Travel to Animal Behavior Society Meetings in Snowbird, UT in the Fall of 2006

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This project continues the Charles H. Turner Program created by the Diversity Committee of the Animal Behavior Society to increase the participation of underrepresented individuals in the Society annual meeting. The program is named after and advertises the contributions of Charles H. Turner, the first African American to publish scientific research on animal behavior. Through this program, ten undergraduate students will be provided with free travel, housing, and registration to attend the 43rd Annual Meeting 12-16 August 2006. In the past four years of this program, 40% of the awards have been made to students who are members of underrepresented groups. There is a strategy to increase this proportion by targeting less advanced students (freshmen and sophomores) at institutions with high proportions of minority students. A Co-PI at Morehouse College will coordinate this second round of awards, using personal connections to ensure that at least 60% of Turner Award students are members of underrepresented groups. The primary impact of the Turner Program is direct through providing an opportunity for undergraduates to participate in a major national meeting. In addition to attending all meeting activities, Turner students will participate in a one-day workshop held immediately before the meetings with role-playing and other activities designed to help the student get the most that they can from the experience. Each Turner student will also be matched with two mentors (a faculty member and a graduate student or postdoctoral associate) with whom they can interact during the meeting itself. In written surveys, 90% of students who participated in program activities agreed that they were more likely to go into graduate research in science as a result of having attended the Animal Behavior Society meetings. More than 80% report having had informal interactions with scientists at the meetings who are likely to have an impact on their future careers. The Turner Program has also been an important tool for initiating discussions about diversity issues by members of the Animal Behavior Society. The Turner program is the first major effort of the recently established Animal Behavior Society Diversity Committee, and NSF funding is a critical element in attracting the attention of our colleagues. By including our colleagues also as mentors for the Turner Program and speakers for our pre-meeting workshop, we encourage our entire community to participate in a broader discussion about the diversity of our discipline.