REU Site: Warm-water aquatic ecology

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Site award to Auburn University, located in Auburn, Alabama, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during each summer from 2018-2020. This program is focused on warm-water aquatic ecology and will use the vast biological diversity and many aquatic ecosystems found in the southeastern U.S. as well as the available infrastructure in participating labs to broadly train REU students in core elements of interdisciplinary research, namely establishing hypotheses, experimental design, data interpretation, professional network development, and scientific ethics. REU students will participate in a variety of activities, such as a two-day aquatic ecology course, mentor research seminars, regular mentor-mentee and REU student meetings, student-driven research projects, professional development activities, and field trips. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily freshman and sophomores from schools with limited research opportunities including community colleges, will be trained in the program. Through planned basic and applied research activities, REU students will learn how research is conducted to prepare them for successful careers in academia, industry, and government agencies where they will be equipped to solve existing and imminent environmental challenges related to water. REU students will be supported to publish their research and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. To broaden the impact of the REU research projects, all REU students will be encouraged to develop and lead an outreach project involving journalism or art faculty and students. A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU Site programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. In addition, weekly assessments will gauge the quality and effectiveness of different components of the program including the research experience, mentors, professional development activities, and housing. Students will be tracked for at least five years after the program to determine their career paths. In addition, students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information about the program is available by visiting http://wilsonlab.com/reu/ or by contacting the PI, Dr. Alan Wilson at wilson@auburn.edu