REU Site: Islands of Change

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个合作的国际REU的使命是通过在两个截然不同的大西洋岛屿进行实地考察，结合密集的课程、研讨会和纽约市立大学和美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）的实验室研究，让纽约市的本科生参与过去和现在全球变化的前沿调查。该项目的核心岛屿研究在规模、历史、种族和自然环境方面呈现出强烈的对比，这将为学生提供多样化和刺激的比较体验，但共同的主题和过程将这些岛屿的过去和现在联系起来。对于“变革之岛”项目，研究生水平的课程、密集的实验室参与、关于跨学科科学实践和文化的正式和非正式教育、国际学者的密集研讨会访问、远程学习、良好监督和精心准备的实地经验将为不同群体的本科生提供。这个项目对同伴指导和实践学习有很强的承诺。参与变革之岛REU将为学生提供技能和身临其境的体验，以启动科学事业，拓宽他们对快速全球变化的人类和自然层面的理解。该项目将超越学生参与者，通过在国外和在AMNH的探索室进行宣传和教育，让他们参与向更广泛的公众传播科学成果的重要工作。“变革之岛”项目将把当地和全球的教育工作与令人兴奋的新领域科学联系起来，为当地社区和纽约市立大学的学生提供持久的利益。今天，这些岛屿面临着与迅速的全球变化有关的挑战——气候变化、海平面上升、动植物生活的变化以及世界经济急剧变化造成的社会和经济中断。它们还分享了外部殖民、当地适应、人类对景观和资源的影响以及过去全球经济联系不断变化的影响的历史。这些岛屿是复杂的历史相互作用的产物，影响了它们未来可持续性的潜力，并面临着教育公民和培养具有强烈社会承诺的年轻科学家的共同挑战。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The mission of this collaborative international REU is to engage New York City undergraduates in cutting-edge investigations of past and present global change through fieldwork in two very different Atlantic islands combined with intensive coursework, seminars, and laboratory research at CUNY and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The island research at the core of this project presents strong contrasts in scale, history, ethnicity, and natural environment which will provide students with varied and stimulating comparative experiences, but common themes and processes connect these islands in both past and present. For the Islands of Change program, a combination of graduate level course work, intensive lab participation, formal and informal education on the practice and culture of interdisciplinary science, intensive seminar visits by international scholars, distance learning, well supervised and carefully prepared field experiences, will be provided to a diverse group of undergraduates. This project has a strong commitment to peer-mentoring and hands on learning. Participation in the Islands of Change REU will provide students with skills and immersive experiences to jump start careers in science, broaden their understanding of both human and natural dimensions of rapid global change. This project will reach beyond the student participants by engaging them in the vital work of communicating scientific results to the wider public through outreach and education both abroad and in the Discovery Room at AMNH . The Islands of Change program will work to connect local and global educational efforts with exciting new field science to provide lasting benefits to local communities as well as CUNY students.The islands today are faced by challenges associated with rapid global change- climate change, sea level rise, changes in plant and animal life, and the social and economic disruptions caused by dramatic shifts in world economy. They also share histories of external colonization, local adaptation, human impacts on landscape and resources, and changing impacts of past global economic connections. These islands are products of complex historical interactions which affect their potential for future sustainability and face common twenty first century challenges of educating citizens and nurturing young scientists with strong social commitment.