Student Guide to the
Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS) Research and Graduate Education Program
Tufts University
Version 1.1
August 24, 2005
T U F T S U N I V E R S I T Y
Provost and Senior Vice President
August 12, 2005
This handbook describes Tufts’ exciting and challenging research and graduate education program in Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS). The WSSS Program embodies two of the highest priorities that President Lawrence Bacow and I have established for Tufts University - to create interdisciplinary research programs that build upon Tufts distinctive strengths and to root these programs in solving real world problems. The search for solutions is part of Tufts' culture of active citizenship.
The Program’s goals are to train you to work across disciplines so you can tackle global water problems and produce research results of the highest quality. Throughout its schools, Tufts has collective strength in the interdisciplinary study of water resources. The faculty members involved in the program have a track record of successfully working together as evidenced by their many existing research and educational activities. Our support is strong and personal. President Bacow, an expert in environmental policy and conflict resolution, lectures in the WSSS course on integrated water resources planning, and the Deans of the participating schools contribute material support for key components of WSSS.
Ultimately, the success of the program depends upon you, the students. In its first year, the program attracted outstanding graduate students from a wide range of schools and departments, committed to working toward the resolution of water resource issues, and we expect that record to continue. Our faculty are eager to work with you and challenge you, and look forward to welcoming students who, in turn, work hard and continually challenge them.
Sincerely yours,
Jamshed Bharucha
Provost and Senior Vice President
Ballou Hall
Medford, Massachusetts 02155
Office: 617-627-3310
Fax: 617-627-4225
Administrative Contacts
Website: www.tufts.edu/water
Director and Co-Chair: Dr. Paul Kirshen, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
Co-Chair: Dr. Beatrice Rogers, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Steering Committee and School Coordinators (*):
*Julian Agyeman (UEPP, Arts and Sciences)
John Durant (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
*Jeffrey Griffiths (Family Medicine & Community Health, Medical School)
*Jonathan Kenny (Chemistry, Arts and Sciences)
*Paul Kirshen (Director, Co-Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Michael Reed (Biology)
*Beatrice Rogers (Co-Chair, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy)
Richard Vogel (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Patrick Webb (Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy)
David Gute (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Elena Naumova (Family Medicine & Community Health, Medical School)
*Mark Pokras (School of Veterinary Medicine)
*William Moomaw (with Melissa Bailey, Fletcher School)
*Christine Jost (School of Veterinary Medicine)
Student Advisory Committee (January 2005 to January 2006):
Jamie deLemos (Engineering)
Georgia Kayser (Fletcher)
Sarah Reich (Arts Sciences)
Melissa Rosen (Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy)
Administrative Assistant:
Under selection
Background
Complex global water issues require a combined engineering, and natural, physical, and social sciences approach, and water professionals have been discussing the integration of relevant disciplines since at least the 1960s. Dr. Rita Colwell has recently written that “in the 21st Century we have to develop an integrated approach across the disciplines to understand the complexity of water issues worldwide” (page 4, Colwell, R., A Global Thirst for Safe Water: The Case of Cholera, Abel Wolman Lecture, National Academy of Sciences, January 25, 2002). Planning and regulatory processes have typically favored an approach of “integrated interdisciplinary” efforts that involve people working first from their disciplinary perspectives and then later attempting to integrate their results. Such efforts have mixed success, and there remains the long-recognized need for professionals trained to work across disciplines. The Tufts University Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS) Research and Graduate Education Program answers the need for a combined approach by creating a research and graduate program where cutting edge multidisciplinary research is conducted, and a participating student from one discipline is, from the beginning, educated to consider problems from the viewpoints of the other relevant disciplines. The WSSS Program includes doctoral and masters graduate students from the following schools at Tufts, which include all relevant disciplines: Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. A list of faculty participating in the WSSS Program is in the Appendix.
