Led by members of the South Central Climate Science Center (SC CSC) consortium, this project builds upon the successes of the 2014 and 2016 trainings to develop and implement professional development training for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career researchers within the SC CSC region. The objectives were: (1) introduce a new cohort of early-career researchers to the research challenges of the SC CSC, offering them insight into how their research fits into the broader priorities of the SC CSC and applicability to end user needs; (2) facilitate interdisciplinary interactions to discuss research with peers and foster collaborative opportunities; and (3) generate a syllabus, knowledge tests, and specific curricular materials [...]
Summary
Led by members of the South Central Climate Science Center (SC CSC) consortium, this project builds upon the successes of the 2014 and 2016 trainings to develop and implement professional development training for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career researchers within the SC CSC region. The objectives were: (1) introduce a new cohort of early-career researchers to the research challenges of the SC CSC, offering them insight into how their research fits into the broader priorities of the SC CSC and applicability to end user needs; (2) facilitate interdisciplinary interactions to discuss research with peers and foster collaborative opportunities; and (3) generate a syllabus, knowledge tests, and specific curricular materials designed for a formal classroom setting. Curricular materials included digitally recorded presentations on the SC CSC enterprise, a “how to” guide for conducting similar trainings, and real-world case studies that illustrate the science-to-policy interface. Our desire was to remove the institutional barriers, or “silos,” at an influential time of development for these early-career professionals and to build a cohort who can continue networking across the SC CSC through their research pathways and who will eventually lead outcome-oriented, interdisciplinary research.
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Led by the consortium of the South Central Climate Science Center (SC CSC), this project will build upon the successes of the June 2014 and June 2016 trainings to develop and implement professional development training for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career researchers within the SC CSC region. The objectives are to: (1) introduce a new cohort of early-career researchers to the goals, structure, and unique research-related challenges of the SC CSC and its place within the U.S. Department of the Interior and the larger CSC network, offering them insight into how their research fits into the broader research priority goals and its applicability to end-user needs across the region; (2) facilitate interdisciplinary interactions between participants within the SC CSC purview in an effort to discuss research with peers and foster collaborative opportunities; and (3) generate and update a syllabus, knowledge tests, and specific curricular materials designed for a formal classroom setting. Curricular materials will include an additional set of digitally recorded presentations on the SC CSC enterprise to supplement those created during the previous trainings, an updated version of the “how to” guide for conducting similar trainings in other CSCs, and further use of real-world case studies that reflect the unique regional characteristics of the host institution, illustrating the science-to-policy interface. A major outcome of the training is the development of a cohort of early-career professionals who can continue networking and who can contribute to outcome-oriented, interdisciplinary research. Our desire is to remove the institutional barriers, or “silos,” at an influential time in the development of these professionals so that they do not struggle with as much difficulty as the current generation of researchers with multi-institutional and multi- or interdisciplinary research.