REU Site: Islands of Change

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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.