman have extensive
records of successfully supervising
National
PHD students.
Science
Foundation
An Executive Committee of 11
Internal
External
members will assist the co-directors.
Assessment
Advisory
Activities
Committee
Redman will chair the committee,
Executive
Committee
composed of Fisher, the seven other
PI/PDs
Co-PIs, and two Senior Fellows. The
Staff
Program
Senior
Committee will have life scientists
Coordinator
Fellows
and
Office Staff
(Fisher, Grimm, Kinzig), social
scientists (Redman, Hackett,
Research
McHugh), an earth scientist
IGERT
ASU Graduate
Experience
College and
Fellows and
for UnderAdministration
(Arrowsmith), and representatives
graduates
Associates
from the University administration
(Nelson, Zatz). The Committee will
IGERT
CAP LTER &
Faculty and
Other
meet regularly to plan and schedule
Member
Research and
Departments
Activities
IGERT activities, allocate fiscal
Partner
resources, screen applicants in
Community
Organizations
conjunction with member
departments, and manage budget
reporting to NSF and ASU. In
Figure 3. The interactive structure of ASU’s IGERT in Urban
addition, an External Advisory
Ecology.
Committee, composed of PIs from
IGERT programs linking social and natural sciences, will assess the progress of our IGERT. For
external review and feedback, we will also rely upon several individual visitors throughout the
year with whom we meet and interact, usually with students.
CES, directed by Redman, will continue to be IGERT’s administrative home and provide key
logistical support to the Executive Committee. CES exists as a focal point for interdisciplinary
research in environmental science, has a major urban emphasis, and is fully committed to
implementing this program. Staff support includes a senior executive coordinator and an
assistant, both half-time. Departments share much of the effort ancillary to supporting IGERT
students and faculty participants.
Senior Fellows are essential in providing liaison between students and faculty members and
in managing and coordinating activities such as the reading group, field trips, and visiting
speakers. Students have been strongly proactive in this program, and their ownership of the
enterprise is largely responsible for its success.
Information Management
CAP LTER has developed important research resources available to IGERT research teams:
an environmental informatics lab, site-use permissions, a GIS database and use of the GIS lab,
improved biological collections and collections databases, use of a chemical-analysis lab, and a
biological-analysis lab. These facilities are in addition to individual and shared facilities in labs
Project Description - 20
distributed among participating departments. Remote-sensing data from both satellite and
airborne systems are available through the LTER and the Geological Remote Sensing facility.
LTER research vehicles and standard measurement equipment are available to IGERT
participants (See Facilities section for more information on resources available to IGERT).
Institutional Commitment and Sustainability
ASU strongly supports the Urban Ecology IGERT (see Letter of Commitment). The
University has already committed five faculty lines during the first five years to enhance
interdisciplinary strengths. The Office of University Evaluation provided free assessment
services. The Center for Learning and Teaching Excellence provided training in team building
and group dynamics and will continue to do so at an even higher level in the next five years. The
Division of Graduate Studies has earmarked 10 out-of-state tuition waivers, and the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences has committed 10 teaching assistantships. The higher administration
has been very supportive of the IGERT effort and will be even more supportive in the future, as
University-level reorganization unfolds consistent with IGERT goals of greater disciplinary
integration.
SECTION F: STUDENT AND PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
In addition to working with his/her own departmentally based dissertation committee and
chair, each Fellow, with his/her faculty advisor, meets annually with the IGERT co-directors to
formally review progress and discuss future plans. Data on accomplishments, publications, and
presentations are collected at this time and managed by the senior executive coordinator. This
annual review is in addition to departmental reviews and is the first line of assessment of the
program. In addition, a visiting committee of scientists established by the LTER program and
other external bodies will review the Fellow’s scientific programs.
The larger faculty council of 37 IGERT faculty members meet with Fellows at the CAP
LTER Annual Poster Symposium to discuss the program’s evolution. Ideas for seminars,
speakers, collaborative workshops, and administration are reviewed at this time. NSF’s annual
assessment provides additional data for evaluating the progress of the IGERT, with detailed
information provided by NSF in the project’s penultimate year. In addition, we commissioned an
extensive, questionnaire-based assessment by the University Evaluation Center in Year 3. We
used this independent assessment as an adaptive-management tool to make midcourse
corrections in the program. We will continue these programs in the next IGERT funding term.
