LAS VEGAS - September 30, 2008 - Researchers from UNLV and partner Nevada System of Higher Education institutions recently received $15 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate climate change and its effects on Nevada.
The five year effort will team nearly 20 UNLV faculty members with researchers from UNR, Desert Research Institute and Nevada State College to develop the infrastructure necessary to determine how climate impacts the state's ecosystem services, specifically water resources. Faculty and students also plan to work with community leaders to direct research efforts that will inform policy and decision-making across the state.
"Climate change and its associated impacts to resources, economics, and society are among the most important issues facing the region, nation and world," said Thomas Piechota, co-principal investigator and UNLV director of sustainability and multidisciplinary research. "This project will not only improve our understanding climate change impacts to our ecosystems and water resources, but will also focus on solutions to scientific and social issues that lead to informed decision making."
An interdisciplinary team of faculty from each institution will focus their efforts on six interrelated components- climate modeling, ecology, water resources, policy and outreach, education and cyberinfrastructure. UNLV will participate in all of these areas with a focus in water resources, policy and education.
Project highlights include the development of an ecological monitoring network designed to measure the basic parameters of climate change necessary to determine the potential impact of climate change on the state's water resources and biodiversity. The network of stations will contribute to research in the areas of ground water recharge, wildland fires and invasive and endemic species.
In addition, UNLV will house a three-dimensional visualization facility in the new Science and Engineering Building that will make interactive, real-time data accessible to researchers, students, decision makers and the public.
Aside from infrastructure, the grant will fund three new faculty positions, graduate student assistantships, undergraduate fellows, and postdoctoral fellows. Also, more than $1 million will fund interdisciplinary research teams from multiple institutions that will take advantage of the infrastructure developed through the grant.
Grant funding from the NSF will be distributed equally among partner institutions, with UNLV to receive approximately $4.5 million. As part of NSF requirements that states show commitment to the project, the Nevada System of Higher Education will provide $6.5 million in total funding to the project from non-federal sources.
The grant was funded by the NSF through Nevada EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), which began in Nevada in 1985 to strengthen research and education in science and engineering and to provide strategic programs and opportunities that stimulate sustainable improvements in research and infrastructure in states that are historically underfunded by federal agencies.
For a complete description of the grant and continuous updates, please visit the Nevada EPSCoR web site at www.nevada.edu/epscor.
