REU Site: Achieving Heightened Goals: Undergraduate Research in Ecology at the Mountain Research Station

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An award was made to the University of Colorado to provide research training for 10 weeks for 9 students, for the summers of 2010-2012. The goal of the program is to provide students with the skills and confidence to conduct biological research at an advanced level. The program encourages students, particularly those from groups that are underrepresented in biological research professions, to pursue research careers in field biology and to consider earning advanced degrees. Recruitment of a culturally diverse group of student participants will be based on interest in the appropriate disciplines of their faculty mentors, educational and career goals, and academic achievement. The first week of the program is an intensive orientation to field research. During the remainder of the summer, students work on faculty-mentored individual projects. Faculty mentors have a strong commitment to undergraduate training, research projects at the Mountain Research Station and are from several departments at the University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Texas, and University of California, Berkeley and Merced campuses. Student projects include a wide diversity of topics in ecology, evolutionary biology, and behavior. Student projects utilize sites surrounding the Mountain Research Station and the adjacent Niwot Ridge Biosphere Reserve, home to a NSF Long Term Ecological Research site. REU students are treated as colleagues, with the expectation that they will work to the best of their ability, and will join the research community and contribute at a level comparable to that of graduate students. Mentoring includes discussions of research ethics and responsible conduct, and possible careers and training in research and academics. Long-term contact with student alumni of the program is maintained through annual emails, and more recently through the establishment of student run Facebook pages. For further information and application materials, please contact Bill Bowman at reuebio@colorado.edu, or visit http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/EEBprojects/reu/.