To evaluate the success of our IGERT compared to conventional PhD programs on campus
from which IGERT fellows are drawn, we will work with ASU's Office of University Evaluation
to compare groups using outcome-based measures that we will develop. This task is a challenge
given a small and diverse IGERT student population, but we are committed to the IGERT
enterprise as an experiment and want to evaluate its efficacy with the same scientific rigor we
apply to the study of urban systems.
IGERT faculty participants and Fellows bring a self-reflective component to their studies.
One of our Co-PIs (Hackett) has NSF funding to develop new concepts and tools for assessing
the integrative aspects of IGERT programs nationwide and for examining the influence of
IGERT programs on the early careers of participants. IGERT Fellow John Parker is writing his
dissertation about contemporary and historical efforts to blend social and ecological theories,
using IGERTs, LTERs, NCEAS, and the Resilience Alliance as strategic sites for his
contemporary research.
Project Description - 21
SECTION G. RECRUITMENT, MENTORING, AND RETENTION
A number of strategies will be employed to enhance both general and targeted diversity
recruitment. In addition to recruitment efforts on the part of the collaborating academic units,
special IGERT recruitment efforts will include advertisements, announcements, and
presentations at national meetings and in society newsletters, visits of prospective students to
campus, and outreach at venues such as the California Forum on Diversity and SACNAS and
McNair conferences. We are also continuing our efforts to identify promising students through
our collaboration with ASU’s Barrett Honors College and outreach to other honors colleges.
Given our location in the Southwest, our targeted recruitment efforts focus especially on
American Indian and Latino/a students. In concert with the Division of Graduate Studies, we are
collaborating with the ASU American Indian Institute, the American Indian Graduate Center’s
national offices, and Graduate Horizons, which is a new program designed to increase the
number of talented American Indian students applying to graduate schools nationwide. At the
first annual Graduate Horizons workshop, held during Summer 2004, the Division of Graduate
Studies (Zatz) found that there was considerable interest in ASU’s IGERT programs. NSFsupported summer REU and UMEB programs, as well as the Hughes Foundation and NIHMARC (Minority Access to Research Careers) supported REU programs, provide yet another
source of potential students for our program. This year, ASU is host to two NSF-funded Louis
Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridges to the Doctorate programs in Biodesign and
in Applied Mathematics and Electromechanical Dynamics. Through these two programs, 22
students from underrepresented populations are beginning work on their master’s degrees. We
intend to introduce these young scholars to our IGERT-related research projects, and hopefully
to recruit several of them into our IGERT program. ASU is also host to 53 Gates Millennium
Scholars and 151 National Hispanic Scholars; we will invite these scholars to relevant events
within disciplines so that they may participate in some of our activities. Finally, we receive
listings of McNair and NIH-MARC students nationwide and will write letters of invitation to
minority scholars expressing interest in relevant areas of study.
Our retention efforts emphasize the importance of strong mentoring, professional
development, and competitive funding opportunities in years when the students are not supported
by IGERT. We take mentoring seriously and will provide a wide range of mentors for our
Fellows and Associates. We also have identified mechanisms through which IGERT Fellows can
themselves serve as mentors for more junior graduate students and for undergraduates. We
believe strongly that mentoring and being mentored go hand in hand, and that this process is a
critical element in our students’ professional development. Working in collaboration with the
Division of Graduate Studies and the Barrett Honors College, our mentoring activities include:
x A mentoring course that links IGERT Fellows and Associates to undergraduate honors
students; and
x Senior IGERT Fellows will assume responsibility for mentoring of junior Fellows and
Associates.
Beyond the research-focused professional development aspects of the IGERT and funding
for professional travel, IGERT Fellows and Associates are encouraged to participate in the
Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), Preparing Future Professionals (PFP), and Strategies for Success
professional development series offered by the Division of Graduate Studies. ASU-PFF is now in
its 11th year and enjoys a national reputation for excellence. It is a two-year course sequence
which prepares doctoral students for faculty roles and responsibilities in higher education. PFP is
Project Description - 22
a newer program designed for doctoral students who wish to explore opportunities for research
careers in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. Fifteen (approximately 25%) IGERT
Fellows and Associates have enrolled in PFF, and 31 (almost 50%) have participated in our PFP
and Strategies for Success workshops and seminars.
Funding is a critical component to retention and timely graduation. The College of Liberal
Arts and Science has contributed funding to ensure that IGERT Fellows have the opportunity to
teach courses in their specialty areas at some point during their doctoral studies, under the
supervision of faculty mentors. We find that IGERT Fellows and Associates are successful
applying for funding through Javits and NSF graduate fellowships, NSF dissertation fellowships,
and internally competitive dissertation writing funds from the Division of Graduate Studies.
