RCN-UBE Incubator: Developing a Faculty Network in a Biodiversity Hotspot: the Research Experiences in Southern California For Undergraduate Ecologists Network

RCN-UBE 孵化器：在生物多样性热点地区发展教师网络：南加州本科生生态学家网络的研究经验

• 批准号: 2018545
• 负责人: Wallace Meyer
• 金额: $ 7.1万
• 依托单位: Pomona College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2018545&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; UBE; Incubator; Developing; Faculty

Ecology is inherently multidisciplinary and often requires inquiry over long periods and across large spatial scales. Although engaging undergraduates in authentic ecological research is a critical component in the training of professional ecologists, most undergraduate research, particularly at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), is limited in time and spatial scales. In addition, research is often carried out with a student being "siloed" in the faculty mentor's lab and thus isolated from his/her/their research peers. To address these issues and to provide more research opportunities for students, the project team aims to develop the Research Experiences in Southern California for Undergraduate Ecologists Network (RESCUE-net). By bringing faculty from across the region together, RESCUE-net will also catalyze new research collaborations and allow participating faculty to share expertise and resources. Collaborations will focus on preserving the California Floristic Province, a biodiversity hotspot.This grant supports the formation of RESCUE-net, a network of faculty in southern California dedicated to developing opportunities to attract and train diverse students for the conservation workforce and improve student learning while enhancing the scope of faculty research programs at PUIs and building a community of researchers who identify as teacher-scholars. In a series of meetings and workshops, the members of RESCUE-net will work together to identify 1) barriers to providing authentic, collaborative research experiences to a diverse group of undergraduates; and 2) concrete ways the network can enhance undergraduate research at PUIs and bring that research into the classroom. Using this information, RESCUE-net will develop a framework that enables more undergraduates to conduct student-centered research projects that address the many environmental challenges facing the California Floristic Province.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action" (http://visionandchange/finalreport).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.

生态学本质上是多学科的，往往需要在长时间和大空间尺度上进行研究。虽然让本科生参与真实的生态学研究是培养专业生态学家的关键组成部分，但大多数本科生的研究，特别是在主要是本科生机构(PUI)的研究，在时间和空间尺度上是有限的。此外，研究通常是在学生被“孤立”在教师导师的实验室中进行的，因此与他/她/他们的研究同行隔离。为了解决这些问题，并为学生提供更多的研究机会，该项目团队的目标是发展南加州本科生生态学家研究经验网络(救援网)。通过将来自该地区的教职员工聚集在一起，救援网络还将催化新的研究合作，并允许参与的教职员工分享专业知识和资源。合作的重点将是保护加州植物区系省，这是一个生物多样性的热点。这笔赠款支持形成救援网络，这是一个位于南加州的教职员工网络，致力于开发机会，为保护工作人员吸引和培训不同的学生，并改善学生的学习，同时扩大PUIS教师研究项目的范围，并建立一个以教师-学者为身份的研究人员社区。在一系列的会议和研讨会上，救援网络的成员将共同努力，以确定1)为不同的本科生群体提供真实、协作的研究体验的障碍；以及2)该网络如何加强PUI的本科生研究，并将这些研究带入课堂。利用这些信息，救援网将开发一个框架，使更多的本科生能够进行以学生为中心的研究项目，以应对加州植物省面临的许多环境挑战。该项目由生物科学局生物基础设施部和教育与人力资源局本科生教育部联合资助，作为他们努力应对“本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁”(http://visionandchange/finalreport).This奖)中提出的挑战的一部分，该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。