In the world today, problems centering on water needs, use, and quality are pervasive. They affect political relations, public health, agriculture, development, and the environment. Dr. Colwell identifies some issues including trans-boundary rivers (~260 rivers cross national lines, resulting in potential conflict and water wars); overuse (the Yellow in China and the Colorado in the USA are so over-used they are dry at their mouths); lack of access to potable water (1.1 billion people) and adequate sanitation (2.4 billion people); and increasing water needs in settings of inadequate water supply. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that long-term climate change and population growth will further stress water resources in many places, and acceptable adaptation will only be achieved through integrated water resources management. Major problems in the United States include over-allocation of water resources, combined sewer overflows, nonpoint source pollution (particularly agriculture and urban watersheds), conflicts over the water rights of Native Americans, and times of extreme drought and floods. Two thirds of the US lifespan increase from 1900 is due to clean water, sewage management, and clean food. Yet, water contaminants such as emerging pathogens, pesticides, heavy metals, disinfection byproducts, endocrine disruptors, and industrial carcinogens remain threats to public health. A 2001 report of the US National Research Council stated: “What is needed for understanding water resources is a more holistic conceptual framework… solutions cross traditional disciplinary and societal boundaries”. The World Bank, the World Commission on Dams, and the Global Water Partnership also describe the need for such approaches, which they call integrated water resources management. Many of the Millennium Development Goals target water issues. Thus, there is an established need for innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to widespread and diverse water-related problems.
WSSS is a problem-focused initiative designed to respond to these needs. The thematic basis of the program is to work with a global view toward assuring water security for the protection of the environment, health, and human livelihoods. We believe that in order for a person to make original contributions to the management of multi-dimensional water problems, they must be skilled in one discipline, have sufficient knowledge of and experience with other relevant disciplines, know how they can be integrated, and be able work effectively in many professional environments. Instead of making an amalgam of results after the fact, graduates of the WSSS Program should be able to take a multi-disciplinary perspective at the outset of analysis of water problems, and effectively work with other specialists to develop solutions jointly. WSSS was developed not only because of this recognized need by faculty and those in the professional sphere, but also due to requests for such a program by current and past Tufts students. Therefore the vision of the WSSS Program is to train a new kind of professional who understands the causes and dynamics of water-related problems from multiple points of view, yet has the skills to be an expert in one discipline. As educators and leaders, such individuals will be able to anticipate and respond to emerging water-related problems, and work with others to develop and implement long-term solutions.
Joining the WSSS Program
To join the WSSS Program, graduate students must first be accepted by and enroll in a graduate program in one of the six participating schools. They satisfy all the requirements for that department to ensure mastery of one discipline and receive their graduate degree from that department. In addition, they enroll in the WSSS Program, where they learn cross disciplinary skills by taking electives in four broad areas, participating in a unifying seminar series and other activities specific to WSSS, undertaking an interdisciplinary professional experience (IPE) or field internship, and conducting interdisciplinary research. Upon completion of these activities, the student is awarded a WSSS Certificate. The application material for each department is obtained from that department. Simultaneously with their application to a graduate program, students are requested to submit a form to the Director of the WSSS Program (the form may be found in the Appendix) indicating their desire to participate in the WSSS Program. This information form does not affect student admission, because that is the responsibility of each graduate school; it, however, provides information to us on possible student interests and enrollment, and allows us to contact applicants about financial aid or grants that the WSSS Program manages. Once students matriculate, they submit the WSSS enrollment form (also found in the Appendix).
Goals
The WSSS program is model for integrative graduate education both within and outside Tufts—a model that organizes research and training according to the problems to be addressed, integrating across disciplinary boundaries. To this end, we have three goals:
1. To develop interdisciplinary research projects that will make significant local, national, and global contributions.
2. To educate a diverse, ethical, skilled set of professionals who are trained to be multidisciplinary even as they develop a specialization.
3. To meet the growing global demand for interdisciplinary water experts.
By meeting these goals, Tufts and WSSS graduates will be able to respond to the interdisciplinary, integrated water-related research challenges identified in the recent NSF report on Complex Environmental Systems. These graduates will be uniquely equipped to develop integrated, interdisciplinary solutions to the complex science, public health, economic, engineering, environmental, behavioral, planning, and policy issues surrounding US and international water crises.