Finally, our Fellows are fully engaged in university life, taking leadership positions in
graduate and professional student associations on campus. In addition, and related specifically to
our efforts to recruit and retain a diverse student population, we encourage interested students to
become involved in the Black Graduate Student Association, the Latino/a Graduate Student
Association, and the American Indian Graduate Student Association.
SECTION H. RECENT TRAINEESHIP EXPERIENCE AND RESULTS FROM PRIOR NSF SUPPORT
This proposal is to continue our IGERT effort for another five years. As such, the entire
proposal is a representation of "Results from Prior Support" in that it represents the product of
evolutionary learning to this point. Below we provide an assessment of our program in more
tangible, quantitative terms. However, we think the true success of an IGERT program can be
measured in two more significant ways. First, we measure our success in the production of a new
generation of PhD students, more broadly trained, more innovative, and more collaborative than
before. We have asked our Fellows to write their own testimonials to this via individual
vignettes. Second, in developing institutional changes so that this integrative, collaborative
modus operandi pervades the educational system and is made available to future generations of
students in perpetuity. We close this section by making a case for this in the context of ASU.
Data
We are currently ending our fourth IGERT year and results are just becoming evident.
Twenty-four students have been supported as Fellows. One withdrew from the program, and
three graduated with PhDs (1 Geology and 2 Biology). Four Fellows will graduate this year with
PhDs (1 Geography, 2 Biology, and 1 Anthropology). Over 70 Associates (15 Anthropology, 11
Biology, 1 Engineering, 2 Environ Design, 3 Environ Planning, 1 Fluid Dynamics, 11
Geography, 9 Geological Sciences, 11 Plant Biology, 2 Sociology) have been supported by the
program and 14 have graduated (Biology 1 MA, 2 PhDs; Geography 2 MA and 4 PhDs; Fluid
Dynamics 1 MA; Plant Biology 1 MA, 2 PhDs, Sociology 1 PhD). Three former Fellows are
postdocs (University of Georgia/Athens Marine Sciences; USGS, Flagstaff, AZ; and Ohio State
University), and one is going into a faculty position Fall 2004 (Southern Illinois University).
Three former Associates are assistant professors (Texas State University, U of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee, and Drexel University), one is employed by AZ Dept of Environmental Quality, one
is employed at Maricopa Association of Governments, one is postdoc at University of Arizona,
one is an instructor at ASU West and Maricopa Community College. Twenty Fellows have
published 49 papers and have given 78 presentations at professional meetings and 68 posters. Six
students have traveled abroad (or will soon) as part of their studies. Forty Associates have 5
publications, 12 papers presented at professional meetings and 27 posters.
Project Description - 23
Vignettes of IGERT Fellows
The above statistics fail to capture the texture of our program in human terms. Our most
tangible products are the talented young scientists who pass through and shape their program.
The vignettes below (edited for length) are paraphrased from short biographical sketches
contributed by a sample of IGERT Fellows to illustrate the diversity and breadth of their
individual experiences.
Shade Shutters left a career in international finance and came to ASU to study ecology but,
before joining IGERT, he had not considered the human dimensions that are an integral part of
managing natural resources. Shade has interacted with a broad range of social scientists, here and
at other universities, and will spend part of next summer at Indiana University at a conference on
modeling complex adaptive social systems. After obtaining his doctorate Shade would like to do
a postdoc at the interface of policy and science, then seek a job that would combine active
natural-resource management with academic responsibilities.
James Clancy is a new PhD student in public administration, having completed a 30-year
career in the private sector. As an IGERT fellow, James is studying urban ecology with Nancy
Grimm and John Briggs. His interests include application of decision science and policy analysis
to urban ecology and national-science policy. James is currently studying Arizona state water
legislation with the intent of conducting policy implementation studies on this topic as part of his
dissertation.
Kris Gade came to ASU to study the interactions between human development and
ecological services. In her second year, she organized an IGERT workshop focused on the first
park established in Phoenix and its changing role in the surrounding neighborhood. She is
studying the role of transportation corridors in plant dispersal between developed and natural
areas. Kris spent two months in Melbourne, Australia with the Australian Research Center for
Urban Ecology learning about politics, management, and ecology of roadside habitats. She plans
to do a policy-related postdoc before seeking an interdisciplinary position in urban ecology.
