Development of an REU Site for Tropical Limnology Associated With the International Decade of East African Lakes (IDEAL) Program

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Abstract ATM-9619458 Cohen, Andrew S. University of Arizona Title: Development of an REU Site for Tropical Limnology Associated With the International Decade of the Eastern African Lakes (IDEAL) Program This award supports the development of an REU Site summer program in tropical lake studies for American undergraduate students. Ten to twelve students will spend six weeks per year learning the fundamentals of physicochemical, biological and geological processes in tropical lakes through intensive training and independent research projects. The Program will be located in Kigoma, Tanzania, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Africa, a world-class natural laboratory for investigating a wide variety of scientifically significant questions about how tropical lakes work. This site takes advantage of the faculty's record of research on the lake and familiarity with local and regional logistics. Additionally the program will reap unique benefits from a planned association with a simultaneous and identical program for African undergraduates, to be funded separately by the United Nations Global Environmental Facility (GEF) program for Lake Tanganyika. The program will also take advantage of facilities and capital equipment on site from the GEF program and the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, Kigoma Station. The program faculty collectively span a board range of research expertise in aquatic biology, physical and chemical limnology, climatology and geolimnology. All are currently engaged in active research programs on the lake and will offer students the opportunity to become involved in research on scientifically significant questions. This program aims to become a central focus activity for highly motivated students from around the country who are planning a research career in tropical limnology and paleoclimatology. More broadly, it is intended to stimulate interest in the importance of tropical lake studies in understanding global change processes and as an early-warning study area for understanding freshwater ecologic changes that have not yet occurred in the U.S. This effort is coordinated through the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL).