Susan Allen-Gil, associate professor of biology, recently received a NATO grant to plan and convene an Advanced Research Workshop on "Rethinking Higher Education to Meet the New Challenges of Environmental Security" as part of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.
Allen-Gil -- who is also coordinator of IC's environmental studies program -- is collaborating with colleagues in Canada, Israel, and the Ukraine to plan the conference, which will be held in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in May 2008. Additional funding for the project is being provided by Ithaca College and Kharkiv State University.
The purpose of the workshop is to bring together leading thinkers and practitioners in higher education (in several fields pertaining to environmental security) with government agencies, NGOs, and universities to identify the best academic approaches for training university students in transition countries to address issues of environmental security from an interdisciplinary framework. This objective will advance the next generation of practitioners to engage fully with the environmental security problems, such as the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine, the postindustrial trail of pollution in the Black Triangle region of Central Europe, and predicted agricultural loss due to climate change.
Contributed papers will be published in the NATO Science Series, entitled "Rethinking Higher Education to Meet the New Challenges of Environmental Security."