Cathryn Meeghan came to ASU to study archaeobotany in Jordan. Since joining IGERT, she
changed her focus to the Hohokam and is including a strong ecological component in her
research on subsistence stress and risk aversion. She has also pursued IGERT research in France,
where she learned about using a historical perspective to study land use, which she will
integrate into her dissertation to reflect modern-day relevance.
Timothy Collins is working on his geography dissertation on forest management and fire
hazard issues in ponderosa pine forest communities of Northern Arizona. Based on his
involvement with the CAP LTER Environmental Risk Group and his IGERT coursework in
ecology, Collins has extended the scope of inquiry to blend knowledge from the disciplines of
geography, sociology, and ecology. His work has both theoretical relevance (e.g., hazard
vulnerability and socioecological resilience) and is integral to adaptive ecosystem management
in the study region.
John Parker’s research is in the areas of the sociology of work and science. Over the last
four years he has focused on social, technical, and organizational aspects of collaboration in
ecology. His IGERT experience has been a key factor shaping his academic trajectory and has
widened my academic horizons. As a result of participation in several IGERT workshops, he has
been able to collaborate in research falling outside the traditional domains of his discipline and
has several publications pending in these areas. He reports that IGERT has given him three
precious commodities: time, funding, and quality collaborators, factors that have allowed him to
Project Description - 24
conduct more research and publish more papers than would have ever been possible through
traditional graduate training.
John Roach came to ASU to study the biogeochemistry of desert streams and is focusing his
research on the cycling of nitrogen in Indian Bend Wash, an extensively modified urban stream
running through the City of Scottsdale. Discussions with geologist Ramon Arrowsmith evolved
into an IGERT workshop detailing the history of the watershed beginning with its formation
during the basin and range faulting of the Southwestern US and ending with the changes
resulting from the past 55 years of intensive human development, especially related to water
quality. John plans to do a postdoc in biogeochemistry before seeking an academic position in
stream ecology.
Sara Grineski came to ASU to study sociology. The IGERT program has allowed her to
retain her broad interests in sociology, geography, and ecology as related to health and
environment. She organized an IGERT collaborative workshop to investigate health and air
quality in a Phoenix neighborhood as per request of the community. IGERT has also taken her to
Canberra, Australia for a summer research exchange where she studied environmental justice
and urban parks. She hopes to receive a faculty position at a university in the western US to
continue with integrated studies of the environment.
IGERT as a Leader in Institutional Evolution: Rationale for a 2nd Period of Funding
A great investment has been made in the infrastructure supporting this program. The
Synthesis Center, for example, is now complete and working. Students and faculty members
have formed a supportive culture of interdisciplinarity. By trial and error, we have learned how
to effectively run courses and workshops. The Senior Fellow system is in place, and four new
faculty members supporting this program were hired, with a search underway for a fifth. The
urban LTER is developing nicely and satellite research projects are being spawned, ripe for
student participation. International connections have been established and experience has been
gained to increase efficiency of that exchange. Urban ecology is new and increasingly visible
and demand is great for training in this area. All these factors argue for continuation in the
interest of capitalizing on this initial investment.
In addition, an unparalleled opportunity exists at ASU to institutionalize this IGERT and test a
model for expansion that may be applicable in large universities everywhere. This second fiveyear funding period coincides with a period of major reorganization of ASU’s four campuses,
creation of five new schools from innumerable traditional departments, and a focus on
interdisciplinarity as an organizing principle. IGERT faculty members and students are
strategically placed to both inform and influence this reorganization. A new Presidential
Initiative on Disciplinary Integration has been stimulated in part by IGERT activities and will
involve IGERT faculty members in leadership roles. Interdisciplinary and cross-college PhD
degrees will be designed. Connections between IGERT Fellow mentors and Honors College
REU students are just starting to evolve and, since LTER is heavily vested in K-12 ecology, a
seamless vertical enterprise will soon emerge. Thus, the opportunity is great to perfuse the
University vertically and horizontally with insights we are gaining from this IGERT program and
to thereby expand the experiment manifold.
Project Description - 25
SECTION I. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
International exchanges benefit IGERT students by extending an understanding of the
ecological and social dynamics of a particular setting (e.g., Phoenix) to a much greater range of
biogeophysical and cultural conditions. As some cities are “new” and others “old,” cross-city
comparisons allow a space-for-time substitutions to elucidate urban dynamics and outcomes.
