Adaptive Natural Resource Management

Taught in Fall of 2010 and again in Spring 2013

This introductory course will expose students to the fundamental concepts, language, and methods of inquiry in water science, adaptive management, policy, and law.

It will introduce the intellectual framework of the IGERT via a series of lectures by UNL faculty and regional scholars and associated discussion sessions It will build a common intellectual framework and vocabulary among IGERT fellows and associates. A central focus will be to foster an understanding of how scientific uncertainty impacts the decision-making process.

In the latter part of the term, fellows and associates will work in interdisciplinary teams to characterize water issues from scientific, legal, economic, and policy perspectives and to propose interdisciplinary solutions. These projects will use contemporary case studies, in natural and agricultural systems, as vehicles to explore complex issues.

Foundations of Resilience

Taught in Spring of odd years.

This course, will provide a review and synthesis of the concepts of resilience as developed by ecological theorists and applied ecologists, from the foundational publication in 1973 to current topics. This course will be based on the book Foundations of Ecological Resilience (Island Press, 2009, Gunderson, Allen and Holling), and taught by one of the authors.

The idea of resilience (Holling, 1973), now known as resilience theory (Walker and Salt, 2006), has been developed by ecologists over the past three decades to explain surprising and far from linear dynamics of complex adaptive systems (Gunderson and Holling, 2002). Moreover, resilience theory is the basis for adaptive management, which embraces uncertainty of complex resource systems (Holling, 1978; Walters, 1986).

Applied Adaptive Management Short-course

Offered August 2010.

Offered again August 13 - 17, 2012.

This course was recently developed to focus on relevant problems in adaptive management in compromised watersheds and rivers, focusing especially on the Platte, Missouri, and Upper Mississippi rivers. It will be taught by Gunderson, Tyre, Williams and other practitioners and theoreticians.

This is a “hands on” course for managers and policymakers. IGERT students will observe for one year, and will serve as teaching assistants in a subsequent year. This course was offered as a pilot in the summer of 2008, and will continue to be offered each summer hereafter.

Responsible Research Training

Online only

(GRDC 98)

Online Only

(Offered by the UNL Graduate College)

Required by the National Science Foundation for ALL students receiving NSF funding. The course is offered every spring and fall semester – online only, through UNL Blackboard. Postdocs, graduate students and undergrad researchers will automatically be enrolled if they have not previously completed the course. The course takes about an hour to complete.

The course does not affect tuition, registration status or student fees. The course will not appear on a student's course list or transcript. Each student will receive a certificate once the course is completed.

Contemporary Issues in Adaptive Watershed Management: 

Externship Experience and Watershed Management Plan

Externship experiences with NGOs, industry, and government partners responsible for adaptive management and recovery of the Platte River watershed in the Great Plains.

This special course will allow students to participate in an externship at a state (e.g., Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Department of Natural Resources), federal (e.g., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), or nonprofit (e.g., The Nature Conservancy, Headwaters Corporation) organization.

Externships will be focused on a real-world challenge in adaptive management of stressed watersheds. Students will work in teams that integrate expertise in natural science with engineering, computer sciences, policy, and/or law.

Conflict Resolution Short-course

Taught September 21-22, 2011

Course Title: NRES 898 - Special Topics Section: 005 Course Number: 33040

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