URM: Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Science at UCB

该奖项授予加州-伯克利大学（UC Berkeley）是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。 加州大学伯克利分校将建立一个URM计划，让代表性不足的少数民族学生参与密集的指导和研究经验，并为他们在生物科学的研究生学习做好准备。 这个URM计划将吸引4-5名本科生为期12-18个月的项目，研究环境压力对两栖动物生长，发育和免疫功能的影响。一些环境因素，包括池塘干燥，过度拥挤，极端温度，入侵物种和农业径流可以对两栖动物产生负面影响，而不会直接导致死亡。这些环境应激源能够改变应激激素水平（皮质酮）和性类固醇激素水平（雄激素和雌激素），导致生长、发育、生殖和免疫功能受损。这些研究对于理解导致全球两栖动物减少的因素之间的复杂相互作用至关重要。学生将采用综合方法，将实地研究与因果关系的受控实验室检查和潜在机制的探索相结合。一系列的实验室轮换和实习，参与学生将在选定的实验室工作，将扩大这种方法已经综合和跨学科的性质。来自代表性不足的族裔群体的学生将被招募，重点是美洲原住民，太平洋岛民和墨西哥裔美国人从农业社区。将选择最需要研究和指导经验的有才华的学生，以便留住这些学生从事科学研究并为研究生学习做好准备。除了研究，学生将参加研讨会和讲习班，以进一步提高他们在该领域的知识，发展他们的沟通和领导能力。更多信息可通过联系URM项目主任，博士泰龙海耶斯（tyrone@berkeley.edu）。

This award to the University of California - Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). UC Berkeley will establish a URM program to engage under-represented minority students in intensive mentoring and research experience and prepare them for graduate studies in the biological sciences. This URM program will engage 4-5 undergraduates for a period of 12-18 months in projects that examine the effects of environmental stressors on amphibian growth, development, and immune function. Several environmental factors including pond drying, overcrowding, temperature extremes, invasive species, and agricultural runoff can negatively impact amphibians without causing death directly. These environmental stressors are capable of altering stress hormone levels (corticosterone) and sex steroid hormone levels (androgens and estrogens), leading to impaired growth, development, reproduction, and immune function. These studies are critical in understanding the complex interactions between factors that contribute to global amphibian declines. Students will utilize an integrative approach that combines field studies with controlled laboratory examinations of cause-effect relationships and explorations of underlying mechanisms. A series of laboratory rotations and internships, where participating students will work in selected laboratories, will broaden the already integrative and cross-disciplinary nature of this approach. Students from under-represented ethnic groups will be recruited, with a focus on Native Americans, Native Pacific Islanders, and Mexican Americans from agricultural communities. Talented students who are in greatest need of the research and mentoring experience will be selected, in order to retain such students in science and prepare them for graduate study. In addition to research, students will participate in seminars and workshops to further enhance their knowledge in the field and develop their communication and leadership skills. More information is available by contacting the URM Program Director, Dr. Tyrone Hayes (tyrone@berkeley.edu).