IRES: An International, Interdisciplinary Student Research Program in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador

IRES：厄瓜多尔南部生物热点地区的国际跨学科学生研究项目

• 批准号: 1460079
• 负责人: Lisette Waits
• 金额: $ 24.53万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Idaho
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1460079&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; International; Interdisciplinary; Student; Research

The NSF-IRES program International, Interdisciplinary Student Research in a Biological Hotspot of Southern Ecuador will provide 8-week field research opportunities for students from the University of Idaho (UI) in collaboration with the Univesidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador. Six students (4-5 undergraduate, 1-2 graduate) per year will conduct team-based research at three main field sites in southern Ecuador including dry-forest, Amazonian lowlands and high Andes cloud forest and paramo ecosystems. Training will emphasize cross-disciplinary synthesis, sensitivity to varying cultural/political norms, and the flexibility to conduct rigorous scientific investigations in landscapes with uniquely varied research challenges. Participating students from the UI will work in interdisciplinary teams of 2-3 students addressing individual research questions within the scope of a broad unifying topic focused around our umbrella theme of biodiversity conservation. Six UTPL faculty with expertise in conservation biology, conservation genetics, mammalian ecology, limnology, insect ecology and phylogenetics, plant ecology and phylogenetics, and rural sociology will serve as local project mentors. Ecuadorian students from UTPL will collaborate with UI student team members to develop and implement research projects. UI faculty with expertise in landscape and organismal ecology, conservation biology, population ecology, conservation genetics, hydrology, limnology, watershed management, rural sociology, natural resource policy, and entomology will serve as co-mentors and collaborators. Educational activities will include a spring planning and proposal development course that emphasizes program logistics, the ecology, natural history and human dimensions (sustainable development, culture, indigenous issues) of southern Ecuador, interdisciplinary research methods, and the development of summer research proposals. After an 8-week field season collecting data in Ecuador, students will take a fall course designed to facilitate data analysis and manuscript preparation, in a continued interdisciplinary setting, and culminating in a final oral presentation and project report. Participating students will gain experience with a rich array of cultures, thus building a sophisticated, externalized perspective on science. Ultimately, graduates of this program should excel at addressing the critical, multi-facetted conservation dilemmas that face us as global citizens.

NSF-IRES计划国际，厄瓜多尔南部生物热点的跨学科学生研究将为爱达荷大学（UI）的学生提供8周的现场研究机会，并与UniveidadTécnicatécnicaecuador，Ecuador，UniveidadTécnicatécnicade loja合作。每年有六名学生（4-5名本科生，1-2名毕业生）将在厄瓜多尔南部的三个主要野外现场进行基于团队的研究，其中包括干forest，亚马逊低地和高安妮斯云森林和帕拉莫生态系统。培训将强调跨学科的综合，对不同文化/政治规范的敏感性，以及在具有独特的研究挑战的景观中进行严格的科学研究的灵活性。来自UI的参加学生将在2-3名学生的跨学科团队中工作，在一个以广泛的统一主题为中心的范围内解决个人研究问题。围绕我们的生物多样性保护主题。六个具有保护生物学，保护遗传学，哺乳动物生态学，羊水学，隔热生态学和系统发育学，植物生态学和系统发育学以及农村社会学的六个UTPL教师将作为当地项目导师。来自UTPL的厄瓜多尔学生将与UI学生团队成员合作开发和实施研究项目。在景观和生态生态学，保护生物学，人群生态学，保护遗传学，水文学，林长学，流域管理，农村社会学，自然资源政策和昆虫学方面具有专业知识的UI教师将作为联合和合作者。教育活动将包括一个春季计划和提案发展课程，该课程强调计划登录，自然历史和人类层面（可持续发展，文化，土著，土著问题），跨学科研究方法以及夏季研究建议的发展。经过为期8周的实地季节收集厄瓜多尔的数据后，学生将参加秋季课程，旨在促进数据分析和手稿准备，并在持续的跨学科环境中，并在最终的口头演示和项目报告中达到顶点。参与的学生将获得丰富的文化经验，从而建立对科学的复杂，外部化的观点。最终，该计划的毕业生应该擅长解决面对我们作为全球公民的关键，多方面的保护困境。