Emerging Areas: The Environment Robert E. O’Connor Decision, Risk and Management Sciences November 8, 2007.

Emerging Areas:The Environment

Robert E. O’Connor

Decision, Risk and Management SciencesNovember 8, 2007

Organization

• Past and current support for SBE environmental research

• The Big Success in integrated SBE / natural science environmental research

• Two unpleasant expirations

• Lessons learned

• Opportunities

• The Big Gap

The Funding Mix

• Most SBE awards for environmental projects always have come from regular competitions in the standing programs.

• Many special competitions have focused primarily on the SBE sciences.

• More recent special competitions have aimed to foster interdisciplinary research spanning the natural and SBE sciences.

Support in Standing SBE Programs• Some programs actively support

environmental research because of the major theoretical emphases in their communities.– Geography; Decision, Risk, and Management

Sciences; Anthropology

• Other programs tend to see the environment as an "application domain."

• A third group of programs provides some support for theoretically driven work in environmental settings

Special Competitions I: Focusing Largely on the SBE Sciences

• Mid-1990s to early 2000s: Human Dimensions of Global Change (HDGC), centers and teams

• 2004-: Decision Making Under Uncertainty (DMUU) centers, part of the Climate Change Research Initiative– Centers at Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, and

Columbia.– Smaller teams at RAND and Colorado, Boulder.

Special Competitions II: Integrating the SBE and Natural Sciences

• Methods and Models for Integrated Assessment competition in the late 1990s.

• Small support for SBE science involvement in work of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and network.– Core support for Urban LTER sites,

supplemental support for other integration-building activities

• The big success: CNH

Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH)

Dynamics of Coupled Natural and

Human Systems

Origins of CNH

• A component of the “Biocomplexity in the Environment” Priority Area, FY2001-05

• A free-standing CNH competition in FY2007with BIO, GEO, and SBE support

CNH Is Now a Standing, Multi-Directorate Program

• An MOU signed by the ADs of BIO, GEO, and SBE provides a long-term commitment.

The 12 CNH Awards Resulting from the FY2007 Competition

Continue the Tradition• Two awards effectively are renewals of previous

CNH awards:– David Campbell,

Michigan State U, "Dynamic Interactions Among People, Livestock,and Savanna Ecosystems Under Climate Change "

– Jianguo Liu, Michigan State U, "Effects of Cross-Boundary Processes on Human-Nature Dynamics in Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas"

• Other awards examined human-natural system interactions in urban environments:– Nicolas Brozovic, U of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign,

"Coupling Hydrologic, Economic, and Social Network Models to Improve Understanding of Surface Water-Groundwater Interactions for Protection of Instream Flows"

– Colin Polsky, Clark U, "Suburbanization, Water Use, Nitrogen Cycling, and Eutrophication in the 21st Century: Interactions, Feedbacks, and Uncertainties in a Massachusetts Coastal Zone"

– Lawrence Baker, U of Minnesota-Twin Cities, "Integration of Human Choice into Models of Biogeochemical Cycling in Urban Ecosystems"

Two Unfortunate Expirations

• Human and Social Dynamics Priority Area– ~ 1/3 of awards are environmentally related– Much work is interdisciplinary within the social

sciences

• Decision Making Under Uncertainty for Climate Change– E.g., DCDC at ASU integrates GIS, ECON, SOC,

POLSCI, PSY– E.g., CRED at Columbia integrates lab and

international empirical work

Lesson Learned:Ground Activities Firmly in Theory

• The most significant advances in SBE research related to the environment have resulted with research and related activities are firmly grounded in and contributing to the enhancement of fundamental theory in and across the SBE sciences.

• "Applied" or "reactive" research may serve short-term needs, but rarely contributes to sustained community engagement.

Experience with "Big Science"• SBE sciences traditionally have been "cottage

industries" rather than "factory production."• Experience with HDGC, DMUU, and other centers

has shown synergies and contributions of participating in larger-scale coordinated activities.

• The most successful activities have been those whose origin has been grounded in fundamental theoretical inquiries.

• Activities focused on serving the immediate needs of stakeholders, decision makers, and/or other "users" have worked only when strong theoretical emphasis has been maintained (often with external pressure from NSF).

Opportunities: Lead from Other Directorates

• NEON Observatory

• WATERS Network Observatory

• LTERs

Opportunities: SBE Lead

• Resilience Observatories– DRMS, IMHR, and USGS funded workshop

• Sustainable Development– SBE funded workshop (Columbia)

• DMUU for Climate Change– Extend, then re-compete?

• Valuation of Ecological Services– Co-funded conference with USGS?

• Warnings– DRMS, IMHR, and NOAA funded 2008 solicitation

The Big Gap

• Multi-Disciplinary research within the social sciences

• Solution: Create a new program within SBE

The Environmental Campaign Theme:

The Environmental Campaign:

To increase knowledge of

how humancognition, structure, and action

interact with the natural environment

over spatial, temporal, and organizational scales.

ActionAction

CognitionCognition

StructureStructure

Natural Natural EnvironmentEnvironment

Spa

tial s

cale

Temporal scale

Organ

izatio

nal s

cale

ActionAction

CognitionCognition

StructureStructure

For Example:Perceptions

BeliefsAttitudes

ValuesLanguage

CultureEthicsMorals

SpiritualityNeural processes

MemoryAttention

KnowledgeCreativityIngenuity

PersonalityEmotions

For Example:BehaviorsInnovationConflictConsumerismDevelopmentObservationExplorationResearchEducationConsumptionExploitationConservationReproductionMigrationDecision making

For Example:Government

PolicyEconomy

LawReligion

LanguageTechnology

Educational systemsHealth careTraditions

InfrastructureHousing

Built environmentFormal organizations

Informal organizationsInterest groups

ActionAction

CognitionCognition

StructureStructure

For Example:Perceptions

BeliefsAttitudes

ValuesLanguage

CultureEthicsMorals

SpiritualityNeural processes

MemoryAttention

KnowledgeCreativityIngenuity

PersonalityEmotions

For Example:BehaviorsInnovation ConflictRevolutionConsumerismDevelopmentObservationExplorationResearchEducationConsumptionExploitationConservationReproductionMigrationEvolutionDecision making

For Example:Government

PolicyEconomy

LawReligion

TechnologyEducational systems

LanguageHealth careTraditions

InfrastructureHousing

Built environmentFormal organizations

Informal OrganizationsInterest groups

Natural Natural EnvironmentEnvironment

Work on the Campaign

• Develop multiple approaches, methods, and tools

• Identify types of data to respond to crucial questions

• Understand transformations• Explore the quality of life and environmental

management options• Ascertain the role of resilience, robustness, and

sustainability• Learn how to address inter-generational equity

• Topics and perspectives that seem to excite

SBE scientists include:– Dynamics of human activity

• Population• Resource consumption• Technological capabilities

– Cognition, attitudes, perceptions, values, and beliefs– Informal arrangements, formal structures, and

organizations– Interactions across scales: spatial, temporal, and

organizational – Adaptation, resilience, robustness, sustainability– Uncertainty– Quality of life and environmental management options– Inter-generational equity