{"id":9076,"date":"2016-08-03T09:12:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T13:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/?page_id=9076"},"modified":"2020-03-26T17:15:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T21:15:51","slug":"the-evolution-of-aria-amirbahman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/the-evolution-of-aria-amirbahman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of Aria Amirbahman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The opportunity to join a Mitchell Center citizen-science research project allowed the UMaine environmental engineer to grow as a scientist and teacher<\/em><\/p>\n

By David Sims<\/p>\n

Aria Amirbahman is a professor of civil and environmental engineering with specific research interests in aquatic chemistry and contaminant transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an engineer by training so I need a structured, systematic way to approach a problem. The way I look at things, they should fit into patterns and equations. That\u2019s my upbringing,\u201d Amirbahman says matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n

\"Aria<\/a>
Aria Amirbahman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, it is not surprising that when he had the opportunity to join ranks with a Mitchell Center project that blended his world of hard physical science with the \u201csofter\u201d social sciences to develop sustainability solutions, it took some time and convincing.<\/p>\n

The project in question\u2014a transdisciplinary lake monitoring study involving citizen scientists\u2014not only would push Amirbahman out of his comfort zone but add in the particularly \u201csquishy\u201d discipline of sustainability science.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial science, and its key role as an essential ingredient in sustainability science, are anything but<\/em> what I was trained in, which is why it was a struggle for me and took some time to be convinced,\u201d Amirbahman says. \u201cHowever, as I attended some of the Mitchell Center seminars<\/a> and read more about the field of sustainability science, especially as applied to the work of economist and Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom<\/a>, I began to think that it represented a way to marry the biophysical and social sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n

More specifically, Amirbahman points to Ostrom\u2019s social-ecological systems framework, which enables interdisciplinary researchers to share a common vocabulary in an effort to craft workable solutions, as one important means of solidifying such a marriage.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re getting ahead of ourselves. Even before his exposure to Ostrom\u2019s work, Amirbahman\u2019s initial conversations with Mitchell Center Director David Hart began to slowly peel back his engineer-entrenched resistance to a landscape with elements that are hard to neatly organize into patterns or string together into equations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some real difficulty getting my mind around … the nature of the [sustainability] work. The Mitchell Center has helped me understand and appreciate this better, it\u2019s educated me and helped me evolve.” \u00a0<\/em>\u2014Aria Amirbahman<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen the Mitchell Center first started, David and I went back and forth and discussed how sustainability work is nebulous and \u2018messy,\u2019 as David puts it,\u201d Amirbahman recalls. \u201cI had some real difficulty getting my mind around that but now that I\u2019m involved I appreciate that messiness and the at-times convoluted nature of the work. The Mitchell Center has helped me understand and appreciate this better, it\u2019s educated me and helped me evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, so thorough was the evolution that Amirbahman and colleagues on the lake project gave a Mitchell Center seminar<\/a> on their work.<\/p>\n

A tool borne of a biophysical-social science bond<\/strong><\/p>\n

The joint biophysical-social science water quality project\u2014during its first year of funding in 2015\u2014conducted a focused study of 24 Maine lakes to develop a so-called \u201cLake Vulnerability Index\u201d that combines both stakeholder engagement parameters and physical indicators.<\/p>\n

The Vulnerability Index is meant to be a means of predicting which lakes are more susceptible to deterioration in water quality by, among other things, identifying\u2014through surveys and interviews\u2014the underlying factors that encourage successful collaborations among the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program (VLMP)<\/a> monitors, homeowners, and lake associations on lake stewardship activities, and using data collected through the study to develop a blueprint of activities that can positively influence stewardship behaviors among the public.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteer<\/a>
Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The project\u2019s initial success led to another round of Mitchell Center funding to continue the effort in 2016.<\/p>\n

