Starting in Fall 2019, they are expanding this research program to focus on changing hydrology, ecology and geochemistry on a broader scale in Greenland, with backing from the UF Water Institute through its the 2019 Water Institute Graduate Fellows program. The program receives support from the colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Life and Agricultural Sciences, Journalism and Communications, and the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

“Our aim is to determine what the nutrient fluxes are to the ocean and the greenhouse gases fluxes to the atmosphere as the ice sheet retreats from this landscape,” Jon Martin said. “Greenland provides a wonderful opportunity to understand potential upcoming changes associated with Arctic warming and ice sheet retreat.”

And they are not embarking on this journey alone. The WIGF program includes nine additional faculty and seven doctoral students. The interdisciplinary program will include a range of research activities and, for the first time this year, an emphasis on what they are calling environmental civics for all fellows.

Research topics include microbial ecology and hydrology of ice sheets, the ecological development of high latitude plant and microbial communities in a non-glacial landscape, and the impacts of hyporheic exchange on stream solute fluxes, among many others.

“There's very little U.S. research that's done on the landscape that's now exposed in Greenland,” Martin said. “Most of this kind of work is actually being done by the Danes and by the Greenlanders themselves.”

Martin hopes to include local scientists and community members in as much of the research process as possible, and he hopes that by incorporating an environmental civics component, the findings of the program’s research can be applied to assist local communities in Greenland and Florida.

“Those academics who really were able to change Florida or change the world for the better were people who were able to balance their research and speak truth to the public and to people in power."

Cynthia Barnett, environmental fellow and lecturer in residence with the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and College of Journalism and Communications, will help advise the fellows on public engagement, communication skills and civic leadership.

“Normally this would never happen at the beginning of a project,” Barnett said. “I thought it was neat that they were turning that around and before they figured out their science, they were beginning to ask: How can we do a better job of articulating the importance of this work to the public?”

Barnett has been inspired by researchers who have championed—and helped the public understand—the species and environments they studied. She named the late sea turtle scientist and UF professor Archie Carr and former dean of the UF Levin School of Law Frank Maloney, who helped write Florida’s model water law, as prime examples.

“Those academics who really were able to change Florida or change the world for the better were people who were able to balance their research and speak truth to the public and to people in power,” she said.

By incorporating discussions of environmental civics into the program from the very beginning, the idea is that students and faculty may consider the sociological dynamics of impacted communities as they decide upon their research questions for the program.

And Barnett believes the impact may be beneficial: “If the conversation about environmental civics is influencing the scientific questions, I think that's okay because it is inspiring them to think more about the relevance to the local community in Greenland and to what decision makers might need to know about changing global systems.”

Jon Martin agrees, saying the inclusion of environmental civics may lead to questions that researchers would not have previously been able to answer, or even ask.