Recognition exists at the national level that integration of geoscience and engineering concepts and rigor is fundamental to successfully address the spectrum of issues arising from the consequences of rapidly increasing coastal populations. These issues are exacerbated by changing weather and climate patterns. The US southeast is subject to the highest rate of human migration in the country, according to the most recent census. Educating coastal geoscientists and engineers to be mutually literate at the graduate level is critical, but with few notable exceptions, educational programs to accomplish this goal are virtually absent. Now Georgia Tech - Savannah (GT-Sav) and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, both units of the University System of Georgia, are developing a joint GT-Sav/SkIO advanced degree program for Fall semester 2008 entitled Coastal Science and Engineering.
|
|
The complexity of coastal processes and environments requires that this effort integrates research and education; adopts a holistic, system approach to the teaching and examination of coastal processes; ensures that concepts from other basic sciences (e.g., meteorology, hydrogeology, life sciences) are a fully integrated part of the instruction base; focuses classroom instruction on fundamental concepts and processes that are universal rather than on facts that may only apply to a single location or process; requires the partnering of engineers with geoscientists to ensure the use of mathematical techniques for applying concepts to environmental situations; and stresses problem-solving skills while meeting emerging workforce needs.
 |
The joint program will offer a transformative coastal geoscience/engineering graduate educational curriculum currently completely absent in the US southeast and rare elsewhere in the country. It will forge a partnership between between two productive academic research entities, encourage participation by other System institutions and faculty, and serve as a model program for other US regions. The graduates of the program will be equipped to populate the future workforce to design and manage harbors, develop and maintain ocean observatory sensors and networks, model and predict invasive species and pathogen trajectories, and mitigate unforseen consequences of coastal habitation. Both institutions have considerable experience in the successful entrainment of underrepresented minorities into STEM educational tracks. Georgia Tech - Savannah's parent institution (Georgia Institute of Technology) is a member institution of AGEP and ranks first nationally in graduating minority engineers at the bachelor's and PhD degree levels and second in MS degrees for minority students. The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography partners with regional HBCUs, through NSF's CIRE I and II programs and NOAA's Environmental Entrepreneurship Program, to facilitate the advancement of minority research opportunities. |
