MOSCOW, Idaho (CBS2) — According to a recent news release, a multidisciplinary team led by University of Idaho (UI) researchers received a $15 million grant to study the long-term impact of drought and fire on forest ecosystems.
The funding will create the EMBER (Embedding Molecular Biology in Ecosystem Research) Institute and bring together researchers from various institutions and backgrounds, from experts across biological disciplines including molecular and cellular biology, organismal physiology and ecosystem sciences.
The six-year award is from the National Science Foundation's Biology Integration Institutes, which is dedicated to supporting diverse and collaborative teams to attack critical biological questions that span multiple disciplines through research, education and training.
One of EMBER's partners is the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which participates in intergovernmental climate policy groups worldwide. Chris Marx, a biology professor at UI and another co-principal investigator on the project, hopes EMBER will identify a tangible way to help plants and microbial communities re-establish after a fire.
EMBER will also partner with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to establish an Indigenous Innovation Lab for tribal and rural students, develop a unique teacher fellows training program and engage with citizens from across the political spectrum, including climate change skeptics.
As such, the EMBER team is partnering with UI's McClure Center for Public Policy Research and RepublicEn, a conservative organization dedicated to solving climate change by hosting discussions in a non-combative political space.
This project was funded to UI by the National Science Foundation under award 2320667. The total project funding is $2,669,046, with an estimated total of $15 million in the future, of which 100 percent is the federal share.
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