According to Amirbahman, from the physical science standpoint, the Vulnerability Index being developed will be a predictive tool geared to individual lakes via the biological, chemical, and physical parameters identified–such as levels of phosphorus, chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen, and the shape of the lake basin. And, working with VLMP volunteers and homeowners, team members will thus be able to say, for example, \u201cYour lake is especially vulnerable with respect to land use from the surrounding population, or it\u2019s more vulnerable with respect to climate factors like increasing temperature or frequency of intense storms, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time,\u201d Amirbahman adds, \u201cit\u2019s very interesting to incorporate into this mix some social scientific aspects like the level of lake resident involvement. There is a wide range in Maine of lake resident citizen involvement and we can look at that and include it in any Vulnerability Index we develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Active citizen involvement in monitoring the health of their lakes is, in fact, a critical factor for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection<\/a> when prioritizing remediation efforts for impaired water bodies. Says Amirbahman, \u201cThese social scientific factors are key, and this relates to the social-ecological systems framework that Ostrom has proposed, and with which we can actually bring together in a systematic way the physical and social science aspects of this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firooza Pavri of the University of Southern Maine has led the social science side of the lake monitoring project. A professor of geography in the Geography-Anthropology program and current director of the Muskie School of Public Service at USM, Pavri notes that “one of the most important benefits to the project\u2019s social-ecological systems framework is that findings from such holistic, interdisciplinary approaches can help policymakers develop more sophisticated tools to address complex environmental problems that have multiple drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"firooza<\/a>
Firooza Pavri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pavri adds that, with respect to Amirbahman\u2019s personal approach to the project, \u201cWhen we began the project, we read research on the topic from beyond our own disciplinary perspectives. Ostrom\u2019s work provided us a framework to bring together the physical and social sciences, and for Aria, I believe, Ostrom\u2019s work struck a cord and really brought home the value of such a framework in untangling complex environmental problems. I believe he said as much at the presentation, and coming from a physical scientist, I think it says much about the translatability of Ostrom\u2019s work across disciplinary boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Personal and professional evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amirbahman\u2019s embrace of the social science aspects of the lake project, and the still-evolving field of sustainability science, has also influenced other aspects of his work\u2014from looking at engineering problems with an eye on societal relevance to promoting and teaching his own science in more meaningful, accessible ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is extremely meaningful for me. My social science\/sustainability work makes for a better physical scientist in the sense that problems are now considered in more relevant ways,\u201d Amirbahman says. \u201cIt makes you come up with ways to translate your science much better. And if you cannot translate your science for average people, maybe there\u2019s something wrong with your science.\u201d He adds, \u201cIn academia, you publish and your paper is often read by just a handful of other people in the field. But if through our science we can make a societal change, even if it\u2019s incremental\u2014a change in attitude or policy\u2014I think that would be a huge contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Amirbahman has seen his new approach impact how he teaches. For example, in the \u201cPollutant Fate and Transport\u201d class he taught last semester to mostly graduating seniors, half of whom were already employed in the field, he stressed how important it is to get the public engaged in their work in part through the social scientific aspects, which go hand in hand with the kind of environmental work students do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students really appreciate when you bring in not just real-world examples and applications but when you talk about the public and how people perceive your work and how important it is to present your work in such a way that the public can see its potential relevance to their lives and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cAnd I think the sustainability issues in particular tend to resonate with them, especially with the younger generation. They are, I think, especially aware of what\u2019s happening around them\u2014issues related to climate, issues related to inequality. And the fact that they\u2019re interested in public perception, public opinion, what can we do to actually change the quality of life for people, they seem especially interested in those aspects. Bringing in these components gets them very interested in ways well beyond the chemical reactions and equations I put up on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is extremely meaningful for me. The social science\/sustainability work makes for a better physical scientist in the sense that problems are now considered in more relevant ways.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To learn more about the collaborative lake monitoring project, see \u201cEngaging Citizen Scientists to Evaluate the Potential for Water Quality Decline in Maine Lakes: A Social Science-Physical Science Collaboration for Lake Stewardship.”<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The opportunity to join a Mitchell Center citizen-science research project allowed the UMaine environmental engineer to grow as a scientist and teacher By David Sims Aria Amirbahman is a professor of civil and environmental engineering with specific research interests in aquatic chemistry and contaminant transport. \u201cI\u2019m an engineer by training so I need a structured, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":957,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9076","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"mitchellcenter","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/author\/mitchellcenter\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9076"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19482,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9076\/revisions\/19482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}