REU Site: Retracing the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Contemporary Aspects of Culture and Environment Along the Missouri River

这个为期三年的项目的主要目标是在南达科他大学开发一个真正跨学科的为期十周的本科生暑期研究计划，利用独特的地区资源。8名学生将被选中在符合NSF条件的领域进行研究，并将加入另外4名由加州大学资助的其他非科学领域的学生。整个计划由三个主要部分组成：(I)研究本身，包括来自不同部门的多个学科的项目，如生物学、化学、心理学和考古学；(Ii)社会和教育活动，依靠与河流和周边地区相关的绝佳和独特的户外活动机会；(Iii)研究成果的交流，包括每周由项目主任、学生和研究导师参加的Lewis和Clark小时会议，以及在全国本科生研究会议(NCUR)和大学本科生研究年会IDEAEST上的学生陈述。该计划提供了一种机制，以扩大整个校园的本科生研究文化，并更全面地将学生奖学金纳入本科生教育。为了努力为来自该州其他校区的有才华的本科生提供研究经验，加州大学将扩大参与范围，将该州和地区较小的学院和大学以及南达科他州的两所部落学院的学生包括在内。

The main goal of this three-year project is to develop a truly interdisciplinary ten-week undergraduate summer research program at The University of South Dakota (USD) that takes advantage of unique regional resources. Eight students will be selected to conduct research in NSF-eligible areas and will join four additional students in other, non-science fields with funding from USD. The overall program consists of three major components: (i) the research itself, including projects in a number of disciplines from avariety of departments, such as Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Archaeology; (ii) social and educational events, which rely upon the excellent and unique opportunities for outdoor activities associated with the river and surrounding areas; (iii) communication of research results, including the weekly Lewis and Clark Hour sessions with participation of the program director, students and research mentors, and student presentations at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and the USD annual undergraduate research conference, IdeaFest. This program provides a mechanism to expand the undergraduate research culture across campus and to more completely integrate student scholarship into undergraduate education. In an effort to provide research experiences to talented undergraduate students from other campuses in the state, USD will expand involvement to include students from smaller colleges and universities in the state and region and from South Dakota's two tribal colleges.