REU Site: Systematics, Evolution and Conservation for the 21st Century

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This REU Site award to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located in New York, NY, will support the training of 12 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2023-2025. It is anticipated that a total of 36 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or from an under-represented group, will be trained in the program. The program, Systematics and Evolutionary Biology for the 21st Century, aims to build research capacity and strengthen skills in students who participate, growing the field of biological sciences with an aim to diversify the discipline as a whole. Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Assessment of the program will be done through the online SALG URSSA tool. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine their career paths.The theme of the REU program is systematics and evolution and students will be mentored in lab and field techniques, analytical methods, as well as scientific communication and collaboration. Students will be mentored by museum scientists. Interested students will register in the NSF ETAP system (https://etap.nsf.gov). In selecting participants, emphasis is placed on student-project and student-mentor matching. Student research projects will cover the various fields of the systematics discipline from descriptive taxonomy to population genomics, linguistics and phylogenomics; students will learn to collect different types of neontological and paleontological data, and acquire experience with advanced morphological, molecular, and computational methods. Students will learn about the role and responsibility of museums as stewards of diversity through time and space by gaining familiarity with the AMNH’s vast collections. Further enrichment will be through weekly lectures and training sessions as well as workshops on ethics and responsible scientific conduct. More information about the program is available by visiting https://www.amnh.org/research/richard-gilder-graduate-school/academics/fellowship-and-grant-opportunities/undergraduate-fellowships/reu-biology-program, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Jessica Ware, jware@amnh.org) or the co-PI (Dr. Cheryl Hayashi, chayashi@amnh.org).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.