REU Site: Critical Zone Collaborative Network Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CZNet-REU)

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Critical Zone (CZ) science is becoming more important as we try to understand the Earth’s living skin, from the top of the vegetation canopy to the depths of the groundwater and all the interactions taking place within that shape our environment and all life within it. This REU Site award establishes a new Critical Zone Network Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CZnet-REU) program to support research opportunities for undergraduate students at the many CZ Network research sites across the continental US. Students begin the program at a three-day Kick-off Meeting where they will learn about CZ research, explore connections between CZ science and society, and meet the team for cohort building activities. Each REU student will spend the remainder of the ten-week program at an institution in the CZ Network where they will work closely with a mentor to design and carry out a project focusing on one of many environmental problems important to society. During the summer, the cohort of students will meet virtually 2-3 times each week to stay connected to each other, participate in science communication and other types of training, work on collaborative team projects, and explore the connection between science and society. The summer program ends with a virtual Student Research Symposium and Final Celebration with all mentors, other CZ Net scientists and educators, friends, and family in attendance. CZNet-REU students will have the opportunity to present their research at a national conference, where they will reconnect with their cohort and network with scientists from CZNet and across the discipline. The combination of individual research projects and group collaborations, all carried out as part of a dynamic and supportive network, will prepare students for their careers and foster the creation of innovative solutions to CZ science problems. Critical Zone (CZ) science is an emerging interdisciplinary endeavor to understand the Earth’s living skin, the layer of the planet from the top of the vegetation canopy to the groundwater depths. The outcomes of CZNet research will be crucial for informing future decisions about how humans interact with the environment. CZNet-REU is a ten-week program involving ten students each summer, recruited nationally and from schools associated with eight Clusters in the CZ Network (CZNet). The group starts with a 3-day Kickoff Meeting and ends with a two-day virtual Wrap-up Meeting, with the core nine weeks spent individually or in pairs at host institutions across the Network. Each mentor provides individual mentoring to the students and connects them to their research group, to other students at their institution, and to others in their Thematic Cluster. During the 9-week research period, twice-weekly virtual workshops, seminars, discussions, and check-ins provide professional development and enrichment, sustain group cohesion and address student concerns. Student research milestones include lightning presentations of research plans, a formal research proposal, updates during group meetings, a poster presentation, and a formal research talk at a final Research Symposium. Students will write a final report and work together on a communication product highlighting connections between CZ and society. Targeted student outcomes of the Critical Zone Collaborative Network Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CZNet-REU) program include: 1) developing research knowledge and skills, as well as interest and identity in Critical Zone (CZ) science; 2) learning to do interdisciplinary and collaborative science in a network; and 3) connecting CZ science to society. CZNet-REU will contribute to the field of CZ science through student research, by broadening participation to bring new faces and perspectives into the new discipline and by assessing the efficacy of this innovative distributed REU model.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.