Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Natural History of Hispaniolan Lizard Communities

该奖项为阿维拉学院自然科学系提供资金，用于建立一个REU站点，该站点将为10名本科生提供热带研究的研究经验。参与者将通过与教师的互动学习和发展技能，因为他们在伊斯帕尼奥拉岛处理爬行动物群落的项目上工作。为了促进学生的发展，计划了一个三阶段的计划：定向，向学生介绍西印度群岛的研究方法和生态研究；学徒制，培养技能；和个人研究，产生出版质量的报告。课程设有研究及研究生课程讲座，协助学员将所学知识及技能应用于日后的学术追求。美国和多米尼加共和国的科学家将作报告。评估将由参与者、他们的学术顾问和两名外部教师进行。该计划旨在诱导参与者积极考虑研究生学习，并增加他们选择科学职业的可能性。教师将“指导”学生，通过解释规则和传递“游戏”兴奋感来灌输研究愿景。对蜥蜴群落的关注提供了应用生态学研究中使用的理论和方法的机会，同时与丰富的、可接近的、非常好地和明显地适应环境的生物体一起工作。调查可能涉及生态位维度、寄生虫感染或外来物种的竞争排斥等方面。学生可以在这些主题中选择项目或开展自己的调查，包括但不限于对外来或地方性分类群的生理或行为学研究。

This award provides funds to the Department of Natural Sciences at Avila College to establish an REU site which will provide 10 undergraduates with research experiences in tropical studies. Participants will learn and develop skills by interacting with faculty as they work on projects dealing with herpetological communities on Hispaniola. To foster student development, a 3- phase program is planned: orientation, introducing students to research methodology and ecological studies in the West Indies; apprenticeship, to develop skills; and individual research, resulting in publication-quality reports. Seminars on research and graduate studies are included to facilitate applications of acquired knowledge and skills to participants' future academic pursuits. Presentations will be made by scientists in both the United States and Dominican Republic. Evaluation will be by participants, their academic advisors, and two outside faculty. This program is designed to induce participants to favorably consider graduate studies and increase the likelihood of them choosing careers in science. The faculty will "coach" students, instilling a vision of research by explaining the rules and delivering a feeling of the "game's" excitement. A focus on lizard communities provides opportunities to apply theories and methods used in ecological research while working with organisms that are abundant, accessible, and remarkably well and visibly adapted to their environment. Investigations may address aspects of niche dimensions, parasite infections, or competitive exclusion by alien species. Students may choose projects within these topics or develop investigations of their own, including, but not limited to, physiological or ethological studies of alien or endemic taxa.