This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI), jointly supported by the NSF and Department of Energy (DOE), will take place in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in July 2007, on the topic of contemporary issues in estuarine physics, transport and water quality. Organized by Dr. Arnoldo Valle-Levinson of the University of Florida, the institute will involve approximately 30 participants from the United States and Latin America including graduate students and junior and established investigators, and about 12 instructors (internationally recognized scientists, active in the field). The activities will consist of a combination of tutorial lectures, a field trip, advanced-topic presentations, and round table discussions, with the goal of providing the participants with an up-to-date review of this field of research. Lectures will cover both recent advances in estuarine physics and on the consequences for material transport and water quality. The organizers will produce a DVD containing the lectures and the preparation and execution of the field work, as well as a textbook to be used for courses on Estuarine Physics.
Estuaries are among the most critical ecosystems on earth. There is an urgent need to expand global expertise on estuarine hydrodynamics to guide policy and management strategies. The wide range of applications and materials will impart a significant interdisciplinary nature to the PASI, and should foster the cross-fertilization of new ideas to advance the field and, ultimately, increase relations between Latin American junior and senior investigators and their counterparts in the U.S.
