From Environmental History to Environmental Engineering: Learning the Tools of the New Trade

Abstract:

The social sciences and humanities are typically framed in terms of being completely disparate from the "hard sciences", and although this bipolarity is far from accurate, the skills required in each area are indeed quite different. In this short talk, the author discusses her experience in shifting from a doctoral program in environmental history to a doctoral program in hydrology. The experience of having to learn a radically new skill set is both frightening and hugely rewarding and requires a confidence in one's ability to master new and ostensibly insurmountable concepts and a dedication to pushing beyond the initial endless frustrations. But after overcoming these initial hurdles, it became extremely useful to have a broad background in the geosciences. Conceptualizing the impact of climate change on water resources in terms of human livelihoods, for example, is both necessary and productive to understanding long-term policy impacts. This broader framing of research questions is thus significant in moving beyond the sometimes narrow conversations that are had behind the closed doors of each academic discipline.