Students present research at national conference

Sometimes a student research job offers amazing opportunities. For a handful of students working with Arizona State University’s Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC), one such opportunity was to present their research at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington D.C.

“The AAAS conference in Washington D.C. was a unique and inspiring opportunity to take a bird's eye look at the large spectrum of cutting edge research and to share personal thought with some leading researchers,” said Stephane Frijia, a graduate research associate for DCDC.

The event, themed “Science without Borders,” drew thousands of scientists, engineers, policymakers, educators, and journalists from 50 nations to explore a broad range of recent discoveries and looming global challenges. Student and faculty researchers from ASU’s DCDC, along with their counterparts at Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED), presented eight posters on the theme, “Decision Making Under Uncertainty.”

The National Science Foundation sponsors centers across the United States, including DCDC and CRED, to study decision making under uncertainty. Researchers work at the boundary between science and policy, examining decision making in the context of climate change and other pressing global challenges whose future impacts cannot be fully known. Their research efforts are transdisciplinary, involving multiple academic disciplines and practitioners.

“This poster symposium grew out of our DCDC program for integrating graduate student work across disciplines,” said Margaret C. Nelson, Vice Dean, Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. “This event gives the students many opportunities to develop synergies from the many excellent projects within the Center.” 

For more information about DCDC’s involvement at the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting, including photos and poster details, visit the events page at http://dcdc.asu.edu/.