2012 George Melendez Wright Climate Change Fellowship Program
Project ID: J8W07110030
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: University of Washington
Fiscal Year: 2011
Initial Funding: $369,990
Total Funding: $369,990
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Interdisciplinary
National Park: National Projects
Principal Investigator: Graumlich, Lisa
Agreement Technical Representative: Watkins, Tim
Abstract: The National Park Service (NPS), the Department of Interior, and the President of the United States have sought to increase science-based resource management in NPS units to improve the understanding of park resources and incorporation of such information by park managers in making decisions, to improve the quality of information given to the public, and to increase the number of partners that assist NPS with using sound science in its decision-making. The George Melendez Wright Climate Change Fellowship Program (CCFP) addresses climate change related research needs in national parks identified by upper level undergraduate and graduate students and their university advisors. This is a collaborative project between NPS and the University of Washington (UW) to administer and fund the 2012 George Melendez Wright Climate Change Fellowship Program. The following activities will occur: a call for proposals will be distributed; evaluation and ranking criteria will be developed; proposals will be received and reviewed via an online system; proposals will be reviewed by panels consisting of academic and NPS experts; the results of the evaluations will be compiled and fellowship recipients will be selected; a summary of the review process and the selected research projects will be produced; the selected research projects will be conducted in NPS units and possibly in protected areas in Canada and Mexico by the student fellows with involvement by NPS (via field and safety training, project support, data collection and analysis, and support in developing and reviewing reports). There are many public benefits to this project, including involving scores of college and university students in writing research proposals on the contemporary issue of climate change, conducting research projects and producing new knowledge to enable better management of public lands in the face of climate change, understanding the role of National Parks in large-landscape and trans-boundary approaches to climate change response, and publicly providing research findings through at least 2 websites (NPS Climate Change Response Program, and a UW site).
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