RCN-UBE: Establishing an Ecological Research/Education Network at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

该奖项支持在主要是本科院校(PUI)的生态学家之间建立一个综合研究/教育网络，目的是加强本科生对大规模生态和环境科学研究的参与。为实现这一目标，该网络正在1)在区域到大陆范围内开展合作研究项目，特别关注负有重大教学责任的科学家的制约因素；2)设计这些项目以最大限度地提高学生对真实科学的参与度，同时保持产生出版质量高、具有变革意义的数据的目标；3)创建一个大陆规模的生态学课程模块，由分布在不同PUI的科学家和教育工作者以合作项目的数据为中心进行团队授课；4)加强PUI科学家及其学生在现有和新兴生态研究网络中的作用，如国家生态观测网络(NEON)；以及5)建立从PUI网络收集的未来和现有数据集的在线数据库。该项目旨在包括PUI的任何和所有研究人员，这些研究人员与本科生一起进行长期的生态学研究，并有可能将该网络的研究/教育经验纳入他们的课程。这个研究/教育网络的智力优势基于其潜在的潜力，即吸引PUI机构的大量智力和劳动力资本来促进大陆规模的生态，并产生可行的模型，说明PUI如何通过合作为大陆科学做出贡献，并开发重要的和可持续的研究项目。与协作研究是一种高效教学工具这一基本前提相一致的是，该网络为基于这种方法创造丰富的生态学习体验提供了指导方针。这种网络的更广泛影响是固有的，让大学本科生有更多机会接触到真实的、协作的、大规模的研究项目。通过让学生通过传统教学实验室和独立研究参与这些研究的所有阶段，该网络旨在促进他们跨规模和跨学科思考的能力，增强他们对地点之间的连接感，并扩大他们对生态驱动因素如何随空间和时间变化的理解。学生们正通过与具有不同专业知识的同行和教职员工的互动，在一系列PUI中亲身体验科学合作，因为他们以团队形式解决生态问题。此外，该网络正在提供研讨会，旨在扩大未被充分代表的群体与本科生在生态研究中的参与，鼓励PUI生态学家参与现有的生态研究网络，并通过网站、研讨会和年度会议上的陈述公开其活动、数据集和评估结果。该项目由生物科学局和本科生教育司联合支持。

This award is supporting development of an integrated research/education network among ecologists at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), with the goal of enhancing the involvement of undergraduates in large-scale ecological and environmental science research. Towards this goal, the network is 1) developing collaborative research projects at regional to continental scales, with special attention to the constraints of scientists with significant teaching responsibilities; 2) designing those projects to maximize student engagement in authentic science while maintaining a goal of generating publication-quality, transformative data; 3) creating a continental-scale ecology course module that will be team-taught by scientist-educators distributed across different PUIs, using data from collaborative projects as a centerpiece; 4) enhancing the role of PUI scientists and their students in existing and emerging ecological research networks, such as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON); and 5) creating an online database of future and existing data sets collected from the network of PUIs. The project aims to include any and all researchers at PUIs that perform long-term ecological research with undergraduates, and that have the potential to incorporate the network's research/education experiences into their curriculum.The intellectual merit of this research/education network is based in its potential to engage the considerable intellectual and labor capital at PUI institutions to advance continental-scale ecology, and to produce workable models for how PUIs can contribute to continental science and develop vital and sustainable research programs through collaboration. Consistent with the underlying premise that collaborative research is a highly effective teaching tool, the network is providing guidelines for creating rich ecological learning experiences based on this approach.The broader impacts of this network are inherent in giving undergraduate students at PUIs greater access to authentic, collaborative, large-scale research projects. By involving students in all phases of these studies through both traditional teaching labs and independent research, this network aims to further their ability to think across scales and disciplines, enhance their sense of connections among sites, and broaden their understanding of how ecological drivers vary over space and time. Students are experiencing scientific collaboration first-hand through interactions with peers and faculty with diverse expertise at a range of PUIs, as they work in teams to address ecological questions. Additionally, the network is offering workshops aimed at broadening participation of underrepresented groups in ecological research with undergraduates, is encouraging PUI ecologists to engage in existing ecological research networks, and is making its activities, datasets and assessment results publically available via a website, workshops, and presentations at annual meetings.This project is supported jointly by the Biological Sciences Directorate and the Division of Undergraduate Education.