PIRE
CREATE
Project
PIRE (Partnership in International Research and Education) is a program, which supports international partnerships that address critical science and engineering problems in a global context, thereby facilitating the development of a diverse, globally-engaged, science and engineering workforce .
PIRE - CREATE is an international collaboration that involves six institutions and 18 investigators from the United States (University at Albany - State University of New York & Columbia University), University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and IANIGLA in Argentina.
We are working to advance paleoclimate research over the Americas to the point where it can transform the way we inform policy- and decision-making at a trans-national level about the risks of climate change and place future projections in a broad historical context. The project is co-funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Sao Paulo State Research Agency (FAPESP).
PIRE ACADEMIES
Become a scientist for a weekend!
During this three-day long course, undergraduate students across SUNY have the opportunity to do field and lab work in dendrochronology and participate in a workshop on the effects of climate change.
Working for a better future
Thanks to our research, we will be able to expand our knowledge and understanding of the causes of past climatic variations, many of which were associated with major social impacts (famine, disease and warfare). The results will be translated into visualization models and climate information tools relevant to policymakers, the scientific community, government and civil society.
How do we study climate change?
We are using the PIRE funding to merge data from the two largest tree-ring and cave sediment archives in South America and combining them with simulations of past, present and future climate change based on the latest generation of global climate models. This will allow us to produce reconstructions of historical extreme weather events (droughts, flooding, El Niño, etc.) over the two continents during the past millennium, analyze societal responses and better predict future events based on past model-archive comparisons.
Training the next generation of scientists
Being aware of the importance of training the next generation of scientists, we offer an extensive educational program in an international setting, for undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars.
International internships & Study abroad:
Through exchange programs between different institutions involved (USA, Brazil & Argentina), our students are able to study abroad for a semester or join research groups in South America for a 2-3-month long internship.
International Summer Schools & Field Training:
During the summer schools, we visit field sites in Argentina and Peru, where trees are sampled and cave sites in Brazil, where speleothem records are obtained and isotopic monitoring facilities are installed. The summer schools include hands-on exercises, learning in the field, and theory and applications in the classroom.
PIRE Academy
During this three days long course, undergraduate students across SUNY have the opportunity to do field and lab work in dendrochronology, explore the various trees and participate in a workshop on the effects of climate change. Learn about past, present and future climate change in the US and abroad and how science can be used to inform policy-making.
