REU/RET Site: Preparing the Next Generation of Scholars through Community Geographic Information Systems and Citizen Science

该项目由SBE理事会的本科生研究经验(REU)站点计划资助。除了将研究和教育结合起来之外，它还具有科学和社会效益。中佛罗里达大学的REU/RET网站与乔治梅森大学和史密森加勒比珊瑚礁生态系统计划(CCRE)合作，为24名本科生和6名K-12教育工作者提供基于社区的密集研究体验，重点是从代表不足的群体培养新的研究人员和教育工作者。REU/RET网站通过促进跨学科科学的新发现来支持NSF的任务，同时在三个项目年中支持30名学生和教师。REU/RET网站还支持NSF的使命，即通过让学生和K-12教师参与跨学科研究团队，增加他们对研究伦理的理解，并通过不同的科学交流模式与广泛的受众分享他们的研究成果，来加强美国科学和国家研究与教育的优先事项。REU/RET参与者与教师导师、地理空间技术行业领导者、非营利组织和社区成员一起工作。REU/RET网站提供研究方法培训和高级实地工作，并与与会者合作，通过共同撰写的出版物、会议联合演讲、社交媒体和行业访问分享成果。REU/RET网站通过从代表性不足的群体(如女性、少数族裔、退伍军人、残疾人、第一代大学生)中招募75%的参与者，为NSF扩大科学和工业参与的使命做出了贡献。通过为期七周的变革性研究计划和项目后结果的传播，REU/RET网站将：1)批判性地评估以社区为基础的国际本科生研究培训模式的机遇和挑战，尤其是在美国高等教育机构和行业推动更具全球视野的思想家以提高美国在世界各地的竞争力之际；2)聘请24名学生研究人员(以及6名职前或在职教师)参加以社区为基础的国际实地工作，重点是地理信息系统和相关的地理空间研究技术，以检查社会和环境差异；以及3)广泛分享国际社会地理信息系统和公民科学研究和教育工作的概念和方法框架。REU/RET网站有几个更广泛的社会影响，以支持美国和NSF的优先事项。它是为学生和K-12教师提供的第一个国际研究培训计划，明确侧重于使用社区地理信息系统和公民科学方法进行跨学科、基于团队的探究。REU/RET参与者将通过基于团队的科学，在美国和国际环境中发展对基于社区的地理和基于地理信息系统的探究的理解和欣赏，培养科学和技术技能以及其他基本的职业技能，如沟通、解决问题和适应能力。参与者获得的知识将带来一种变革性的体验，帮助学生和K-12教师发展成为更具全球意识、更有道德意识的研究人员，能够在学术和非学术环境中支持美国在全球的利益。随着RET部分的增加，将为K-12教育工作者和K-12学生开发更多的教育机会，允许在美国课堂上更多地接触地理空间技术，并通过开放访问REU/RET站点创建的在线教育材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. The REU/RET Site at University of Central Florida, in partnership with George Mason University and the Smithsonian Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program (CCRE), provides intensive, community-based research experiences for 24 undergraduate students and 6 K-12 educators with a focus on developing new researchers and educators from underrepresented groups. The REU/RET Site supports the NSF mission by promoting new discoveries in interdisciplinary science, while supporting 30 students and teachers over the span of three project years. The REU/RET Site also supports the NSF mission of strengthening U.S. science and national research and education priorities by having students and K-12 teachers participate in interdisciplinary research teams, increasing their understanding of research ethics, and sharing their research results with broad audiences through diverse modes of scientific communication. REU/RET participants work with faculty mentors, geospatial technology industry leaders, non-profits, and community members. The REU/RET Site provides research methods training and advanced fieldwork, and works with participants to share results through co-authored publications, conference co-presentations, social media, and industry visits. The REU/RET Site contributes to NSF’s mission of broadening participation in science and industry by recruiting 75% of its participants from underrepresented groups (e.g. women, minorities, veterans, persons with disabilities, first-generation college students).Through the transformative seven-week research program and post-program dissemination of results, the REU/RET Site will: 1) critically assess the opportunities for and challenges to community-based models for international undergraduate research training, especially important as U.S. higher education institutions and industry push for more globally-minded thinkers to increase U.S. competitiveness around the world; 2) engage 24 student researchers (in addition to 6 pre-service or in-service teachers) in community-based international fieldwork focused on GIS and related geospatial research techniques to examine social and environmental disparities; and 3) broadly share conceptual and methodological frameworks for international community GIS and citizen science research and education efforts. The REU/RET Site has several broader societal impacts to support U.S. and NSF priorities. It serves as the first international research training program for students and K-12 teachers focused explicitly on interdisciplinary, team-based inquiry using community GIS and citizen science methods. REU/RET participants will develop an understanding of and appreciation for community-based geographic and GIS-based inquiry in U.S. and international settings through team-based science, fostering both scientific and technical skills and other essential career skills like communication, problem solving, and adaptability. Knowledge gained by participants will lead to a transformative experience helping students and K-12 teachers develop into more globally aware, ethical researchers that can support U.S. interests across the globe, both in academic and non-academic environments. With the added RET component, additional educational opportunities for K-12 educators and K-12 students will be developed allowing for stronger exposure to geospatial technologies in U.S. classrooms and through open access, online educational materials created by the REU/RET Site.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.