Employers are interested in hiring job candidates that have high-level transferrable skills, such as leadership, communication, project management, and problem-solving. EMPOWER is designed to cultivate these skills in the trainees throughout their graduate education. On Friday Sept, 2, EMPOWER trainees spent the afternoon learning about the opportunities to develop these skills by participation in the program.

The afternoon was filled with activities and information, including assignment of peer-mentor pairs, a discussion of the NSF’s Research Traineeship program, and a detailed description of each of EMPOWER’s training elements. Faculty representatives from Syracuse University’s School of Education, Whitman School of Management, College of Law, and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, in addition to ESF, participated in a panel to discuss the range of courses students might take to satisfy their Professional Development Specialization Requirement. Additionally, Dan Olson-Bang, from SU’s Graduate Career Services, facilitated a lively workshop on networking. The afternoon concluded with a well-attended reception with the trainees, EMPOWER’s Leadership Team, Affiliated Faculty, and staff.

Thanks to all who contributed their time and expertise to make the kick-off event a success!

EMPOWER is pleased to welcome the first cohort of graduate students for Syracuse University’s NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program. A total of 19 MS and PhD students interested in research at the water-energy nexus were accepted for participation in the program. Participating students are from a range of disciplines, including Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

The new trainees participated in the Fall 2016 Kick-off Event in early September. At the event, they learned more about the program’s goals and requirements, participated in a networking workshop led by Dan Olson-Bang from SU’s Career Services, and interacted informally with participating and affiliated faculty. Incoming graduate students in the program were paired with current students to establish a peer mentor network. The mentor pairs will work together throughout the academic year.

EMPOWER is an interdisciplinary approach to STEM graduate education, focusing on research and professional training at the interface of the water and energy cycles. Funded through the National Science Foundation’s Research Traineeship Program, EMPOWER offers professional and technical training to prepare students for careers in energy, environmental consulting, government, nonprofits, and academia.

Drs. Laura Lautz (Earth Sciences), Tara Kahan (Chemistry), and Chris Johnson (Civil and Environmental Engineering) serve on EMPOWER’s Admissions and Recruiting Committee. Interested applicants may contact Deanna McCay, Program Manager, for more information about the program and the admissions process.

This summer, over 2,500 ft² of office and meeting space was created to support the EMPOWER program. The 333 Heroy Suite, formerly the Geology Library, was completely gutted and renovated to create two conference rooms, small meeting spaces, a quiet study area, and 5 new faculty and staff offices. The extensive renovation was made possible by a generous commitment of financial support from The Office of the Provost & Vice Chancellor. The renovation was one component of a large commitment of resources by the University to support EMPOWER, including 4 University Fellowships for EMPOWER Trainees each year of the 5-year award, support for travel expenses for visiting EMPOWER seminar speakers, tuition waivers for EMPOWER trainees, and teaching relief for participating faculty. The EMPOWER program is grateful for continued University support.

EMPOWER participants attended the NRT Annual Meeting at the University of Maryland, College Park, in early May. The meeting brought together representatives from each of the first cohorts of the 18 NSF-funded NRT programs that are aimed at developing innovative graduate training programs. During the two-day event, EMPOWER members collaborated with other NRT program participants to share ideas, consider innovative practices to improve graduate education, and discuss strategies for long-term success.

The meeting culminated with the Future STEM Leaders Workshop, which was held in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. National experts from academia, government, and industry discussed the future of graduate STEM training with the participants in the NRT programs. The EMPOWER team showcased its program in the lunchtime poster session and external advisor, Aisha Morris, from UNAVCO, participated in a panel focused on innovations in STEM graduate education.

Syracuse University was well represented  at the event with EMPOWER graduate students Sara Alesi (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Emily Baker (Earth Sciences), Kyle Blaha (Chemistry), Megan Daley (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Caitlin Eger (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Kristy Gutchess (Earth Sciences), and Alex Johnson (Civil and Environmental Engineering) participating. Additionally, Laura Lautz, NRT principal investigator, and Deanna McCay, EMPOWER program manager, attended the event.

NRT trainee Kristina Gutchess is lead author in a paper entitled “Chloride sources in urban and rural headwater catchments, central New York.” This study, co-authored with Li Jin (SUNY Cortland), EMPOWER Director Laura Lautz, Stephen Shaw (SUNY ESF), and Zunli Lu (Kristy’s PhD advisor), was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment (565:462-472).

Congratulations, Kristy!

On Friday, April 15, Dr. Marcia McNutt presented the annual Geoffrey O. Seltzer Lecture & Norma Slepecky Lecture titled “Climate Intervention: Promise and Peril.” This special event was co-hosted by the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program and the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Preceding her presentation, the Norma Slepecky Research Prize Award Ceremony recognized the research accomplishments of two undergraduate female students from the biology and physics departments. Marcia McNutt is a well-known geophysicist and currently the first female editor-in-chief of Science. She will also be the first woman to lead the National Academy of Sciences for her six-year term beginning on July 1^st.

Dr. McNutt’s presentation covered what is known about climate change and explored the government’s response options. She focused on the polarizing topic of intervention through geoengineering of the earth’s climate. She thoroughly went through the current methods of climate intervention and discussed their benefits and drawbacks. Overall the presentation seemed to hinge upon the moral hazards of intervention and how relying on intervention may lead scientists and policy makers to disengage from mitigation and adaptation efforts. However, we should still proceed with research on climate intervention and “the government should maximize benefits of research [on climate intervention] while minimizing the risks,” stated McNutt. The bottom line of McNutt’s message was that the government is stalling mitigation efforts, not serious about adaptation, CO₂ removal is too slow of a processes, and that certain intervention methods, such as albedo modification, should not be the answer.

News submitted by Chilisa Shorten, Caitlin Eger, and Tim Stagnitta