G&A Hosts South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center Early Career Researcher Training

Associate professor Kristine DeLong and doctoral candidate Clay Tucker co-hosted with the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences the biennial Early Career Researcher Training from August 6–10, 2018 funded by the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center. The 28 participants were from the South Central U.S. and represent a wide variety of environmental and climate related research interests. The workshop covered such topics as science communication to grant proposal writing with the purpose to provide professional development training to graduate students, post-docs, and early career professionals. The theme for this year’s training was WATER, a topic well known in Louisiana.

Throughout the week, the participants interacted with more than 30 seasoned professionals and stakeholders working on water issues in Louisiana – ranging from environmental engineers to a federal politician. The week was filled with field trips to see real world Louisiana issues and solutions first hand including flood protection structures in New Orleans, the Mandeville wastewater treatment plant, the urban Bluebonnet Swamp, the LSU Center for River Studies, and The Water Institute of the Gulf. The participants were separated into multidisciplinary groups to discuss and address one of Louisiana’s many issues with water and then propose a possible project that would include stakeholders. These projects ranged from sediment diversions to oyster bed creation, Mississippi River shipping channels to LSU Lakes restoration.