latest news
- Managing Risk: Helping Cities in Massachusetts Adapt to Climate Change
- To view the publication please click here if you would like a hard copy, please send shipping address to MIT Collaborative
- Solutions: For A Sustainable and Desirable Future, Article Winning Public Support for Addressing Climate Change written by Professor Susskind and Evan Pual
- Best of MUSIC Publication
- MUSIC-researcher Tijs van Maasakkers receives grant from the National Audubon Society to develop negotiation exercise for the Atchafalaya Basin
- Professor Susskind's Blog on Consensus Building
What is the Science Impact Collaborative?
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 Science Impact Collaborative (formerly known as MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative) 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. The Science Impact Collaborative 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 students takes on. Science Impact Coordinators in training work on field-based projects initiated by Federal, state and local agencies.
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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;
- Adaptive strategies to achieve sustainable energy in the face of changing climate through the use of offshore wind farms;
- 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.
