Training in Sustainability Sciences Funded

Posted on | February 26, 2010 | 2 Comments

Front, Catherine Chan-Halbrendt and back, Creighton Litton and Christopher Lepczyk

Mānoa’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management was awarded a $156,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture National Needs Graduate Fellowship focused on integrative training in sustainability sciences. The grant will provide highly competitive fellowships for two doctoral students who will address interdisciplinary questions related to sustainability, and use the Hawaiʻi 2050 Sustainability Plan as an overarching framework. The fellows will join a cohort of students working on the interrelated areas of ecosystem services, sustainable ecosystem management, community watershed management, and environmental valuation and policy.

The grant will be administered by Professor Catherine Chan-Halbrendt, Specialist Carl Evensen, Assistant Professor Christopher A. Lepczyk and Assistant Professor Creighton M. Litton.

The overall objectives of the NNF program are to support training of graduate students in targeted expertise shortage areas in the food and agricultural sciences, with the ultimate goal of workforce-readiness and globally competitive graduates. The 2009 NNF Program received 92 applications nationally requesting over $20 million in support for graduate training projects, of which 23 were selected to support a total of 45 doctoral and 23 master of science students.

In receiving this grant, the four faculty members noted that “it demonstrates strong support for the interdisciplinary perspective provided by the NREM program, which is greatly needed to address the current challenges facing our ecosystems.”

Read the news release.

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