REU Site Proposal: Environmental research to support management of human (especially military) activities on coastal barriers and nearby estuaries in North Carolina

该提案将使用2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）提供的资金进行奖励。该奖项为位于北卡罗来纳州海洋科学研究所（IMS）的REU网站提供资金。这个网站将提供八名学生每年夏天有机会参加研究，是多学科的，提供介绍了纯科学和应用科学的问题，并有相关的沿海地区的管理无处不在。REU计划将使学生在教师导师和小组讨论的帮助下，设计，进行和解释个人研究项目，这些项目被整合到一个大型的研究工作中，重点是北卡罗来纳州勒琼营的美国海军陆战队基地的环境研究。需要彻底了解相关的自然过程以及特定人类活动的后果。广泛的人类居住和访问沿海屏障和附近的河口说明了与使用这些栖息地，而不是提供洞察力，在选择替代管理策略之间的问题。IMS在这些关键领域开展研究已有数十年的历史，事实证明这些研究对决策者很有用。我们正在国防部的一项研究中继续这一努力，该研究的重点是勒琼营的海军陆战队基地。该基地的环境管理面临着其他沿海地区所面临的所有问题，以及在保持基地完整性的同时整合军事训练活动的额外挑战？的自然栖息地。他们需要相关的，严格的科学信息的管理决策，导致了多年的研究工作相结合的专业知识，广泛的研究人员谁是整合了不同的学科，以应对这个问题。在以前的工作协会的基础上，我们将招募少数民族，妇女，以及缺乏本科研究机会的机构的个人。学生将获得：1）与沿海海洋生态系统相关的具体和一般知识，2）管理沿海地区的挑战的说明，3）科学职业的信息，以及4）通过REU计划扩展他们的个人技能和信心。

This proposal will be awarded using funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award provides funding for an REU site to located at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS). This site will offer eight students each summer a chance to participate in research that is multidisciplinary, provides introductions to both pure and applied science questions, and has relevance to management of coastal regions everywhere. The REU program will enable the students, with the assistance of faculty mentors and group discussions, to design, conduct, and interpret individual research projects that are integrated into a large, research effort focusing on environmental studies at the US Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.Sustaining ecosystem services of coastal habitats, while maintaining social and economic uses of these areas, requires a thorough understanding of the relevant natural processes as well as the consequences of specific anthropogenic activities. Extensive human habitation and visitation to coastal barriers and nearby estuaries has illustrated the problems associated with uses of these habitats without providing insight in choosing among alternative management strategies. IMS has a decades-long history of conducting research in these critical areas that has proved useful to policy makers. We are continuing that effort in a Department of Defense study focused on the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune. Environmental management of the base faces all the problems seen in other coastal regions, with the added challenge of integrating military training activities while maintaining the integrity of the base?s natural habitats. Their need for relevant, rigorous scientific information for management decision-making has led to a multi-year research effort combining the expertise of a broad array of investigators who are integrating a diverse range of disciplines to respond to the problem.Building on prior working associations, we will recruit minorities, women, and individuals from institutions that lack undergraduate research opportunities. The students will receive: 1) specific and general knowledge relevant to coastal marine ecosystems, 2) illustrations of the challenges of managing coastal areas, 3) information on careers in science, and 4) expansion of their individual skills and confidence through the REU program.