UM BRIDGES trains future leaders from diverse backgrounds to advance societally-relevant science toward more sustainable food-energy-water (FEW) systems. The program:

• Provides a high quality training and certificate program
• Mainstreams interdisciplinary thinking throughout the program
• Prepares STEM students for multiple career paths
• Provides a vibrant intellectual community
• Broadens and diversifies the STEM fields through recruitment of under-represented communities
• Catalyzes innovative research
• Supports early career faculty

The training program teaches students to bridge divides across:

• sectors within the FEW nexus;
• scales, from local to global;
• disciplines including physical, biological, and social sciences;
• science, practice, and policy to ensure decision-relevant science and science-informed practice; and
• audiences, to communicate effectively across diverse constituencies and multiple platforms.

Trainees gain disciplinary depth through their home degree program and interdisciplinary competence through innovative training. Students completing the trainees are eligible to apply for a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Graduate Certificate, to complement their STEM graduate degree.

Graduate students in M.S. and Ph.D. programs from STEM disciplines at UM are invited to participate. Financial support in the form of fellowships and other research and travel support are available to support trainees.

Trainees:

• Understand the biophysical and social science of FEWs
• Innovate to contribute to sustainable FEW systems
• Master interdisciplinary methods and skills