Conference: Cargese Graduate Summer School: Connecting Ecosystem processes to hydrogeophysical fundamentals

Predicting the movement of groundwater, which carries nutrients and other chemicals, is of global importance. Groundwater provides for 50% of the global population’s water and 1/3 of all water for Americans. These groundwater systems are strongly affected by geology, ecological systems, and climate, as a result, we need to build a robust workforce to manage this resource. This funding will allow ten graduate students and six faculty from the USA to take part in an international educational event designed to present the very cutting-edge of current knowledge of groundwater systems and their connection to ecological and climatic settings. Participants will gain critical insights and be linked with the leading scientific teams to support their lifelong learning and research endeavors. The 16 US scientists will directly benefit, and the NSF will fund video recordings of every meeting presentation. Furthermore, each presenter will record 5-minute “scientific capsules” specifically for people unable to attend the meeting. NSF funds will dramatically expand the educational outreach from this event. Event participants will gain from lectures covering theory and practice and hands-on use of cutting-edge technology to quantify groundwater processes. 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.