REU Site: Aquatic Chemical Ecology at Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The Division of Ocean Sciences provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in Aquatic Chemical Ecology at Georgia Institute of Technology, located in Atlanta, GA. The program will host 10 undergraduates during a 10-week internship each summer for three years. Program activities consist of faculty mentorship, research training, educational components (seminars, workshops), career advising, and networking activities designed to immerse REU students in a rich and diverse research culture. The central focus will be a research project that is designed, implemented, documented, and presented by the student. The PIs intend to attract a high proportion of students from non-PhD granting institutions, focusing especially on recruitment of students from under represented groups and women. Chemical cues mediate a variety of critical ecological processes, including inter- and intraspecific competition, predator-prey, host-parasite, and mutualistic interactions. These cues are used by organisms to locate food, evade predators, select mates, launch cooperative behaviors, construct social hierarchies, and choose suitable environments. Altogether, chemically-mediated interactions have ecological and evolutionary consequences at the individual, population, community, and ecosystem levels. Georgia Tech will offer an integrated research experience in aquatic chemical ecology. Faculty mentors will be selected from the Departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Biology. A total of 30 students will conduct independent research projects related to aquatic chemical ecology and will receive training in scientific communication and STEM career options.