REU site: Interdisciplinary Research Experience in Environmental Science and Engineering

REU 网站：环境科学与工程的跨学科研究经验

• 批准号: 2150259
• 负责人: Brian St Clair
• 金额: $ 23.76万
• 依托单位: Montana Technological University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-12-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150259&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; site; Interdisciplinary; Research; Experience

The REU site at Montana Tech connects students interested in a career characterizing and improving environmental quality with multi- and interdisciplinary projects focused on solving problems sustainably with emerging technologies. Montana Technological University, located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in Butte, MT, is uniquely situated near a wide range of natural and anthropogenic environmental problems, most notably issues resulting from more than 100 years of underground and open-pit hard rock mining. This ten-week annual summer program provides students with an overview of possible careers in the environmental field by visiting several nearby field locations with diverse problems and explores the research and engineering solutions being applied to solve these issues. The ten selected student participants are matched with faculty mentors for a guided research project using the latest methods and techniques in each respective field. Students participate and gain experience in each phase of the scientific process. This intensive approach gives students a broad view of the scientific process while allowing them to make progress on their own projects and learning to document and communicate their work. The program aims to enhance and enable the careers of student participants, lead to increased participation of underrepresented groups in STEM, and advance environmental quality in the near and long term. Upon completion of the program, students have first-hand experience with a variety of cutting-edge methods to characterize and solve environmental problems, which will serve students well for a related career or continuing graduate education. This 10-week undergraduate summer research program gives students a complete picture of the scientific or engineering approach in an environmental field closest to their interests. The program can be broken down into three phases: field investigation, mentored laboratory project, and reporting. During the first phase (~2 weeks), students learn sampling strategies for water chemistry, sediment and soil composition, index and engineering properties, and related methods from participating faculty. Students and program faculty visit and sample nearby field sites including mining-impacted streams, alpine ecosystems affected by climate change, modern and historical mining operations and remediation sites, and an eolian deposit being stabilized with microbially focused engineering methods. Students will have a complementary safety and ethics classroom component. The resulting samples and data are used for professional development for students throughout the program as a whole as they move into phase 2 (~8 weeks), undergraduate laboratory investigations. The participants work on projects ranging from geochemistry, to restoration ecology, to geological and environmental engineering will be supervised by participating faculty mentors. During the final reporting phase (~1 week), students present their results to a symposium for all summer undergraduate research taking place at Montana Tech. Students also compose a written summary of their results in a format appropriate to the discipline of their guided research. The goal of the last phase is to guide students through the preparation of a professional work product and build strong science communication skills. Recruitment efforts focus on predominantly undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges from Montana and nearby states where analogous environmental and geotechnical challenges are prevalent. Recruitment efforts are expected to yield a diverse applicant pool, with Native American and low-income students particularly well represented. The success of this program will be evaluated by an experienced external evaluator and provide a logic diagram from resources to outcomes. The trainings hosted by the external evaluator allow this knowledge to be retained on campus and used in subsequent research involving undergraduates. The sum of these components helps students transition to being professionals in a rewarding STEM field that benefits local communities and the environment.This project is jointly funded by the EAR-REU program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

蒙大拿理工大学的REU网站将对表征和改善环境质量的职业感兴趣的学生与专注于用新兴技术可持续地解决问题的多学科和跨学科项目联系起来。蒙大拿理工大学位于蒙大拿州巴特落基山脉的心脏地带，独特的地理位置靠近各种自然和人为环境问题，最显着的问题来自100多年的地下和露天硬岩开采。这个为期十周的年度暑期课程为学生提供了在环境领域可能的职业生涯的概述，通过访问附近的几个现场位置与不同的问题，并探讨正在应用于解决这些问题的研究和工程解决方案。十名选定的学生参与者与教师导师匹配，使用每个领域的最新方法和技术进行指导性研究项目。学生参与并在科学过程的每个阶段获得经验。这种密集的方法使学生对科学过程有了广泛的了解，同时允许他们在自己的项目上取得进展，并学习记录和交流他们的工作。该计划旨在加强和使学生参与者的职业生涯，导致在STEM中代表性不足的群体的参与增加，并在近期和长期内提高环境质量。完成该计划后，学生将拥有各种尖端方法来表征和解决环境问题的第一手经验，这将为学生提供相关职业或继续研究生教育。这个为期10周的本科夏季研究计划为学生提供了最接近他们兴趣的环境领域的科学或工程方法的完整画面。该计划可分为三个阶段：实地调查，指导实验室项目和报告。在第一阶段（约2周），学生学习水化学，沉积物和土壤成分，指数和工程特性，以及参与教师的相关方法的采样策略。学生和项目教师参观和采样附近的现场，包括受采矿影响的河流，受气候变化影响的高山生态系统，现代和历史采矿作业和修复场地，以及以微生物为重点的工程方法稳定的风成存款。 学生将有一个互补的安全和道德课堂组成部分。由此产生的样本和数据用于整个课程的学生专业发展，因为他们进入第2阶段（约8周），本科实验室调查。参与者的项目工作范围从地球化学，恢复生态学，地质和环境工程将由参与教师导师监督。在最后的报告阶段（约1周），学生们提出他们的结果，以研讨会的所有夏季本科生的研究发生在蒙大拿州理工学院。学生还撰写了一份书面总结，他们的结果在适当的格式，他们的指导研究的纪律。最后一个阶段的目标是指导学生通过专业工作产品的准备，并建立强大的科学沟通技能。招聘工作主要集中在蒙大拿州和附近各州的本科院校和部落学院，那里普遍存在类似的环境和岩土工程挑战。预计招聘工作将产生多元化的申请人群体，其中美洲原住民和低收入学生的代表性尤其突出。该计划的成功将由经验丰富的外部评估员进行评估，并提供从资源到成果的逻辑图。由外部评估员主办的培训允许这些知识保留在校园内，并用于随后的研究，涉及本科生。该项目由EAR-REU项目和激励竞争研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。