REU Site: Field and Laboratory Studies of Coastal Marine Processes at the Shannon Point Marine Center

Western Washington University, Bellingham WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Division of Ocean Sciences provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site program at the Shannon Point Marine Center, Western Washington University (WWU), located in Bellingham, WA. The program will support 8 students for a nine-week internship over three years (2016-2018). Each student will work with an individual adviser to develop a research project that is independent and appropriately focused. The general theme focuses on living resources and processes of the local coastal marine environment, including primary and secondary productivity, biogeochemistry, microbial ecology and chemical ecology. With his/her adviser, each student develops and presents a project plan in a colloquium setting during the second week, conducts the research under the appropriate level of faculty supervision, and presents oral and written reports at the conclusion of the program. Publication of results and presentation at scientific meetings is strongly encouraged and supported. The purpose of the SPMC REU is to introduce promising students to research at a point in their undergraduate programs that will permit informed decisions regarding pursuit of graduate education and scientific professions while preparing them to do so. Early in the program, students are introduced to the broad array of field and laboratory research techniques and are encouraged to use these in their own work. Group workshops are held on selecting and applying to graduate school, addressing issues of ethics in science, mastering data analysis and presentation methods, and effectively sharing science. Formal assessments provide both a feedback mechanism used to improve the program and an evaluation that documents outcomes and the longer-term value of the program. The program recruits applicants from around the United States, with special attention to underprivileged, underserved and underrepresented students, to those attending institutions with limited opportunities for undergraduate research, and to those whose current locations or previous experiences have not permitted ready access to marine environments.