Travel: DELTA H 2024, building international bridges to advance research and EDI in Geomorphology through an immersive meeting in Brazil: Supporting U.S.-based attendees

In the study of the Earth’s surface, being able to visit landscapes in different climatic and tectonic settings helps build geoscientists’ scientific intuition about its evolution. Landscapes far from active geologic faults and in tropical regions such as those in Brazil are natural laboratories to study landscape evolution principally associated with the chemical alteration of rocks and soils and climatic fluctuation. These landscapes are also impacted by anthropogenic forcings such as hydroelectric dams, mining dam failures, land use, and forest fires. Consequently, the continent interiors of South America are also fantastic natural settings to study geohazards such as landslides, seasonal and flash floods, debris flows, etc. Despite these characteristics, South Americans are underrepresented in the international cutting-edge Geomorphology community as represented through scientific publications and international collaborations. However, the Geoscience community would clearly benefit from a more connections between international scientific communities. Moreover, as climate changes progress, the greater the portfolio of landscape styles Earth Scientists have visited, the better prepared they can be to develop solutions. This project seeks to contribute to bettering the international exchange of scientific wisdom and help build new collaborative bridges in Geomorphology by funding US based scholars to attend the 2024 DELTA H meeting on Landscape Evolution in the Brazilian highlands of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. In Brazil and potentially in other South American countries as well, the underrepresentation of geomorphologists in the international cutting-edge geomorphology community is arguably a symptom of several underlying gaps such as 1) the low exposure to Quantitative Geomorphology during undergraduate studies in Geology and Geography majors; 2) a historic disconnect between Geomorphology as a key discipline in Geological sciences; 3) a biased perception that Geomorphology pertains to Quaternary processes only; 4) a biased perception that Geomorphology deals primarily with soils. Student and researcher participants of past DELTA H report the meeting as highly inspiring, transformative, and sparking interest in pursuing academic careers in Geomorphology. Past invited speakers have also highlighted DELTA H’s potential as a hub to recruit highly motivated students. By funding the attendance of U.S.-based students and early-career geomorphologists, this project will foster the feeling of purpose amongst students and professionals while creating international bridges to advance research in Geomorphology through international collaborations. 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.