Workshop: The Role of Undergraduate Institutions in Continental-Scale Science to be held on March 24, 2009 at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH

现在，生态学家比以往任何时候都更需要提供有关气候变化、城市发展对生态系统服务的影响以及入侵物种对生态系统功能的影响等问题的数据和见解。这些问题很难通过小规模的，短期的研究，在单一的网站全面解决，但有价值的网站一级的实验往往是由生态学家在本科院校，因为他们是可能的典型的实际和财政限制。通过在一个地点网络进行长期、协调的数据收集，这些地点一级的研究可以有力地支持对重要的区域和国家模式的认识和分析。研究资源有限的科学家可以通过合作来回答更广泛的科学问题，并通过合作来加强他们对生态科学，教育和环境政策的集体贡献。2009年3月将在俄亥俄州卫斯理大学举办一个讲习班，汇集一批来自本科院校的科学家，他们有兴趣在区域和大陆范围内开发合作生态项目。与会者将讨论适当的研究问题，实施此类项目的科学细节，项目管理政策以及招募，支持和留住参与者的策略。研讨会的一个目标是形成一个广泛的科学合作者联盟，他们可以分享专业知识，并为一系列生态实验贡献数据，学生作为数据收集，分析和解释的关键参与者。研究和教育在本科环境中紧密结合，参与协作，大型项目是教学生思考生物组织的各个层次，看到不同地理区域之间的生态联系，并使用最新技术来辨别广泛的模式的理想工具。国家生态观测站网络（氖）将为本科教育界提供一个独特的机会，在大的时空尺度上参与和教授生态学。氖将极大地扩大大陆规模研究、教育和培训的潜力和机会。氖数据将为小型本科院校的学生提供前所未有的机会，使他们能够使用生态研究前沿的真实的数据，无论是作为课堂练习还是通过独立的研究项目。相关的网络基础设施将提供工具，使这种大规模的工作伙伴关系不仅成为可能，而且切实可行。研讨会的参与者将讨论氖如何使本科院校的研究设计和战略能够积极参与这一变革性项目。与会者将探讨与氖相关的技术进步，例如用于数据共享的网络工具。该研讨会将突出生态研究在本科院校的重要性，鼓励合作，以提高这种研究对我们的全球生态学的理解的贡献，并提供一个模型，在本科院校的大陆规模的研究是及时的，相关的，并从事我们的学生在21世纪的科学挑战世纪。

Now, more than ever, ecologists are being called upon to provide data and insight on issues such as climate change, the influence of urban development on ecosystem services, and the effects of invasive species on ecosystem functioning. These issues are difficult to address comprehensively through small-scale, short-term studies at single sites, yet valuable site-level experiments are often conducted by ecologists at undergraduate institutions because they are possible within typical practical and financial constraints. Through long-term, coordinated data collection at a network of sites, these site-level studies could be powerful in supporting recognition and analysis of important regional and national patterns. Scientists with limited research resources may be able to answer broader scientific questions by working together, and through cooperation can enhance their collective contributions to ecological science, education, and environmental policy. A workshop will be held in March 2009 at Ohio Wesleyan University to bring together a group of scientists from undergraduate institutions who are interested in developing collaborative ecological projects at regional and continental scales. Participants will discuss appropriate research problems, scientific details of implementing such projects, policies for project management, and strategies to recruit, support, and retain participants. An objective of the workshop is to form a broad coalition of scientific collaborators who can share expertise and contribute data to a range of ecological experiments, with students as key players in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Research and education are tightly integrated in the undergraduate environment, and participation in collaborative, large-scale projects is an ideal vehicle for teaching students to think across levels of biological organization, see ecological connections among different geographic regions, and use the latest technology to discern broad patterns. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will provide a unique opportunity for the undergraduate education community to participate in and teach ecology at large spatial and temporal scales. NEON will enormously expand the potential and the opportunities for continental-scale research, education and training. The NEON data will offer an unprecedented opportunity for students at small undergraduate institutions to work with real data from the forefront of ecological research either as classroom exercises or through independent research projects. The associated cyberinfrastructure will provide the tools that make such large-scale working partnerships not only possible, but practical. The workshop participants will discuss how NEON will enable the research design developed and strategies for undergraduate institutions to actively participate in this transformative project. Participants will explore technological advances associated with NEON, such as cyber tools for data sharing. The workshop will highlight the importance of ecological research at undergraduate institutions, encouraging collaboration as a way to enhance the contributions of such research to our understanding of global ecology, and providing a model for continental-scale research at undergraduate institutions that is timely, relevant, and engages our students in the scientific challenges of the 21st century.