International exchanges thus strengthen the scientific validity of ASU-based studies. Of equal
importance is the opportunity international exchange affords students to study the culture of
science itself—how its reigning paradigms, place in society, promotion of interdisciplinarity, and
emphasis on collaboration might change from nation to nation, or lab group to lab group. There
is no single correct approach to the conduct of science or the processes that will lead to
successful interdisciplinary and collaborative research endeavors. Many of us spend a lifetime
learning what works for us and for the particular setting in which we find ourselves. IGERT
students will do the same, but they can start with a broader foundation for their ongoing
education if they are able to compare one or more interdisciplinary and collaborative research
groups.
At the same time, we believe that short-term exposure to research in an international setting
(e.g., a few months or less) is best facilitated among groups that already have an established
collaboration, particularly among the PIs if not yet among the students. Such an existing
relationship allows more effective planning in advance of the exchange and provides better
guarantees that the exchange student will find a supportive environment and a project
sufficiently well thought out that the student can “hit the ground running” and produce
something of use (for both the student and the host institution) by its end. Although this may
constrain the diversity of groups that can be accessed in an exchange, we nonetheless have found
that the benefits of working with known collaborators tend to significantly outweigh the costs of
potentially constraining opportunities.
We propose collaboration with host institutions for international exchange with whom we
have existing relationships. Kinzig and Redman have an affiliation with the Resilience Alliance
(RA)—an international consortium of institutions focused on change in complex socioecological
systems. The RA currently has about 20 member institutions in Australia, Canada, France,
Holland, Mozambique, Sweden, Thailand, US, and Zimbabwe. There is an ongoing collaboration
on urban resilience with the four member nodes in Australia (CSIRO in Canberra; Brian Walker
primary contact), Sweden (Stockholm University; Thomas Elmqvist primary contact), and
Thailand (Chiang Mai University; Louis Lebel primary contact). International exchanges will be
with those three overseas groups, but IGERT students may request exchanges with other
institutions either within or outside of the RA.
There is unlikely to be a “one-size-fits-all” exchange program, thus we propose three
different exchange styles: (1) 3-month, single-student exchanges; (2) multi-student workshops
following international meetings; or (3) attendance at established “short courses” or summer
workshops at international institutions. We hope that, with these three options, all IGERT
students will participate in at least one international exchange.
Option 1: 3-Month Exchanges
In consultation with our international host institutions (Stockholm, Canberra, Chiang Mai),
we will select 6 students (1-3 per host institution) for a 3-month exchange experience over the
five-year period of the grant. Calls for proposals will be circulated to the students each fall
indicating which institutions/PIs are willing to take students in the coming calendar year and the
International Collaboration - 1
general areas of research that would be appropriate to each institution/PI. Students may also
submit proposals for exchange with other institutions with which they have developed
relationships. Proposals from students will be evaluated both by the ASU team (Kinzig, Fisher,
Redman) and the host institution PI, based on: 1) suitability of proposed research for student’s
dissertation and/or career goals; 2) appropriateness of proposed research for host institution;
3) likelihood of project success; and 4) suitability of the student for international exchange (e.g.,
maturity, communication ability, etc.). Once students are selected, Kinzig will facilitate
communication between the student and the host institution to ensure that proposals are further
developed to the mutual satisfaction of both student and host and any needed project resources
are secured before the student’s arrival. This process is very similar to the (successful) one
followed for our last international-exchange program. Upon return, students will be asked to
submit a written summary of their research activities and present their experiences at an IGERT
seminar.
Option 2: Workshops
Members of the Resilience Alliance attend annual meetings as well as smaller “theme
meetings” throughout the year. In recent times, the RA has made funds available for a small
contingent of students and postdocs to attend. In addition, there are many international meetings
attended by two or more members of the RA (e.g., the upcoming “Life in the Urban Landscape”
meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden in May-June 2005) or by other international colleagues (e.g.,
IUCN World Conservation Congress). We propose shorter-term exchanges, centered on these
meetings, in which students from ASU and at least one other international institution (6-10
students total), and at least one PI from each institution, meet as a group. Participants would
come together two days before the meeting to exchange short research presentations, discuss the
cross-cultural nature of collaborative and interdisciplinary research, and take a local field trip.
