We are now accepting applications for Fall 2025 admission to Team-TERRA (NSF NRT)

For students entering the Team-TERRA program for fall 2025 (existing UConn students), applications will be reviewed starting on February 1st, 2025, with priority given to those applications that are received prior to February 1st, 2025. Rolling admission will continue until April 1st, 2025. Click Trainee Information to learn more.

Team-TERRA Cohort 4 - 2024-2025: Monica Martinelli, Zhiqing (Lucy) Li, Alyssa McDonnell, Jimmy Palmer, Yuanlong Dai, Mark Urban (PI), MD. Abdulla All Shakil, Shashika Himandi Gardeye Lamahewage and Ritu Mohanpuria

Welcome to Team-TERRA - Building Resilient Landscapes for Food, Energy, Water, and Ecosystem Services in America’s Original Megalopolis.  Team-TERRA is a transdisciplinary training program in the Center of Biological Risk at the University of Connecticut. The training program consists of a 2-year sequence of coursework, teamwork, a real-world internship, and associated workshops. We will use the northeastern US megalopolis stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C. as a living laboratory to understand, predict, manage, and communicate risks to food, energy, water, and ecosystems in the face of global change. As part of the training program, trainees will work in diverse teams to predict and solve complex problems of the future in regions that are urbanizing and stretched to both provide the essentials for human wellbeing while maintaining the many benefits of biodiversity and natural ecosystems. 

 

Team-TERRA Cohort 3 - 2023-2024
Maria Paula Otero Mora, Mei-Ling Feng, Yara Medawar, Harshana Wedagedara, Yogesh Kumar, Lucy Hendrickson, Steven Matile, Maussi Arrunategui, Tyler Driscoll & Joseph Schnaubelt

Team-TERRA Cohort 2 - 2022-2023
Peter Billman, Ketki Samel, Katja Kwaku, Michael LaScaleia, Erin Dierickx, Durga Joshi, Madeline Kollegger, Bivek Bhusal, Catalina Vasquez, Josué Martínez-Martínez, Makduma Zahan Badhan & Naomi Adler 

Team-TERRA Cohort 1 - 2021-2022
Adam Gallaher, Sarah Klionsky, Raul D. Flamenco, Jessica Espinosa, Franco Gigliotti, Madeleine Meadows-McDonnell & Yan Chen

Fig. 1: Nighttime lighting patterns highlight America’s original megalopolis. This region provides an unnatural laboratory for predicting the resilience of FEWES to future risks and diverse opportunities for enhanced graduate education. UConn and the Cary Institute are situated within the last agricultural and wild lands.

News

Congratulations to Adam Gallaher for completing his PhD. Upon graduation Adam will be a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University under Dr. Steve Grodsky in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment researching solar energy and ecosystem service trade-offs and co-location.

Congratulations to Josue Martinez-Martinez who won the NASA CT Space Grant Fellowship for the next academic year.  Josue also joined a startup called Toribio LLC, developing smart clothes to help with the prevention of strokes. In the startup, Josue is tasked with overseeing the artificial intelligence and data management part. They took 3rd place at the UConn Get Seeded event and won $1,000.

Congratulations to Durga P. Joshi for receiving the following awards; Accelerate UConn, Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), UConn ($2000), February 2023. Second Prize on Get Seeded Pitch Night by Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), UConn ($750), November 2022. SAF Student Diversity Scholar 2023, Society of American Foresters.

Congratulations to Peter Billman on the publication; Beever, E.A., Wilkening, J.L, Billman, P.D. et al. (+47 authors). 2023. Geographic and taxonomic variation in adaptive capacity among montane mammals: implications for conservation status and actions. Biological Conservation. 282: 109942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.10994

Congratulations to Madeline Kolleger who was awarded the Multidisciplinary Environmental Research Awards for Graduate Students (MERAGS) from the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of the Environment.  UConn Today article and for her acceptance to the next cohort of AGU Science Communicators through the Voices for Science program

Congratulations to Adam Gallaher, whose proposal "Walking the walk: An analysis of the drivers, barriers, and directions of the Connecticut EV market, 2012-2021" was funded by the MERAGS program. He collaborated with Dr. Carol Atkinson-Palombo (Geography) and Dr. Lyle Scruggs (Political Science) on this project. 

More Team-TERRA News

Collaborative Partner Organizations

We are excited to collaborate with these partner organizations:

 

  • The premier ecosystem research institute, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. Together, we will study the risks to the urbanizing landscape of the northeastern U.S
  • UConn Institute of the Environment has a mission to advance research, education, and engagement concerning the environment and sustainability at the University of Connecticut. 
  • UConn Center for Biological Risk seeks to improve the capacity to assess, manage, and communicate biological risks of global change through research, teaching, and community outreach. The Center focuses on risks that affect, originate from, or are mediated by biological systems. 

 

Curriculum

Year 1 - Fall:

  • EEB 5872 Environmental Risk Assessment (3 credits), Tuesdays 1:00-4:00, Bamford, TLS 171B-Dr. Mark Urban
  • EEB 5882 Environmental Risk Practicum 1 (3 credits), Thursdays 2:00-4:00, Bamford, TLS 171B-Dr. Mark Urban
  • EEB 5895 Section 018, Environmental Risk Communication (1 credit) - Thursdays TBD, Room TBD-Dr. Margaret Rubega
  • EEB 5480 Science Communication I: Writing for Public Audiences, (3 credits) Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00-12:15, CHM T114-Dr. Margaret Rubega

 Year 1 - Spring:

  • EEB 5882 Environmental Risk Practicum 2  (3 credits)
  • GIS course elective (3 credits)

Year 2: Workshops, Internship, Mentorship

Values Statements

Cohort 3

  • We treat people with respect
  • Compromising and communication are essential to working in a group
  • Our projects will be practical, achievable, and provide growth

Cohort 2

  • Conservation - We commit to conservation of harmony between humans & nature
  • Communication - We hold communication as a necessary component of transdisciplinary work
  • Curiosity - We value and promote curiosity to drive learning
  • Cooperation - We believe success will come through cooperation with each other and the community
  • Compassion - We strive to think and act with compassion

Cohort 1

  • Open-mindedness
  • Give and receive support to create an equitable, empathetic, inclusive environment
  • Purpose-driven to improve the world
  • Freedom to grow
  • Overcome barriers

University Events

  1. Dec 8 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  2. Dec 9 2/22 Volunteer for Science Bowl 2025 All Day
  3. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  4. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  5. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  6. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  7. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day
  8. Dec 9 Apply Now: 2025 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement!  All Day