REU Site: Reviving the Past: Undergraduate Research Program in Biocultural Anthropology

该奖项为圣母大学生物文化人类学实地学校提供资金。 该计划将在体验式学习环境中吸引多元化的优秀本科生，使他们沉浸在人类学方法和理论中。使用大型拜占庭圣斯蒂芬的骨骼收集从耶路撒冷作为研究的基石，历史和考古信息将综合在一个生物文化重建古代修道院生活。学生将从事原创性研究，以开发一套科学方法技能，并提高他们的合作研究能力。 他们将参加实地考察计划，前往地区研究场所，图书馆，博物馆和一个功能性修道院，以了解影响人类适应性的文化参数。 与考古学的政治，文物的处理和遣返有关的伦理问题的探索将集中注意力在科学伦理，为未来的研究工作的重要基础。最后，由人类学，生物学，历史学，经典，地理学，神学和近东研究领域的国际学者团队提供的动态讲座计划将明确研究过去的整体方法的重要性。 生物文化实地学校将提供一个充满智力活力的学习经验，这将使参与者具备一套观察周围环境的才能。实践研究技能的整合，伦理探究，以及观察人类互动的学科范式的合成将被证明是有用的，因为学生进入自然科学和社会科学的研究生或职业生涯。该奖项有助于基金会通过积极的本科生研究经验，吸引有才华的学生进入科学职业生涯。

This award provides funds for a Field School in Biocultural Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. The program will engage a diverse pool of talented undergraduates in an experiential learning environment that immerses them in anthropological method and theory. Using the large Byzantine St. Stephen's skeletal collection from Jerusalem as the cornerstone for study, historical and archaeological information will be synthesized in a biocultural reconstruction of ancient monastic life. Students will engage in original research to develop a suite of methodological skills in the sciences and enhance their capability for collaborative research. They will share in a field trip program to area research sites, libraries, museums, and a functioning monastery to gain an understanding of the cultural parameters affecting human adaptability. Exploration of ethical issues related to the politics of archaeology, treatment of artifacts, and repatriation will focus attention on scientific ethics, an important foundation for future research endeavors. Finally, a dynamic lecture program delivered by an international team of scholars in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, classics, geography, theology, and Near Eastern studies will crystallize the importance of a holistic approach for studying the past. The biocultural field school will provide an intellectually energizing learning experience, which will equip participants with a suite of talents for viewing their surroundings. The integration of practical research skills, ethical inquiry, and the synthesis of disciplinary paradigms for viewing human interaction will prove useful as students move into graduate or professional careers in the natural and social sciences.This award contributes to the Foundation's continuing efforts to attracttalented students into careers in science through active undergraduate research experiences.