Participants would then attend the international meeting and again meet for two days afterwards
to evaluate meeting outcomes, and share insights gained about collaboration and the future of
urban ecology. “Natural” collaborations may or may not emerge from such meetings; we would
consider the opportunity to exchange information, expand a network of student colleagues, and
attend an international meeting to be of sufficient value. These experiences could be established
either through student-generated proposal (2-4 students propose meeting at a particular
workshop; Kinzig identifies potential partner institutions for participation, including those
already planning to bring students) or through invitation to annual or theme RA meetings, where
appropriate (ASU students would be covered with IGERT funds; non-ASU [and at least some
non-US] students would be covered with RA funds, which are increasingly being made available
for this purpose).
Option 3: Short Courses
Several international short or summer courses in environmental studies currently exist (e.g.,
IIASA’s programs for Young Scientists). Students would be encouraged to seek out such
opportunities and apply for funding, through the IGERT international program, to attend such
courses. Proposals would be evaluated based on: 1) the suitability of such a course for the
student’s research and career goals; and 2) the course’s quality/reputation.
International Collaboration - 2
SECTION J. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION HISTORY
IGERT in Urban Ecology Recruitment and Retention of Fellows
Department: Anthropology
Total Fellow Applicants
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
1
4
3
6
4
Women/Minority Applicants
0
0/1
0/1
2/1
1/1
Women/Minority Awarded
0
0/1
0/1
2/1
1/1
Women/Minority Enrolled
0
0/1
0/1
1/1
1/1
Total Fellow Enrolled
1
3
2
4
4
PhD Awarded Women/Minority
Total PhD Awarded
1*
*expected
Department: Biology
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
Total Fellow Applicants
3
4
6
11
5
Women/Minority Applicants
2/0
2/0
2/1
5/0
2/0
Women/Minority Awarded
2/0
2/0
2/0
3/0
2/0
Women/Minority Enrolled
2/0
2/0
2/0
2/0
2/0
Total Fellow Enrolled
3
4
4
5
5
PhD Awarded Women/Minority
1
Total PhD Awarded
1
1/1*
*expected
Department: Geography
Total Fellow Applicants
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
2
3
4
8
6
Women/Minority Applicants
1/0
1/0
2/0
2/0
2/0
Women/Minority Awarded
1/0
1/0
1/0
1/0
2/0
Women/Minority Enrolled
1/0
1/0
1/0
1/0
2/0
Total Fellow Enrolled
2
3
3
4
4
PhD Awarded Women/Minority
1
Total PhD Awarded
1
Department: Geology
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
Total Fellow Applicants
1
2
1
1
1
Women/Minority Applicants
1/0
1/0
0
0
0
Women/Minority Awarded
1/0
1/0
0
0
0
Women/Minority Enrolled
1/0
1/0
0
0
0
Total Fellow Enrolled
1
1
1
1
1
PhD Awarded Women/Minority
1
Total PhD Awarded
1
Recruitment and Retention History - 1
IGERT in Urban Ecology Recruitment and Retention of Fellows, Continued
Department: Plant Biology
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
Total Fellow Applicants
2
2
2
5
1
Women/Minority Applicants
2/0
2/0
1/0
3/0
0
Women/Minority Awarded
1/0
1/0
1/0
1/0
1/0
Women/Minority Enrolled
1/0
1/0
1/0
1/0
0
Total Fellows Enrolled
1
1
1
2
1
PhDs Awarded Women/Minority
1
Total PhDs Awarded
1
Department: Sociology
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
Total Fellow Applicants
0
2
2
4
2
Women/Minority Applicants
0
1/1
1/1
2/1
0
Women/Minority Awarded
0
1/1
1/1
1/1
1/1
Women/Minority Enrolled
0
1/1
1/1
1/1
1/1
Total Fellows Enrolled
0
2
2
2
2
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
PhDs Awarded Women/Minority
Total PhDs Awarded
Department: Civil Engineering
Total Fellow Applicants
0
0
0
0
1
Women/Minority Applicants
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
Women/Minority Awarded
0/0
0
0
0
0
Women/Minority Enrolled
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
Total Fellows Enrolled
0
0
0
0
1
20002001
20012002
Academic Year
20022003
20032004
20042005
PhDs Awarded Women/Minority
Total PhDs Awarded
Department: Public Affairs
Total Fellow Applicants
0
0
0
0
1
Women/Minority Applicants
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
Women/Minority Awarded
0/0
0
0
0
0
Women/Minority Enrolled
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
0/0
Total Fellows Enrolled
0
0
0
0
1
PhDs Awarded Women/Minority
Total PhDs Awarded
Recruitment and Retention History - 2
Summary of ALL IGERT Fellows, All Departments
Academic Year
2000-2001
Total Fellow Applicants
2001-2002
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
17
18
35
21
9
Women/Minority Applicants
6/0
7/2
6/3
14/2
6/2
Women/Minority Awarded
5/0
6/2
5/2
8/2
6/2
Women/Minority Enrolled
5/0
6/2
5/2
6/2
6/2
Total Fellows Enrolled
PhDs Awarded
Women/Minority
8
14
13
18
19
0
1
0
2
1
Total PhDs Awarded
0
1
0
2
4
Summary of All IGERT Associates, All Departments
Academic Year
2000-2001
2001-2002
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
Total Associate Applicants
23
24
24
27
15
Women/Minority Applicants
14/0
12/0
15/1
18/1
12/0
Women/Minority Awarded
7/0
7/0
8/1
10/1
12/0
Women/Minority Enrolled
7/0
7/0
8/1
10/1
11/0
Total Associates Enrolled
PhDs Awarded
Women/Minority
12
13
14
18
14
1
2
2
4
Total PhDs Awarded
Recruitment and Retention History - 3
REFERENCES CITED
Belnap, J., J. R. Welter, N. B. Grimm, N. Barger, and J. A. Ludwig. In press. Linkages between
microbial and hydrologic processes in arid and semi-arid watersheds. Ecology, in press,
2004.
