Graduate Training Program in Hawaiian Conservation Biology

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This proposal is for the funding of five Graduate Research Trainees to undertake research and training in the University of Hawaii's Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program. The students' training would expose them to one of the world's most spectacular examples of adaptive radiation, provide first- hand experience of Hawaii's native ecosystems, active conservation policies, research and practice and integrate basic knowledge with conservation practice in real situations. The training environment will be enhanced by an exchange agreement with Cornell University at present being negotiated, the development of a Center for Conservation Research and Training, the closely-related Hawaii Evolutionary Biology Program, the expansion of the Lyon Arboretum's role as a conservation research area, and a summer field course with collaborating land managing agencies. The training will include a two-semester core course that will provide professional level discussion of areas in biology that are fundamental to the understanding of all biology. Recruitment of ethnic minorities, already strong, will be enhanced through keying in with existing undergraduate minority programs. Special efforts will be made to recruit women by working through the American Association of University Women and the American Women In Science. Leading mainland candidates will be flown to Hawaii for assessment. To assist retention and the acquisition of skills students will in the first year be rotated through several research projects with associated graduate faculty.