A UMKC researcher will help study what has caused extreme rainfall and severe drought during the past 100 years in the Missouri River Basin. It’s an effort to predict precipitation at the times and locations most useful to the Missouri River Basin farming community.
Associate Professor Jimmy Adegoke, an expert on climate change, is one of 33 researchers on a $20 million National Science Foundation grant. Together the researchers from nine different institutions will study climate variability and its potential agricultural, ecological and social impacts in Missouri.
“This is a unique opportunity to leverage some of our best computational and modeling assets at UMKC, in collaboration with institutions across the state of Missouri, to address pressing challenges from changing climate to food security and environmental sustainability in the Missouri River Basin,” said Adegoke,
The nine institutions participating in the project include all four University of Missouri System campuses — UMKC, University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri University of Science and Technology and University of Missouri-St. Louis — plus the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center, Washington University, Lincoln University, the St. Louis Science Center and St. Louis University.
UMKC says the project will draw on each institution’s research expertise in plant sciences, atmospheric and environmental sciences, bioinformatics engineering, social sciences and science education outreach. The project is made up of four interdisciplinary teams in the areas of climate, plant biology, community resilience and education/outreach.
The project is intended to support workforce development in three areas: undergraduate and graduate education; bioinformatics training for women, minorities and people with disabilities; and job training.
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