Tal Shutkin, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University, has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office. Shutkin will conduct research for his dissertation for seven months in Peru examining “Glacier Change and Social Hydrology of the Cordillera Huaytapallana.”
The Andes of Peru host the world’s greatest concentration of glaciers existing in the tropics, which have evolved with the tropical climate over many millennia. Today, in the era of anthropogenic climate warming, these glaciers are rapidly disappearing, triggering social-environmental change across the region. Shutkin’s dissertation research evaluates the changes in Peru’s Cordillera Huaytapallana, a glacierized range near Huancayo, the capital city of the department of Junin.
Shutkin asks three complementary questions. One, how have the glaciers of the Cordillera Huaytapallana evolved since the Little Ice Age (~500 years BP) and what impact has this had on water availability? Two, what are the cascading glacio-hydrological impacts of contemporary glacier loss in watersheds with varying physical characteristics including remaining glacier ice volume, hypsometry, and aspect? Three, how do the social-environmental systems differ between these watersheds and to what extent do these differences impact experiences of and contributions to environmental change?
A physical geography PhD candidate, Shutkin is fascinated by the interplay of climate, water, and landscape in social-environmental systems. He will pursue this dissertation research using geomorphological, hydrological, and social scientific field methods, as well as statistical and numerical modeling, thereby contributing to a transdisciplinary assessment of the region’s evolving geography.
Shutkin earned his Bachelor of Science in environment and natural resources in 2019 and his Master of Arts in geography in 2022, both from The Ohio State University. His research focuses on the high tropical Andean environment, where communities situated in close proximity to glaciers rely on the mountains to provide water. He uses field-based and glacier modeling approaches to understand how past climate change drove glacier advances which carved out the tropical Andean landscape and how modern climate change is driving ice loss and altering seasonal water availability. His faculty advisor is Bryan Mark.
The DDRA grant supports doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies across the world. Nationwide across all disciplines approximately 90 Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowships were awarded this year.
The Office of International Affairs administers the Fulbright-Hays program for Ohio State, and grant competitions are held annually. Doctoral candidates interested in applying for the award must contact Fulbright-Hays program director, Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.