URM: Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Science at UCB

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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).