The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program at the University of Puerto-Río Piedras (UPR-RP) aims to train Ph.D. students in interdisciplinary and collaborative research approaches to environmental problems in urbanizing, tropical landscapes. The program is based in the natural sciences, but students receive interdisciplinary training in social science perspectives on environmental issues and apply these to real-world problems. Fellows work with government agencies, NGOs, or community groups to develop dissertation questions directed to environmental problems in Puerto Rico and beyond. The common element for dissertation research is how human and natural systems interact in an urbanizing setting. IGERT research can focus climate, water, food security, renewable energy, waste management, biodiversity, or urban system services, among other topics. This program is funded by the National Science Foundation.

 

Puerto Rico has had a dynamic environmental history, with nearly complete deforestation followed by forest recovery, and then urban sprawl as the economy modernized. The environmental problems caused by these shifts, overlaid by changes in climate and vulnerability to catastrophic storms, make Puerto Rico an ideal place to conduct integrative research.

 

This IGERT is based in the UPR-RP Environmental Science Graduate Program, but students in other UPR-RP graduate programs may apply. The deadline for application to UPR-RP graduate programs is January 25, 2013. The deadline for application for these IGERT fellowships is February 25, 2013. Applicants must contact the IGERT program and a prospective advisor before applying. See the website and email addresses below.

 

Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Contacts: Rafael Rios Davila PhD, Program Director, rafaelrios00936@yahoo.com

Sheila Ward, Program Associate Director, seward@hpcf.upr.edu

Colibrí Sanfiorenzo-Barnhard, Program Coordinator, uprrp.igert@gmail.com