• Best of MUSIC Publication click here to access full reports


• MUSIC-researcher Tijs van Maasakkers receives grant from the National Audubon Society to develop negotiation exercise for the Atchafalaya Basin


• Beaudry Kock receives Outstanding Student Paper Award from the American Geophysical Union


• Professor Susskind's Blog on Consensus Building


• MUSIC Researcher Beaudry Kock appears on KVAY Radio in Colorado to discuss the ArkAgent Project


• Global Climate Change Collaborative (G3C) A MUSIC co-chaired collaboration with the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre (Tasmania), the Cyprus Institute (Middle East), the British Geological Survey, TNO (the Netherlands), the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (Israel), and the Anudip Foundation for Social Welfare (India).

What is MUSIC?

For society to manage complex ecosystems effectively, including handling both the sudden and cumulative impacts of climate change, the integration of science-based knowledge with political and socioeconomic considerations is essential. To bridge the very different cultures of the citizen, scientist, and public official we need a new kind of environmental professional, one trained in traditional disciplinary skills, but who can also build consensus among a range of disciplines and communities and communicate complex information to diverse groups. The MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative (nicknamed MUSIC) has been experimenting with a field-based graduate training program aimed at providing instruction in both sets of skills. Students are involved in action-research to help them gain the interdisciplinary knowledge required to integrate the diverse fields involved in environmental decision-making. MUSIC, and there are similar programs at several other universities, teaches masters-level professionals to function as “Science Impact Coordinators,” equipped to step into professional assignments immediately after graduation. The program balances the theoretical perspectives of a diverse mix of faculty with those of visiting scholars who bring practical experience to bear on the complex assignments that MUSIC takes on. Science Impact Coordinators in training work on field-based projects initiated by the regional offices of Federal agencies.
download pdf of entire article...

This year, interns and doctoral researchers, under the direction of MIT faculty and agency field advisors, are working on:

• Addressing the challenge of climate change through strategic habitat conservation in the Everglades;
• Assessing ecosystem sustainability and vulnerability to climate change in the Lower Mississippi Valley;
• Guidance tools for planning and management of urban drainage systems under a changing climate;
• Adaptive strategies to achieve sustainable energy in the face of changing climate through the use of offshore wind farms;
• Exploring institutional and behavioral means by which salinization can be reduced and even reversed in the Lower Arkansas Basin;
• increasing public awareness of the risks associated with climate change and the need to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of coastal communities in Massachusetts.

KICK-OFF MEETINGS