UMEB: Ecology of Global Change

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

A mentored research program for undergraduates in environmental biology will be created at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The scientific theme of "The Ecology of Global Change" will draw upon a primary research focus in a recently created interdepartmental Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (PEEB). The Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) Program will add an entirely new undergraduate component to PEEB. Experience gained in the administration of a successful (since 1992) HHMI-funded undergraduate research program will be used to "jump-start" the UMEB efforts, but the UMEB Program will be completely independent and have a strong focus on improving the quality of faculty mentoring of underrepresented minorities. Students (eight per year, recruited from the 200+ Black and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate majors in the life sciences at UIUC, as well as from students in other majors interested in environmental biology) will participate in a two-year program (sophomore-junior academic years, plus summers) of mentored research, career-development activities (including training in how to be a successful mentee), a poster session, a research symposium, and social events. UMEB Fellows also will take a course together (Illinois in the changing Earth System) and share housing over the summer, activities that will further promote the development of a sense of community. Faculty mentors will be drawn from the PEEB. All mentors will participate in a "mentoring the mentors" workshop at the start of each summer as well as in the research presentations. Both mentors and mentees will be supported by a team consisting of a UMEB program administrator (Evan DeLucia, director of PEEB), a faculty assistant (Susan Fahrbach, director of UIUC's HHMI-sponsored programs), a mentoring assistant (Claudia Washburn, manager of UIUC's HHMI-sponsored programs) and a graduate administrator. The UMEB Program's goal is to identify, early in their academic careers, students with an interest in environmental biology and then guide them through the maze of UIUC's resources. The coordinated program of activities encompassing the sophomore and junior years is intended to attract undergraduates, particularly underrepresented minorities, to graduate training and careers in fields related to the biology of a changing planet.