UMEB: Environmental Biology in Changing Southern California Ecosystems

加州州立大学富勒顿分校（CSUF）将启动一项环境生物学本科生指导计划（UMEB），为本科生提供多方面的教育体验，重点是在环境生物学的发现中学习。该项目将努力吸引主要来自代表性不足的少数群体的学生在其学术生涯的早期学习环境生物学。在为期4年的项目期间，多达18名学生将在南加州（沙漠、山麓和沿海湿地）受人类入侵影响的三个截然不同的生态系统中，采用多种方法研究环境问题。该计划的目标是为UMEB学者制定切合实际的职业规划和策略，以便进入环境生物学研究生院和/或进入环境行业或政府机构的劳动力市场。该计划将(1)为学生提供机会，在环境生物学的广泛领域中从事实践研究经验，(2)促进教师指导技能的发展，(3)促进学生和导师之间在从事环境生物学科学方面的合作企业。(4)因此，尝试增加来自代表性不足群体的学生参与环境生物学并继续在该领域进行高级学习和职业生涯的人数。UMEB学者将在大一的春季被选中，并将参加一个密集的实地课程，并在那个夏天完成一个有监督的研究项目。为期4周的课程将汇集学生、教师和其他专业环境生物学家，深入研究人类活动对三个目标生态系统的影响。在此之后，每个学生将根据兴趣，指导需求和可用的研究机会与教师导师相匹配，并将成为导师研究小组的重要成员。每年夏季结束时，UMEB学者将在学生海报会议上展示他们的研究成果。作为生物学专业的一部分，UMEB的学生将完成为他们的需要而设计的课程，包括实验设计和研究伦理课程。CSUF UMEB计划的基石将是与教师导师合作完成为期两年的独立研究项目，最终完成一篇毕业论文。学生将在研讨会上报告他们的研究进展，旨在加强CSUF的环境生物学家社区，并提供有关研究，实习，研究生院和职业机会的信息。整个计划将为UMEB学者在环境生物学方面的职业或研究生课程做好准备。

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) will initiate a program of Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) to provide a multifaceted series of educational experiences for undergraduates, focused on learning through discovery in environmental biology. The program will strive to attract primarily students from underrepresented minority groups to environmental biology early in their academic careers. Over the 4-year project period, as many as 18 students will undertake a diversity of approaches to environmental issues in three distinctly different ecosystems affected by human encroachment in Southern California (desert, foothill, and coastal wetlands). The program's goal is to prepare the UMEB Scholars to develop a realistic career plan and strategies for entering graduate school in environmental biology and/or entering the workforce in environmental industry or governmental agencies. The program will (1) provide opportunities for students to become engaged in hands-on research experience in a broad array of areas within environmental biology, (2) promote the development of mentoring skills by faculty members, (3) foster a collaborative enterprise between student and mentor in engaging in the science of environmental biology, and (4) thus attempt to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups engaging in environmental biology and going on to advanced study and careers in the field.The UMEB Scholars will be selected during the spring of their freshman year and will participate in an intensive field-based course and complete a supervised research project during that summer. The 4-week course will bring together students, faculty members, and other professional environmental biologists for in-depth study of the effects of human activities in the three targeted ecosystems. Following this, each student will be matched with a faculty mentor based on interests, mentoring needs, and available research opportunities, and will become an integral member of the mentor's research group. At the end of each summer, the UMEB Scholars will present their research findings at a student poster session. As part of their Biology major, the UMEB students will complete classes designed for their needs, including courses in experimental design and research ethics. The cornerstone of the CSUF UMEB Program will be the completion of a two-year independent research project done in collaboration with a faculty mentor, culminating in a senior thesis. Students will present reports on their research progress in a Proseminar designed to strengthen the community of environmental biologists at CSUF and to provide information about research, internship, graduate school, and career opportunities. The entire program will prepare the UMEB Scholars for careers or graduate programs in environmental biology.