Bolin, B., A. Nelson, E. J. Hackett, K. D. Pijawka, C. S. Smith, D. Sicotte, E. K. Sadalla, E.
Matranga, and M. O'Donnell. 2002. The ecology of technological risk in a Sunbelt city.
Environ. & Plan. A 34:317-339.
Bolin, B., S. Grineski and T.Collins. In press. The geography of despair: Environmental racism
and the making of south Phoenix. Human Ecology Review.
Chubin, D. E., and E. J. Hackett. 1990. Peerless Science: Peer Review and U.S. Science Policy.
State University of New York Press, Albany.
Collins, J. P., A. Kinzig, N. B. Grimm, W. F. Fagan, D. Hope, J. Wu, and E. T. Borer. 2000. A
new urban ecology. American Scientist 88:416-425.
Croissant, J., and S. Restivo, eds. 2001. Degrees of Compromise: Industrial Interests and
Academic Values. State University of New York Press, Albany.
Gibbons, M., C. Limoges, H. Nowotny, S. Schwartzman, P. Scott, and M. Trow. 1994. The New
Production of Knowledge: Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. Sage, London.
Grimm, N. B., J R. Arrowsmith, C. Eisinger, J. Heffernan, D. B. Lewis, A. MacLeod, L.
Prashad, W. J. Roach, T. Rychener, and R. W. Scheibley. 2004. Effects of urbanization on
nutrient biogeochemistry of aridland streams. In R. DeFries, G. P. Asner, and R. Houghton,
editors. Ecosystem interactions with land use change. American Geophysical Union.
Gunderson, L. H., and C. S. Holling, eds. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in
Human and Natural Systems. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA and London, England.
Hackett, E. J. 1990. Science as a vocation in the 1990s: The organizational culture of academic
science. Journal of Higher Education 61(3):241-279.
Hackett, E. J. 1994. A social control perspective on scientific misconduct. Journal of Higher
Education 65(3):242-260.
Knowles-Yanez, K., C. Moritz, J. Fry, C. L. Redman, M. Bucchin, and P. H. McCartney. 1999.
Historic Land Use: Phase I Report on Generalized Land Use. Central Arizona – Phoenix
Long-Term Ecological Research Contribution No. 1, Center for Environmental Studies,
Arizona State University, Tempe.
MacLeod, A. 2003. Artificial hydrologic controls and the geomorphology of the Greater Phoenix
area. Senior thesis, Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe.
McClain, M. E., E. W. Boyer, C. L. Dent, S. E. Gergel, N. B. Grimm, P. M. Groffman, S. C.
Hart, J. W. Harvey, C. A. Jonston, E. Mayorga, W. J. McDowell, and G. Pinay. 2003.
Biogeochemical hot spots and hot moments at the interface of terestrial and aquatic
ecosystems. Ecosystems 6:301-312.
Molles, M. C. 2005. Ecology: Concepts and Applications. 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York. 622
pp.
Nowotny, H., P. Scott, and M. Gibbons. 2001. Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public
in an Age of Uncertainty. Polity Press, Cambridge, England.
