UBM-Group: Collaborations on Riverine Ecology (CORE)

University Of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse WI

Investigators

Abstract

This UBM Group project is providing rigorous research experiences for interdisciplinary teams of students that pair one student from mathematics and one from biology. Student teams work in close association with faculty from both mathematics and biology to plan projects in the general area of Riverine Ecology, conduct research, and then disseminate the results to peers and the general public. Course and curricular innovation includes an initial independent study course through which students receive an introduction to the upper Mississippi River system and perform a literature review to enhance their theoretical and empirical understanding of the local systems. Based on feedback from faculty and peers and their immersion in the literature students generate testable hypotheses, leading into a ten-week period of summer research activities. Weekly interactions among all program members occur throughout the summer period and continue into the fall semester, during which time students meet weekly to discuss recent papers, peer-review presentations by cohort members, create video podcasts for dissemination, and learn about career opportunities in mathematical biology.