REU Site: Robustness and Resilience of Aquatic Biological Systems

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Site award to Washington State University, located in Pullman, WA, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2025-2027. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or from under-represented groups, will be trained in the WSU Robustness and Resilience of Aquatic Biological Systems (R&R REU Program). Biological systems in our oceans, lakes, and streams are under extreme pressure of environmental change, and scientists aim to understand the complex mechanisms that allow these systems to either maintain robustness and resilience to these pressures or collapse. The primary objective of the R&R REU Program is to expand students’ understanding of the robustness and resilience of biological systems by engaging them in research projects that investigate how genomic, cellular, physiological, behavioral, and ecological systems of aquatic plants and animals respond to environmental challenges. Students will learn how research is conducted in this field, present their research at a campus-wide REU Summer Symposium, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences and scientific publications. Assessment of this program will be done through an online tool. Students should apply to the REU site using NSF ETAP (Education and Training Application: https://etap.nsf.gov). The R&R REU Program will bring together an interdisciplinary team of investigators from the School of Biological Sciences, School of the Environment, and Animal Sciences that study aquatic biological systems at different levels of organization to mentor undergraduate students who ask questions within the field of systems biology, with access to high-throughput phenomics equipment to study physiology and behavior of organisms under different environmental stressors. Students will engage in Systems Thinking and Data Wrangling workshops, including indigenous knowledge and Western science approaches, and reading groups focused on multi-scale analysis of biological systems. Students will also receive training on research code of conduct, scientific literacy, collaboration, science communication, and professional development. Students will be introduced to scientists from academia, industry, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and tribes in a seminar series to broaden their professional networks and exposure to diverse career pathways in STEM fields. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.