SEEDS - Opening Diverse Doors to Ecology

美国生态学会（ESA）代表了10，000多名致力于广泛深入了解地球生命的成员。1996年，欧空局启动了一个新方案的第一阶段，称为生态教育、多样性和可持续性战略，其目的是通过在个人和小组一级的密集辅导，留住在生态学领域代表性不足的少数民族本科生。 从那时起，种子已经成长和扩大，包括实地考察生态研究地点，领导研讨会，研究奖学金计划，并与其他组织和网络的伙伴关系。 多年来，SEEDS为500多名少数民族学生提供了服务。目前的项目是SEEDS的第四阶段，并以2014年独立方案评估的结果为基础。在这个阶段，一系列结构化的研讨会和会议将被整合到一系列活动中，这些活动建立在以前的学生经验和设计的支持基础设施之上。在拟议的方案活动期间和之间，个人、文化和机构三个方面的经验和支持相互交织。 SEEDS的学生将与导师合作，在五个领域寻找机会，帮助他们在科学事业中取得进步：研究经验，技能研讨会，科学会议上的演讲，社区项目，完成LinkedIn个人资料和积极参与社交媒体。SEEDS生态学领域的经验主要为新生和大学生或那些没有先前研究背景的人提供服务。 通过这种方式，学生在本科生涯的早期被引入生态学，并有动力考虑各种各样的研究和职业选择。 旅行奖欧空局年度会议支持更先进的学生谁渴望在生态学的职业生涯，更充分地将他们融入专业生态学家的大家庭。第四阶段的新内容包括增加对美国各机构发展SEEDS分会的支持，与特定的实地研究组织和网络建立正式伙伴关系，并对SEEDS学生进行长期指导。SEEDS是一个有凝聚力、有重点和面向未来的方案，对于加强代表性不足群体的参与至关重要，因为机构的支持和真实的进展历来都很薄弱。

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) represents over 10,000 members committed to a broad and deep understanding of life on Earth. In 1996, ESA launched the first phase of a new program, called Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability (SEEDS), intentionally designed to retain underrepresented minority undergraduate students in the field of ecology through intensive mentoring at the individual and small group levels. Since then SEEDS has grown and expanded to include field trips to ecological research sites, a leadership workshop, a research fellowship program, and partnerships with other organizations and networks. Over 500 minority students have been served by SEEDS over the years. The current project is Phase IV of SEEDS and is based on results of an independent program evaluation in 2014. In this phase a set of structured workshops and conferences will be integrated into a sequence of activities that build upon previous student experiences and a designed support infrastructure. Three dimensions of experience and support, personal, cultural and institutional, are interwoven during and between proposed program activities. SEEDS students will work with mentors to identify opportunities in five areas that will help them advance in science careers: research experiences, skills workshops, presentations at scientific meetings, community projects, and completed LinkedIn profiles and active participation in social media.SEEDS ecology field experiences serve primarily freshmen and sophomores or those who have no prior research background. In this way, students are introduced to ecology earlier in their undergraduate careers and motivated to consider the wide variety of research and career options available. Travel awards to ESA annual meetings support more advanced students who aspire to careers in ecology by more fully integrating them into the large family of professional ecologists. New dimensions in Phase IV include increased support for the development of SEEDS chapters at institutions across the U.S., formal partnerships with specific field-based research organizations and networks, and longer-term mentoring of individual SEEDS students. SEEDS is a cohesive, focused and future-looking program, critically important for enhancing the participation of under-represented groups where agency support, and real progress, has historically been weak.