WSSS students from a variety of degree programs consistently refer to the WSSS program as unique among other graduate programs they came upon in the course of their application process. Some quotes from students include:
· “WSSS is unique in that it provides a platform for people to communicate (across courses) rather than just teaching some specific courses.”
· “Already, I have had lengthy discussions with environmental geochemists, epidemiologists, and MDs about potential research work. I feel that I am also learning a great deal from my fellow students because they come from such diverse backgrounds. This is an exciting way to develop a thesis, in that each area of your study can be strengthened by expertise in many disciplines, not just one. It is a program for me that finally 'gets it'- that water issues cannot be examined from only one angle."
Major Research Efforts
Research is organized around six areas where Tufts has well-established research programs: Water, Climate and Environment Change; Water and Public Health; Water Pollution and Remediation Science; Watershed Management; Water, Food and Livelihood Security; and Water and National and International Security. These distinct areas are deeply connected to one another, so that research projects often support the goals of two or more topic areas. Much of our research is located in watersheds throughout the world where Tufts faculty have long-term research partnerships with local organizations and researchers. We also partner with most of the other research programs and centers at Tufts University listed at http://www.tufts.edu/home/research/?p=centers.
1. Water, Climate, and Environmental Change. Water supply, instream flows, river and coastal flood management, waste assimilation, and other uses are affected by long-term climate and environmental change and by the adaptation policies to respond to the impacts. Some recent or current research include:
· The impacts of climate change on flow regimes in the United States and elsewhere, and indicators of the impact of climate change.
· The adaptation of metropolitan water supply and other infrastructure to climate change.
· The impacts of uncertain population growth, climate change, and transboundary issues on water supply in the Middle East.
· The use of remote sensing to study the influence of socio-economic activities on the environment.
· Distinguishing natural fluctuations in precipitation from anthropogenic or external effects.
· Socio-Economic impacts of sea level rise and increased river flooding in the northeastern USA.
· Managing impacts of climate variability and change on socio-economic and biophysical activities in New England.
2. Water and Public Health. Water and public health are intimately related, and integrative scientific, economic and policy analyses are routinely made in public health. In Fall 2004, the WSSS Program received a $1 million, 5 year grant from the National Institutes of Health for funding for Ph.D. students in the area of Water and Health. Some current research follows.
· The linkage between climate variability and change, and endemic and epidemic diseases in the US.
· Relationships between watershed ecosystems, animal life, and human health through heavy metals in the environment and sharing of water supplies
· Integrative “System-Wide” studies in the developed and developing world which link precipitation, streamflow, climate, ecosystem integrity, agricultural chemical and animal pathogen contamination, food security, socio-economic characteristics, and health in the populations drinking the water.
· The explicit incorporation of health and livelihood objectives into large scale water resources planning in Africa and other regions.
· Sources of arsenic in Bangladesh and the relationship between arsenic poisoning and susceptibility to other waterborne diseases in Bangladesh.
· Taking a watershed approach to managing schistosomiasis in an African watershed.
· Study on enteric viruses, bacteria and protozoa by the Medical and Veterinary Schools
3. Watershed Pollution and Remediation Science
Because of the complexity of the interactions of biophysical factors influencing groundwater, surface water, and sediment pollution and remediation, research must include multidisciplinary scientific approaches. Examples of multidiscipline research efforts and projects include:
· Research of the Tufts Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems (IMPES) laboratory includes efficient recovery of entrapped DNAPL mass from contaminated source zones, quantification of uncertainty in field-scale contaminant mass flux estimates, microbial transport and contaminant transformation in subsurface media, and the use of permeable reactive barriers for the removal of heavy metals from ground water. The IMPES lab was created in 2004 by Professor Linda Abriola, Dean of the School of Engineering and National Academy of Engineering member.