REU Site: Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in the Blue Water Environments of Bermuda

Bermuda Institute Of Ocean Sciences (Bios), Inc., St. George'S

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) has been an Ocean Sciences REU Site since 1991, and thus far, 121 students have gone through the program. The award will support eight students during a twelve week, Fall-semester research program from 2009-2011. Funding is provided for all room and board at BIOS, travel to and from BIOS, student stipends, and travel for some students to present their research results at a scientific meeting. BIOS will offer a hands-on experience for undergraduates focused on the "process of science" rather than on specific topics within science. Students will conduct independent research projects within the framework of the long-term deep ocean program conducted at Hydrostation S, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study, the Microbial Observatory, and the Ocean Carbon and Climate Change Program. Students will have opportunities to focus on near-shore processes such as water and air pollution and ecotoxicology, coral reef ecology, marine genomics, biotechnology, topics within the Oceans and Human Health Program, and catastrophe models such as those used to predict hurricanes and rainfall events that cause flooding. Students will participate in a weekly seminar series, join BIOS scientists aboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer, and visit local sites of ecological interest. Students will have opportunities to work closely with students from developing countries as part of the new POGO Centre of Excellence in Observational Oceanography. REU students present a final seminar of their work to BIOS staff and write manuscripts in the format of a journal appropriate for publication of the specific research project conducted.