References Cited - 1
Redman, C. L., and A. P. Kinzig. 2003. Resilience of past landscapes: Resilience theory, society,
and the longue durée. Conservation Ecology 7(1): 14. [online] URL:
http://www.consecol.org/vol7/iss1/art14
Robinson, S. E. 2002. Cosmogenic nuclides, remote sensing, and field studies applied to desert
piedmonts, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University,
Tempe.
Shochat, E., W. L. Stefanov, M. E. A. Whitehorse, and S. Faeth. 2004. Urbanization and spider
diversity: Influences of human modification of habitat structure and productivity. Ecological
Applications 14(4):268-280.
Society of American Archaeology. 1993. Ph.D. programs in archaeology: Results of an SAA
Bulletin Survey. SAA Bulletin 11(1):8-11.
Zhu, W., N. D. Dillard, and N. B. Grimm. In press. Urban nitrogen biogeochemistry: Status and
processes in green retention basins. Biogeochemistry, in press, 2004.
References Cited - 2
FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND OTHER RESOURCES
The Center for Environmental Studies (CES) is the administrative home of IGERT, staff to
coordinate IGERT activities and providing space for seminars and meetings. CES facilities include a
large conference room with videoconferencing and computer presentation capabilities (interactive
whiteboard), a large meeting room for workshops and conferences, and the IGERT Synthesis Center
(described in the proposal). Several IGERT faculty members have office space at CES. The CAP
LTER, CES Informatics Lab (see below), the K-12 education program “Ecology Explorers,” the
CSRUR, the DCDC, and LTER and other postdoctoral scientists and field technicians are based at
CES. The CES Informatics Lab is available to IGERT students. The lab has servers with a total
storage capacity of two terabytes, a dozen work stations, Esri Spatial Database Engine GIS server, an
ArcIMS internet map service, relational database modeling software, ArcView/ArcGIS, Erdas
Imagine, MapObjects, Matlab, SPSS, and office productivity software. The Information Technology
GIS lab and the Geological Remote Sensing Lab (GRSL) are facilities that partner with CAP LTER
and thus are available to IGERT students. The latter facility receives and processes both satellite and
airborne images, including those of 100 global cities from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on board the Terra satellite.
Additional resources are available to IGERT students throughout ASU: The recently completed
Keck Laboratory for Environmental Biogeochemistry, built with a grant from the W.M. Keck
Foundation (Grimm is Co-PI) houses 4 mass spectrometers (MS) that will enable virtually any stable
isotopic analysis that can be conceived by IGERT students. The multi-user Goldwater
Environmental Laboratory (GEL) is equipped with numerous instruments for chemical analysis,
including elemental analyzer, two automated chemical analyzers, ion chromatograph, AA
spectrometers, GC/MS, and IRMS. The CAP LTER has specialized field equipment including
chemiluminescence detector and gas-flux chambers for trace-gas research, a GPS, micromet stations,
and infrared gas analyzers for soil respiration and leaf photosynthesis measurement. The ASU
Library has more than 2.6 million volumes and is the 27th largest research library in North America
and is a depository for US Government publications. The general catalog is accessible by computer
via the internet, and major journals are available on line to ASU users.
CAP LTER and thus IGERT students have access to a variety of research laboratories
throughout ASU. CES has a small wet lab equipped with hood, a large-capacity drying oven, and
storage space for field equipment. Many CAP LTER/IGERT faculty in SoLS have individual labs,
although these are increasingly shared among researchers and are made available to IGERT students.
They are well equipped with state-of-the art computers and software for simulation modeling, GIS,
spatial analysis, numerical analysis, and graphic preparation; and standard analytical laboratory and
field equipment. Laboratories in Geological Sciences are modern and well equipped, including
sophisticated remote sensing and visualization computer hardware and software. Several faculty
members and the LTER program have field vehicles available for IGERT student use, and all
departments have meeting and lecture space that can be reserved. The Archaeological Research
Institute houses extensive southwestern archaeological research collections and sponsors graduate
research opportunities.
Additional labs available for IGERT use: Office of Climatology (Geography) houses archives of
historical weather records for Arizona, the state climatologist, a governor-appointed position, and
special network weather and climate data for central Arizona. A Geography computer laboratory is
accessible for numerical model simulations (e.g., mesoscale metorologic models) and data archival.
The Survey Research Laboratory (Institute for Social Science Research; 4-10 staff, 6400 ft2)
provides training for graduate students in survey research methods and supports faculty research
programs, using a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing System for all telephone surveys.
Facilities - 1