REU Site: Integrated Studies in a Rapidly Warming Fishery Ecosystem

位于缅因州波特兰的缅因湾研究所(GMRI)将举办一项面向本科生的研究体验(REU)项目，该项目将在为期三年的时间里，每年夏天将6名本科生带到GMRI校园，完成为期10周的研究体验。GRMI将为来自不同背景的本科生提供在缅因湾进行跨学科研究的经验，缅因湾是一个自然和人类(CNH)耦合系统，其变暖速度快于全球99%的海洋。GMRI计划的主要目标是培养能够描述、量化和交流环境和人类对海洋生态系统的影响之间的相互联系的下一代科学家。GMRI的REU学生探索缅因湾渔业生态系统的结构和功能(从浮游生物到海鲜)，它如何随时间变化(趋势和预测)，它如何应对扰动(例如，气候和渔业)，以及变化可能如何影响当地社区和经济。他们开发独立的、假设驱动的研究项目，并接触到多种科学方法，包括经典的实验生态学、观测科学、统计和动态建模。学生还接受安全培训、道德培训以及数据管理、分析和科学交流讲习班。这些活动与社交活动、期刊俱乐部、定期研讨会和分享成果的学生研讨会一起，旨在培养一种共享经验的意识，这对该项目的成功至关重要。学生的研究将有助于在快速变化的环境中采用生态系统方法管理海洋资源，从中吸取的经验教训可以应用于世界各地的其他耦合系统。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。

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI),located in Portland, ME, will host a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program that will bring six undergraduates to the GMRI campus each summer for three years to complete a 10-week research experience. GRMI will provide undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds with an interdisciplinary research experience in the Gulf of Maine, a coupled natural and human (CNH) system warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans. The primary objective of the GMRI program is to train the next generation of scientists capable of describing, quantifying and communicating the interconnections between environmental and human influences on marine ecosystems. Applications are encouraged from students attending colleges with limited research opportunities, such as two-year and four-year primarily undergraduate institutions, veterans, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.REU students at GMRI explore the structure and function of the Gulf of Maine fishery ecosystem (plankton to seafood), how it is changing over time (trends and prediction), how it responds to perturbations (e.g., climate and fishing), and how changes may affect local communities and economies. They develop independent, hypothesis-driven research projects and are exposed to multiple scientific approaches, including classic experimental ecology, observational science, and statistical and dynamical modeling. Students also receive safety training, ethics training, and data management, analysis and scientific communications workshops. These, along with social activities, a journal club, regular seminars and a student symposium to share results are designed to foster a sense of shared experiences, critical to the success of the program. Student research will contribute to an ecosystem approach to marine resource management in a rapidly changing environment, lessons from which can be applied to other coupled systems around the world.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.