Scholarship Application Details

E-mail:
ksingh9@uncc.edu

Phone:
7043597139

Address:
Department of Geography and Earth Sciences,
University of North Carolina- Charlotte,
9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28223

University Enrolled:
University of North Carolina- Charlotte

Enrollment Type:
Graduate

Degree Program:
PhD program (Geography: Urban Regional Analysis)

Dean:
Dr. Craig Allan

Dean's E-mail:
cjallan@uncc.edu

Visa:
F-1

How my attendance/participation will contribute to my educational experience:
Emerging Issues 3 Along Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society Conference, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Dear Selection Committee: I am pleased to submit my application for the Emerging Issues3 along Urban-Rural Interfaces scholarship. At present, I am a doctoral student in the department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, working as a research assistant in the Center for Applied GIS under the supervision of Dr. Ross Meentemeyer. As a future professional landscape ecologist, I have a strong desire and obligation to understand our changing environment and the human impacts on the environment, to serve and support the field of landscape ecology, and to conduct and share interdisciplinary research that promotes a sustainable future. In the paragraphs below, I have highlighted briefly my background, interest in the scholarship, professional goals and how my participation in this conference will contribute to my educational experience that I feel make me not only a strong candidate for this scholarship, but more importantly, will shape my development into a successful and impactful researcher in the field of landscape ecology. Changes in how societies use land and the associated environmental impacts of those changes are of significant global, national, community, and personal concern. I have witnessed firsthand rapid economic and industrial development in India, which has brought prosperity and at the same time facilitated population growth, urban sprawl, and increased fragmentation of the landscape. In particular, unplanned or poorly planned urban development has accelerated losses of biodiversity and altered essential ecosystem services that all citizens rely upon for clean air, water and quality of life. With my progression in academics as well as my life experiences, I feel compelled to better understand interdependent systems and processes so that we might be able to properly prevent, manage or mitigate these problems and insure a more sustainable future for ourselves and our children. I feel duty-bound to outline my research objective and goals to justify how my participation in this conference will contribute to my educational and professional experience. My overall research objective is to combine research in geospatial technologies, land use change monitoring, and natural ecological processes in order to develop innovative approaches for attaining sustainable development in rapidly urbanizing landscapes to analyze consequences of human-environment interactions at various landscape scales. This would not be possible without participation in relevant research forums that encourage active exchange of ideas with other members of the research community. The 2010 Emerging Issues 3 along Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society Conference in Atlanta, GA is one such forum and will be a great opportunity for me to connect with researchers across many disciplines, obtain and provide valuable feedback on common research interests, and consider how my research and academic goals fit into the field of urban-rural landscape ecology. Therefore, I have a keen interest in obtaining a scholarship not only for the reasons stated above and the obvious benefits that come with receiving this prestigious scholarship, but more importantly, to enhance my academic learning experience, develop my skills as a researcher, and help establish myself as a landscape ecologist. My research objectives shape my academic and professional goals which are, highlighted below, technical, pedagogical, applied, and interdisciplinary in nature. Goal 1: I am continually impressed and equally humbled by the rapid advancements in geospatial data and geostatistical techniques and tools for analyzing, quantifying, and simulating landscape change. During the past one and a half years, I have been focused on integration of vertical dimension and spectral information of different remote sensing datasets, specifically Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data and their application to land-use change along urban-exurban gradient. For the coming semesters, I have set a goal to conduct further research into applied uses of the radiometric properties of LiDAR data for mapping urban structure and utilization of high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) in forecasting of flood in a rapidly urbanizing landscape. Goal 2: Knowledge is not good enough if it cannot be expressed and shared appropriately. Therefore, I want to develop my communication skills and my teaching ability by teaching environmental modeling classes in the coming semesters and sharing my knowledge and exchanging ideas by participating in one or more interdisciplinary research working groups. Last semester, I started an interdisciplinary study with Dr. Craig Allan, at present department chair, to understand the relationship between urban flow regimes (watershed science) and land cover change in order to measure how the flow indices change over time with increasing urbanization. My goal is to communicate and share my knowledge clearly, efficiently, and effectively among scientists and other professionals so that I can take a lead role in interdisciplinary research of landscape ecology. Goal 3: With the successful completion of my doctoral program, I hope to combine my acquired technical skills, valuable teaching experience, and interdisciplinary research experience in the field of landscape ecology and ecosystem to establish myself as a successful, productive and impactful geospatial within an applied research institution whose mission serves the environment, supports advancements in landscape ecology, and promotes a sustainable future. In closing, I feel that my academic background, interest in the scholarship, professional goals and perspective gain of experience at this conference are closely aligned with the theme of the upcoming Emerging Issues3 along Urban-Rural Interface Conference, particularly with regards to understanding our relationship to and impacts on the environment (and each other) as well as developing innovative, problem-solving methodologies by linking science and society for a sustainable future. I would be very grateful for the opportunity to attend and participate in this valuable conference and become a recipient of Emerging Issues3 Scholarship. I am convinced that gained experience will be fulfilling both personally and professionally. Thank you very much for this opportunity and for consideration of my application for this Scholarship. Kunwar K. Singh

Title and authors of my oral/poster proposed for conference:
Flow Variability in Urban Vs. Rural Streams of an Urbanizing Landscape of Piedmont Province, North Carolina Kunwar K Singh, Craig Allan and Ross Meentemeyer Center for Applied Geographic Information Science, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA