[RCN UBE Incubator] Next Generation Careers - Innovation in Environmental Biology Education

Ecological Society Of America, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The Ecological Society of America, in collaboration with the Society for Conservation Biology, has received a Research Coordination Network - Undergraduate Biology Education award for their project entitled Next Generation Careers - Innovations in Environmental Biology Education. The PI team is forming a network to support workforce development for college graduate career progression into environmental biology, including fields such as ecology, evolution, conservation, plant biology, and natural resource management. The network is forging connections among academic faculty and administrators and the private sector, government, and non-governmental organizations. Next Generation Careers is bringing 40 representatives from across these sectors to a workshop to identify potential resource needs, training courses, workforce development and alignment, and directions in environmental biology teaching. To inform participants, Next Generation Careers is surveying the chairs of Biology departments, undergraduate career development officers, biology faculty and faculty at the nexus of mathematics and biology. Examination of job ads for entry level positions in related jobs is providing further information concerning the most commonly sought skills for graduates with Associate's or Bachelor's degrees. In addition, eight interactive sessions at collaborating disciplinary society and professional association meetings are providing input into the work of the network. Assessment of the level of participation, the network space, including electronic platforms for information and document exchange, and project outcomes is informing both the process of effective network development and the design of valuable undergraduate career progressions. This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.