REU:Conservation Biology in the Southeastern US

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Site program (Conservation Biology in the Southeastern United States) will introduce students from undergraduate institutions and historically black colleges and universities to natural sciences research opportunities. The program will involve eight undergraduate students each summer for a ten-week program which will begin with a four-day orientation session at the Crow's Neck Environmental Center, located on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway in northeast Mississippi. During the orientation, participants will gain general knowledge of ecology, conservation, and ecosystems specific to the southeastern United States. Activities will also orient students to faculty mentors' research projects and emphasize cooperation and team building among the REU participants. Although students will be actively recruited from undergraduate institutions and historically black colleges and universities in Mississippi and neighboring states, informational materials will be distributed nationally in an effort to increase the regional diversity of participants. Student researchers will be selected based on a combination of a submitted statement of interest, letters of recommendation, and educational background. Each student will work with one or two faculty mentors, based on student-faculty interests, on a conservation-based research project in ecology or evolution. Specific areas of faculty research interests include: Aquatic & Wetlands Ecology, Plant Systematics and Evolution, and Vertebrate Ecology. Interaction between students, mentors, and other scientists will be provided and encouraged through organized formal and informal seminars, poster sessions, and social activities. A number of these meetings will consist of a student-oriented journal club/seminar series in which the integration of areas of ecology, conservation and evolution is stressed. A more formal set of meetings will also be held to discuss topics such as ethics in science, grant writing, scientific publication and presentation, career options, and strategies for choosing a graduate school. The ten-week session will conclude with a mini-symposium of student research projects that will be open to faculty and students from Mississippi State University and neighboring colleges and universities. For more information, contact Giselle Thibaudeau, at 662-325- 7572 or giselle@biology.msstate.edu. Application materials will be accessible through the MSU Department of Biological Sciences web site (http://www.msstate.edu/dept/biosciences/bio.html).