RCN: the macrosystems ecology for all (mefa) research coordination network

The National Science Foundation awarded Ohio Wesleyan University a $499,750 Project Grant under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074) to establish the Macrosystems Ecology for All Research Coordination Network from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2027. The Network will provide training to ecology faculty, particularly those from teaching-focused institutions, in macrosystems ecology concepts and techniques for working with large environmental datasets. It will support faculty participation in five in-person meetings and online workshops on data science, highlight examples of macrosystems research, and facilitate the development of collaborative, multi-site projects engaging undergraduates. The Network will partner with related organizations and emphasize diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in all activities. It aims to enhance the skills of participating faculty and expose more undergraduate students to emerging data science and macrosystems approaches.

Abstract

Environmental challenges facing the world today can be global in scale, like climate change, or regional in scale, like drought. Large-scale environmental conditions interact with local ecosystems: climate change may lead to a drought that dries local vegetation, increasing the risk of wildfire. Human land use patterns may enable fire in one site to spread quickly to other sites, leading to regional fire hazards. This example illustrates how understanding connections among ecological phenomena across scales allows scientists to make predictions about environmental disturbances. Macrosystems ecology is an emerging scientific field that explores links among geophysical, biological, and social-cultural processes at different scales. This work is informed by analysis of increasingly large environmental datasets, like those made available by the national ecological observatory network (neon). However, not all ecology faculty, particularly those from teaching-oriented institutions, have been trained in macrosystems ecology concepts and techniques, or in working with large sets of environmental data. Indeed, there is a large pool of ecology faculty who could engage with macrosystems ecology but are not doing so. The macrosystems ecology for all (mefa) research coordination network (RCN) will provide a gateway for such faculty to learn more about macrosystems concepts, update their data science skills, design inclusive research projects that resonate with their scientific interests, and foster hands-on research with undergraduates. Collaboration across institutions will be emphasized to build camaraderie for team science, share expertise, and address large-scale ecological questions with efficiency. Having more researchers from diverse personal and institutional backgrounds engaging with macrosystems ecology will bring fresh perspectives and innovation to this important scientific field. Through the faculty training provided by mefa, more undergraduate students from different communities will be exposed to emerging data science and macrosystems concepts. By providing faculty development in a supportive framework, mefa will enhance the skills of its faculty participants and enable them to build a diverse and inclusive scientific workforce prepared to engage with the extraordinary environmental challenges of the 21ST century. The mefa RCN will sponsor five in-person meetings and a series of online workshops that provide training in data science techniques, highlight examples of macrosystems research, and support the development of collaborative teams and multi-site projects that engage undergraduates in macrosystems ecology research. Mefa will partner with other networks including neon, the bede (biological and environmental data education) network, and project eddie (environmental data-driven inquiry and exploration) in developing these training activities. Mefa will have a strong emphasis on promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (deij), providing training on diversity issues in a collaborative science context, and requiring that all research projects have a deij plan. Mefa will recruit faculty from minority-serving institutions and provide support for faculty from underrepresented groups serving in project leadership roles within the network. Mefa will be governed by a network management team who will facilitate the daily workings of mefa and a network advisory team who will provide macrosystems ecology expertise, deij advice, and guidance on vision and organizational priorities. Assessment of mefa?s progress toward its goals will be provided by measurement resources company (MRC), a national measurement and evaluation firm. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.