UMEB: Environmental Biology in Changing Southern California Ecosystems

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California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) will initiate a program of Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) to provide a multifaceted series of educational experiences for undergraduates, focused on learning through discovery in environmental biology. The program will strive to attract primarily students from underrepresented minority groups to environmental biology early in their academic careers. Over the 4-year project period, as many as 18 students will undertake a diversity of approaches to environmental issues in three distinctly different ecosystems affected by human encroachment in Southern California (desert, foothill, and coastal wetlands). The program's goal is to prepare the UMEB Scholars to develop a realistic career plan and strategies for entering graduate school in environmental biology and/or entering the workforce in environmental industry or governmental agencies. The program will (1) provide opportunities for students to become engaged in hands-on research experience in a broad array of areas within environmental biology, (2) promote the development of mentoring skills by faculty members, (3) foster a collaborative enterprise between student and mentor in engaging in the science of environmental biology, and (4) thus attempt to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups engaging in environmental biology and going on to advanced study and careers in the field.The UMEB Scholars will be selected during the spring of their freshman year and will participate in an intensive field-based course and complete a supervised research project during that summer. The 4-week course will bring together students, faculty members, and other professional environmental biologists for in-depth study of the effects of human activities in the three targeted ecosystems. Following this, each student will be matched with a faculty mentor based on interests, mentoring needs, and available research opportunities, and will become an integral member of the mentor's research group. At the end of each summer, the UMEB Scholars will present their research findings at a student poster session. As part of their Biology major, the UMEB students will complete classes designed for their needs, including courses in experimental design and research ethics. The cornerstone of the CSUF UMEB Program will be the completion of a two-year independent research project done in collaboration with a faculty mentor, culminating in a senior thesis. Students will present reports on their research progress in a Proseminar designed to strengthen the community of environmental biologists at CSUF and to provide information about research, internship, graduate school, and career opportunities. The entire program will prepare the UMEB Scholars for careers or graduate programs in environmental biology.