REU Site: Undergraduate Research in Behavior, Ecology and Evolution

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Colorado at Boulder will host 8 students each summer in a 10-week REU program in Behavior, Ecology and Evolution, centered at the Mountain Research Station. The goal of the program is to provide students with the skills and confidence to conduct biological research at an advanced level. The program encourages students, particularly those from groups that are under-represented in biological research professions, to pursue research careers in biology, and to consider earning advanced degrees. Recruitment of a culturally diverse group of student participants will be based on interest in the appropriate disciplines of their faculty mentors, educational and career goals, and academic achievement. The first week of the program is an intensive orientation to field research. During the remainder of the summer, students will work on faculty-mentored individual projects. Faculty mentors are members of the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Texas, and University of California, Irvine. These mentors have active research programs at the Mountain Research Station or on the Boulder campus, and have a strong commitment to mentoring undergraduate students. Student projects may include topics such as climate effects on insect behavior, pollution effects on aquatic and terrestrial communities, fire ecology of montane forests, effects of plants and microorganisms on nutrient cycling in alpine and subalpine terrestrial ecosystems, the evolution of plant adaptations for reproduction and survival in montane environments, the behavioral ecology of social insects and birds, and the evolution of mate choice in fish. The summer culminates in student presentations of their results in a scientific meeting format. The Mountain Research Station, located at 3000 meters elevation in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, is 45 minutes from the University's Boulder campus. The adjacent Niwot Ridge Biosphere Reserve is home to an NSF-Long Term Ecological Research site. Participants live in rustic cabins in a camp that is frequented by deer, elk, and other wildlife, but have access to world-class research facilities at the Station and the CU Boulder campus. For further information and application materials, please contact Bill Bowman at reuebio@colorado.edu, (303) 492-2557, or visit http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/EEBprojects/reu/.