Dartmouth's Institute of Arctic Studies has received a grant of nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training program, the College announced Thursday. The Institute will use the funding to develop an interdisciplinary graduate program in polar studies that will examine the scientific, social and political ramifications of the rapidly changing northern climate.
"IGERT is a big network of different efforts," environmental studies professor and Institute director Ross Virginia said. "It's meant to enhance existing programs or to create new linkages."
Using the funding, the Institute, part of the Dickey Center for International Understanding, will create a new graduate program by linking existing graduate programs in the sciences with other graduate-level courses of study that focus on social and political analysis.
"We'll be training scientists on the social and political implications of their work," Virginia said.
One area of study will explore the ethical implications of conducting research in areas inhabited by indigenous peoples.
"We want people who are doing science research on environmental change to have a stronger appreciation for the human dimensions of their research," Virginia said.
The Dickey Center is also developing a core curriculum to supplement the program's research elements, according to a College statement.
The new program will involve Dartmouth faculty from several departments and will include cooperative agreements with scientists from the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and with faculty from the University of Greenland and the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Greenland.
The grant will help the College with recruitment, Virginia said, because students in the interdisciplinary program will receive an increased stipend.
"The funding allows us to compete nationally for the very top graduate students," he said.
The Dickey Center aims to educate the Dartmouth community about current global issues and to work towards rectifying these issues, according to former U.S. Ambassador and Dickey Center director Kenneth Yalowitz.
"As far as [the Dickey Center] is concerned, climate issues and global warming are major issues of the day," Yalowitz said. "That's why this grant is so important to us and Dartmouth, because it recognizes that we are amongst the leaders in the U.S. academic community in arctic sciences and climate change."
