REU Site: Agriculture, Horticulture, Ethnobotany and Climate Change (AHEC) - International Research Experiences from Indigenous America to Indigenous India

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A Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites award has been made to the University of Montana that will provide research training for 6-8 students per year, for 9 weeks during the summers of 2012-2014. This REU program, hosted by the University of Bangalore in India, is supported by the NSF's Offices of International Science and Engineering (OISE), Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). The REU program focuses on topics in biology, chemistry, systems ecology, economics, and social sciences related to the impacts of climate change and changes in socio-economic structures on the development of sustainable Indigenous communities. This highly interdisciplinary REU program is designed to develop research expertise as well as intercultural scientific communication skills. Approximately eight U.S. faculty mentors representing a variety of disciplines within the natural and social sciences will collaborate with counterparts in India to provide students with meaningful research experiences across a variety of subject areas. Student participants will be engaged full-time in lab and/or field research during the course of the internship. Students will also participate in seminars, workshops, and related training that includes responsible conduct in research; laboratory safety; professional communication skills; career opportunities in the sciences; and graduate school application process. Students are selected based on academic record, research performance, and individual potential for conducting outstanding research in the natural or social sciences. The application process requires students to submit academic transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a statement of interest and intent. Longitudinal tracking will be implemented to determine continued interest in the students' respective fields of study, their career paths, and lasting influences of the REU experience. Program success is assessed by various means, including use of a common REU assessment tool. More information is available by visiting http://www.umt.edu/narl, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Michael Ceballos at rmichael.ceballos@umt.edu).