Recipient Organization
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LUBBOCK,TX 79409
Performing Department
Natural Resources Management
Non Technical Summary
The nation stands in dire need of multidisciplinary experts in wildfire and forestresources management combined with communications. As underscored by the recentwildfire season in Colorado and widespread impacts of severe fire and smoke along the PacificCoast this past year, the national approach to fire hazard and managing forest resources under changing patterns of fire activity is in dire need of revision. This undertaking will not be feasible without publicsupport garnered through effective communication of nuanced fire science, forest resourcemanagement, and policy. More than a century of aggressive fire suppression has led to fuelaccumulationin some forests, especially dry conifer forests of the southwestern United States, creating fires that are burning more severely than our forest management and land development strategies are equipped to handle. Other, moisture-laden forests, such as high elevation forests of the Rockies, have historically burned at very high severity, but did so only infrequently (i.e., every few hundred years) until recently, as a warming climate has increased (and will continue to increase) the occurrence of the hot and dry conditions that are conducive to severe wildfires in these landscapes (Westerling et al., 2011). Yet still other forest ecosystems of the United States fall somewhere along the middle of this spectrum, with current fire patterns driven by both past land managementas well as climate change, to varying degrees. This nuance is widely understood by experts in fire science and forest management, yet debate and confusion pervade the public arena as land management and climate change as drivers are politicized, sensationalized, and misunderstood. Public perceptions, along with internal agency practices and policies, play a role in influencing fire management strategies. Experts who develop this nuanced understanding often do so through graduate studies, but effective dissemination to other key stakeholders and the general public remains a challenge. Graduate studies typically require such in-depth immersion in a narrow field that graduate students have limited opportunities to develop truly multidisciplinary expertise, such as in fields of forest resource management and communications.Four National Needs Fellows (2 MS, 2 PhD) will become experts in wildland fire, forest resource managment, and science communication through a program at Texas Tech University. An expanded curriculum of cross-disciplinary coursework, service learning, and a unique capstone project will take Fellows' experiences beyond the rigor of traditional graduate studies to help them develop the expertise needed to both understand and communicate complex issues in forest resource management under novel patterns of fire and science communication. The goal of these fellowships will be to prepare the Fellowsto be effective leaders in research and management positions that have tremendous potential for positive impact through communication with stakeholders and the public.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
We propose a suite of fellowships with the overall goal of training experts in a holistic knowledge base of two criticalareas: forest resource management given novel patterns of wildfire, and science communicationgiven the New Media Age. Two MS and two PhD Fellows will achieve objectives oftransdisciplinary coursework, workshops, Peer-to-Peer research, and a capstone project todisseminate findings widely. The Fellows' education will go above and beyond the rigor oftraditional graduate degrees because of the transdisciplinary focus, capstone project, andevidence-based learning strategies.
Project Methods
Academic advising of the proposed National Needs Fellows will include the following additional components:? Participation in regular (typically weekly) lab meetings with all Landscape Ecology andFire research laboratory personnel? Weekly one-on-one advisement with graduate advisor. In addition to supervising researchefforts and capstone project implementation, advisors will also give career guidance andregularly remind Fellows of college and university resources for health and wellness.? Monthly team meetings to plan next steps for collaboration with the National NeedsFellows and PIs of this proposal? Workshop and Service Learning with Forest Service (see Cordova letter of support? Service Learning (see Britton Gregg letter of support)? Participation in other one-time, opportunistic events to receive outside mentoring as theyarise, such as leadership development workshops or science communication seminarsEach Fellow will enter a graduate degree program in either Natural ResourcesManagementor Agricultural Education and Communications. To maintain flexibility and encourage Fellow initiative, after beingoffered a Fellowship, Fellows will have the opportunity to decide whether to pursue a degreethrough the Department of Natural Resources Management or through the Department ofAgricultural Education and Communications. Regardless of which of these degree programs theyenter, Fellows will be expected to attain core competencies in fire ecology, forest resourcemanagement, research design, leadership skills, oral communication, technical writing, andsocial media influence. The attainment of these core competencies will be fostered throughevidence-based experiential learning and specialized coursework, including coursework designedspecifically for the Fellows. In addition to coursework for their respective degree programrequirements, other graduate-level coursework all Fellows will be required to take includes:? Forest Resource Management Seminar? Natural Resource Professionalism? Fire Ecology and Management (a technical writing course)? Prescribed Burning (a Service Learning course)? Ecology of Renewable Natural Resources? Special Topics Fire Science Communication (designed especially for Fellows)? Risk and Crisis Communications in Agriculture and Natural Resources? Public Opinion in Agriculture and Natural Resources? Methods of Technological ChangeCombining these required courses with 12 additional credits of cross-department directedelectives, PhD Fellows will fill a total of at least 24 credits from the other department- NaturalResources Management Fellows will take 24 credits in Agricultural Education andCommunications, and vice versa.Evidence-based experiential learning opportunities will include Service Learning (Astin et al.2000) and structured Peer-to-Peer Learning (Ravanipour et al 2015). For Service Learning,Fellows will enroll in at least one relevant Service Learning-designated course (PrescribedBurning- recently developed into a Service Learning-designated course by PI Gill) and MS Fellows willparticipate in one Alternative Service Break (Jones et al., 2012) with the Forest Service (seeCordova letter of support). Service learning is known to increase sense of purpose, selfconfidence, civic engagement, and academic performance while also encouraging increasedunderstanding of social issues (Celio et al. 2011, Jones et al. 2012). Strong resources forimplementing Service Learning activities are available through the home institution (see Greggletter of support). Peer-to-Peer learning will occur among Fellows during the time periods thatfellowships overlap through a monthly forum. Peer-to-Peer learning is based on the premise thatmutual educational benefits arise as one student teaches another, and is strongly supported byempirical research (Roscoe & Chi, 2007, and references therein; Ravanipour et al., 2015). Toimplement Peer-to-Peer learning through the proposed monthly forums, we will facilitatediscussion among the Fellows to synthesize themes across their respective research topics andencourage the delegation of collaborative tasks to contribute to each other's written manuscriptsand capstone projects. This will create a consistent space for teaching and learning between eachFellow and the others.Furthermore, Fellows will have other beneficial opportunities to develop leadershipskills. By integrating with the aforementioned undergraduate Bridge Adventure undergraduateprogram for diversity and inclusivity (which is co-directed by the PIs of this proposal), Fellowswill have the opportunity to serve in a leadership role during a one-week field research campaignwith a team of 3-5 undergraduates. This field research may coincide with Fellowtheses/dissertations, or may be related to entirely separate projects. This opportunity, combinedwith the experience of leading an extended multi-week data collection campaign for their ownresearch, will allow the Fellows to gain substantial leadership experience. Fellows will also begiven the opportunity to communicate their findings to media outlets; for example, in the lastthree years, the PIs have been interviewed for articles, radio broadcasts, and video interviews forlocal and regional media (Lubbock Avalanche Journal, KCBD Local News, Wyoming PublicMedia, Texas Techsan Magazine, Southern Farm Network, Agriculture.com, Farm Progress, andSuccessful Farming) as well as national outlets (PBS, Discover Magazine) and outdoor-focusedmedia (Backwoods.com). Journalists who contact the PIs regarding fire science, forest resources,or agricultural education and communication will be directed to also interview the Fellows.