UH Awarded $246K NSF Grant For U.S.-China Collaboration On Landslides


UH Awarded $246K NSF Grant For U.S.-China Collaboration On Landslides
Grant Funds Summer Research Opportunity in China for 18 UH Students

Guoquan “Bob” Wang, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has been awarded a three-year, $245,945 National Science Foundation (NSF) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) grant to support U.S.-China collaboration on landslide research. This grant will fully fund summer research opportunities for University of Houston geoscience majors to conduct landslide studies in collaboration with the China University of Geosciences (CUG) in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

NSFDuring this program, which will run for eight weeks each summer for the next three years, students from UH will work alongside students and faculty from CUG in the Three Gorges area of China. Field research will consist of using GPS and LiDAR technologies to study and predict landslides, with the expectation that what is observed in the Three Gorges area will apply to other landslide-prone sites around the world.

Opportunities will be available for four undergraduates and two graduate students each year, for a total of 18 students. All expenses, including travel costs, tuition and health insurance, will be covered, along with a stipend of $500 per week.

The first summer program will run from June 6 - July 30, 2016. It will include a one-week preparatory session at UH, a two-week intensive Chinese language and cultural course at the CUG’s main campus in Wuhan, a five-week field investigation in the Three Gorges area of China, and a one-week wrap-up at UH.

Further grant details can be found here.