REU Site Proposal: Environmental research supporting management of coastal barriers and estuaries in North Carolina altered by human activities and climate change

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The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), located in Morehead City, NC will support a total of 8 students each year during a 10 week summer research program. Students will design, conduct, and interpret individual research projects that articulate with research focusing on environmental studies in coastal North Carolina. Sustaining ecosystem services of coastal habitats, while maintaining social and economic uses of these areas, requires a thorough understanding of the relevant natural processes as well as the consequences of specific anthropogenic activities. Extensive human habitation and visitation to coastal barriers and nearby estuaries has illustrated the problems associated with uses of these habitats without providing insight in choosing among alternative management strategies. IMS has a decades-long history of conducting research in coastal regions that has proved useful to policy makers. Students will continue that effort at several locations in coastal North Carolina including the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune where environmental management of the base faces all the problems seen in other coastal regions, with the added challenge of maintaining military training activities without degrading the integrity of the base's natural resources. At the end of the summer, REU students present their results during a student research symposium and write a research paper. Support provided by NSF includes funding for student stipends, student travel to and from the site, student housing and meals and some administrative costs.