IRES: Tropical Ecology Mentorship Program of CSU Dominguez Hills

这个为期三年的学生国际研究经验项目将为本科生、研究生和K-12教师提供在热带雨林环境下的国际合作研究经验。在加州州立大学多明格斯山分校的Terrence P. McGlynn和几位美国和国际研究伙伴的联合指导下，参与者将花费8个夏季周的时间，通过解决能量和营养物质在营养水平上的转移，调查营养相互作用领域的当代假设。项目将处理资源的空间异质性以及在社区和生态系统层面对生态过程的影响。这些实验将与热带研究组织的Deedra McClearn博士合作，在哥斯达黎加的La Selva生物保护区进行。在这三年的每一年里，参与者将至少包括一名研究生，几名本科生和一名城市教师。每个队列还将有最多两名研究新兵加入，这些有才华的学生来自代表性不足的群体，他们无法投入一个完整的夏天，但他们将从接触科学研究中受益。这项活动的目标是培养来自代表性不足群体的有才华的学生成为具有国际环境经验的野外生态学家。为了实现这一目标，高级研究人员将指导学生进行长期的热带野外研究项目，首先在热带雨林野外站进行为期八周的会议。然后，学生们将在他们的家乡机构继续他们的研究，在全年的指导下进行研究。该IRES计划的更广泛影响包括促进国际研究合作；为来自代表性不足群体的本科生建立科学导师关系；主要是本科院校的本科生与研究生、博士后研究人员和教职员工共同参与活跃的研究环境；为少数族裔本科生提供广泛的实地研究经验，这将有助于提高这些学生在科学研究生课程中的成功程度。该项目还将进一步促进美国和哥斯达黎加科学家以及在哥斯达黎加从事正在进行的项目的其他国际研究人员之间的研究合作。

This three-year International Research Experiences for Students project will provide undergraduate students, graduate students, and K-12 teachers with an international collaborative research experience in a tropical rainforest setting. Under the joint mentorship of Terrence P. McGlynn of the California State University Dominguez Hills and several U.S. and international research partners, participants will spend eight summer weeks investigating contemporary hypotheses in the field of trophic interactions by addressing the transfer of energy and nutrients across trophic levels. Projects will address spatial heterogeneity in resources and the consequences for ecological processes at the community and ecosystem levels. These experiments will take place at La Selva Biological Reserve in Costa Rica, in cooperation with Dr. Deedra McClearn of the Organization for Tropical Studies. In each of the three years the participant cohorts will include at least one graduate student, several undergraduate students, and an inner-city teacher. Each cohort will also be joined by up to two research recruits, talented students from underrepresented groups who are unable to commit for a full summer, but who would benefit from exposure to scientific research. The goal of this activity is to train talented students from underrepresented groups to become field ecologists with experience in international settings. To accomplish this goal the senior investigators will mentor the students in their long-term tropical-field research projects, first during an eight-week session at the tropical rain forest field station. The students will then continue their research at their home institutions in a year-round mentored research experience. Among the broader impacts of this IRES program are the promotion of international research collaborations; the creation of mentorships in the sciences for undergraduates from underrepresented groups; involvement of undergraduates from primarily undergraduate institutions in an active research environment with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty; and extensive field research experiences for minority undergraduates that should help increase the success of these students in graduate programs in the sciences. The project will also further research collaborations between U.S. and Costa Rican scientists and other international researchers pursuing ongoing projects in Costa Rica.