Environmental Synthesis Center (ESC)

This solicitation will establish a new environmental synthesis center to stimulate research, education and outreach at the interface of the biological, geological, and social sciences. The center will foster synthetic, collaborative, cross-disciplinary efforts to understand and predict the complex interactions among ecological populations, communities and ecosystems, the geophysical environment, and human actions and decisions that underlie global environmental change. It will play a pivotal role in forecasting adaptive responses to environmental change and understanding sudden shifts in dynamic systems. The center will also directly involve policy makers, managers, and conservation efforts, and educate an informed citizenry. The center will be international in its scope, addressing the most pressing challenges posed by global environmental change. The center represents a new effort, based on NSF's substantial investments in ongoing synthesis activities, and is not intended to extend or duplicate these activities. The Biological Sciences Directorate expects this center to lead the next generation of synthesis activities.