9553361 Taylor The University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN) will develop an education and research tpaining program in the environmental sciences that is integrated and system-wide, with an emphasis on linking the disciplines of environmental chemistry, environmental biology, ecology, and human health. This interdisciplinary area of emphasis within the environmental sciences is an important initiative because the State of Nevada is experiencing an unparalleled rate of population growth (5% per year over the last four years), which is far in excess of all other states. In addition, the increases are confined to the urban centers in Las Vegas (Clark County), Reno and Sparks (Washoe County) and Carson City. The net effect of this growth over the last four decades has been to transform the state from a predominantly rural to a largely urban environment. The rate of transformation is unprecedented, and the consequences for human health and natural resources are just beginning to be recognized. The current effort will stimulate the development of a cohesive statewide program to address the relationship between quality of the environment and the health of human populations and natural resources in Nevada. The program calls for the following: (1) to develop a system-wide infrastructure for graduate education and training in the environmental sciences because none of the UCCSN units have the depth and breadth to individually develop a program of excellence; (2) to develop a research infrastructure to encourage UCCSN faculty and graduate students to devote more of their competitive research to the environmental sciences by linking basic and mission-oriented research and emphasizing priority problems in the state of Nevada; and (3) to develop a training and networking infrastructure in Nevada to inform and educate the population on issues in the environmental sciences, focusing on linking the educational and research expertise in the UCCSN with bus iness interests in the public and private sector. These three platforms of the infrastructure will be implemented through the Graduate Program of Environmental Sciences and Health (ES&H) at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR); this program is part of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) at UNR. The ES&H program will be aggressively expanded to include faculty and graduate students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), leading to eventual full partnership. This will be the first example of a system-wide degree and training program within UCCSN and will serve as a template by which other systemic graduate programs in the sciences and engineering can be developed in the future.
