Altered Landscapes and Environmental Responses to Transformations (ALERT)

Dr. Mahlon C. Kennicutt, II, Director, Geochemical and Environmental Research Group

The roundtable session will bring together Chinese and American scholars and researchers to develop collaborative programs. The programs will be designed to address societal, economic, engineering, and environmental issues related to the interplay between natural and human built systems in coupled riverine/coastal watersheds. Research will focus on delineating and quantifying the interactions among human, biological, and physical systems and the processes that link them. Discussions will cover a range of inter-related topics including; land, resources, and the built environment; human health risks; disruption of biogeochemical cycles and ecological impacts; human, biological, and physical system interactions with natural hazards; interdisciplinary modeling of these systems; and education. The following questions, among others, will direct discussions and planning: 1) How do development processes and urbanization patterns affect human, biological and physical systems in riverine and coastal watersheds? 2) What are the patterns of regional and global transport and transformation of chemical and biological contaminants as they move through riverine and coastal regions? 3) What tools are available to detect degraded environments in riverine and coastal settings? 4) Are present governmental systems and tools adequate for assessing risk and predicting and warning of natural hazards occurrence and impact? 5) To what extent can environmental education contribute to accomplishing broader societal goals? 6) What role should scientists, engineers, institutions of higher, and governmental agencies play in communicating environmental research and issues to the public and how is this best accomplished?