Undergraduate Research in Biology

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This award provides funds to the Natural Science Division at Pepperdine to continue a successful REU Site. The funds will enhance an already active program of undergraduate research in biology. Students will be taught the common elements of the research process and increase their appreciation for the diversity of biological subdisciplines. In addition, the program provides mechanisms for recruiting students from traditionally underrepresented groups in science and from schools where students may not have opportunities to experience biological research. Each summer the program will begin with a six-day research orientation workshop at the Murchison Science Center during which students will be introduced to the uses and limitations of specific research tools and techniques and immersed in the research process (literature review, hypothesis formulation, and hypothesis testing). After the orientation workshop, students will pursue individual research projects under the direction of faculty in either cellular biochemistry, behavioral ecology, plant physiological ecology or ecophysiology of marine intertidal animals. All research projects will be designed to provide students with insight into how scientists formulate research questions, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and communicate their results to the scientific community. Over the course of the summer, visiting scientists will hold special research seminars in each research area, giving students an opportunity to discuss their own data with other scientists. Each research group will hold weekly literature seminars to discuss current journal articles pertaining to their research interests. The program will conclude each summer with a student research symposium in early August. Follow-through will include student participation at local and regional undergraduate research conferences. In cases of special merit, students will be encouraged to present their results at national meetings and to prepare their results for publication in a scientific journal.