RAP is an interdisciplinary graduate program, focusing on global-to-local sustainability in times of rapid change. Resilience, vulnerability, adaptation, and transformation of social-ecological systems serve as central concepts in exploring societal challenges in a changing world. RAP integrates natural and social sciences, engineering, and medicine to discover innovative and effective strategies for adaptation. Alaska, northern regions, and other areas provide the basis for "basic" and "applied" research in climate change, food security, adaptive co-management of ecosystem services, indigenous resilience, alternative energy, and rural-urban issues. The program currently includes a community of 45 graduate students and faculty from across the UAF campus.

RAP prepares students for positions of leadership in academia, research institutes, government agencies, non-government organizations, and indigenous organizations. The core curriculum of RAP involves coursework in theory and methods, an international internship experience, thesis research, and participation in special seminars, workshops, and conferences. RAP builds on existing graduate programs at UAF in ecology, biology and wildlife, natural resources management, indigenous studies, anthropology, resource economics, political science, geology, geophysics, engineering, interdisciplinary studies, and other relevant disciplines to address sustainability using a systems framework.

RAP offers:
- IGERT Fellowships available only to U.S. PhD students;
- Other PhD and Masters fellowships through various UAF programs;
- Teaching and research assistantships for PhD and Masters students;
- Funding for an international internship experience to broaden
disciplinary perspectives;
- Student offices with other RAP students; and
- Interaction and learning in a community of students and faculty
from different disciplines interested in sustainability and rapid
change.

RAP PhD fellowships are funded through the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program of the US National Science Foundation.

The target date for applications is Monday, 1 February 2010.

For further information, please go to:
www.uaf.edu/rap

Or email:
fyrap@uaf.edu