REU SITE: WETLAND SCIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD

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This REU Site award to Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL is based at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), located in Alton, IL. The REU will support the training of eight undergraduate students for ten weeks during the summers of 2021-2023. Research is conducted at NGRREC’s state-of-the-art field station and at local field sites situated at the confluence of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers. It is anticipated that a total of 24 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or from an under-represented group, will be trained in the program. Students will gain experience in research project design, field- and lab-based research methods, data collection and analysis, and presentation of results at an in-house symposium at the end of the program. Training will include ethics and the responsible of research. Assessment of this REU Site program will be done through the online SALG URSSA tool. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine their career paths.Wetlands are among the most functionally important ecosystems on Earth. However, wetlands are impacted by anthropogenic activites at a variety of spatiotemporal scales, including changes in land use, pollution, invasive species, and global climate change. This REU Site will focus on employing a modern integrative approach to studying wetlands that makes use of recent technological and theoretical developments with a goal of unifying wetland science across scales. In collaboration with mentors from NGRREC and other local institutions, students will develop hypothesis-driven research projects that may include research on the following questions: What are the impacts of native versus invasive species on wetland communities? What are the effects of riparian restoration on wetland communities? What are the effects of changes in temperature on wetland species? The program will include opportunities for field- and lab-based research as well as participation in a research symposium at the end of the REU experience. Applications can be submitted at http:/www.ngrrec.org. Students from schools with limited research opportunities or from an underrepresented group are encouraged to apply. More information about the program and the application process is available at http://www.ngrrec.org/reu, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Anthony Dell at adell@lc.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Jason Knouft at jason.knouft@slu.edu).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.