Undergraduate Diversity in the Society for the Study of Evolution and the Society for Systematic Biologists

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0227714EdwardsThe Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) and the Society of SystematicBiologists (SSB) are the premier Societies in the US for discussion anddissemination of ideas relating to evolution. This proposal will providetravel costs, registration costs, and lodging costs to approximately 15minority undergraduates for the annual meetings of these societies for theyears 2003 - 2006. These undergraduates will also present posters at themeetings. The proposal is an outgrowth of a pilot program conducted atthe 2001 meetings which raised awareness and enthusiasm for the need tobroaden the undergraduate base at the meetings. During the meetings theundergraduates will be mentored by graduate student and faculty mentors,who will help the undergraduate network at the meetings, help demystifytalks for the undergraduates, and generally make the students feel morewelcome at the meetings. There will also be an official mentoring sessionfor undergraduates, consisting of a 'pep-talk'/seminar that will helpencourage the students to prepare for careers and/or graduate school inevolutionary/environmental biology. These activities will be supplementedby social activities not covered by this grant, as well as further effortson the part of both societies for encouraging undergraduate participation,such as reduced registration fees, daily fees for attendance by studentsat the host site, and an undergraduate poster session. These activitieswill help increase the amount of minority and other undergraduateparticipation at the meetings, and ultimately should have a positiveeffect on minority participation in evolutionary biology nationally.