RCN-UBE Incubator: Developing a Faculty Network in a Biodiversity Hotspot: the Research Experiences in Southern California For Undergraduate Ecologists Network

RCN-UBE 孵化器：在生物多样性热点地区发展教师网络：南加州本科生生态学家网络的研究经验

• 批准号: 2018545
• 负责人: Wallace Meyer
• 金额: $ 7.1万
• 依托单位: Pomona College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2018545&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; UBE; Incubator; Developing; Faculty

Ecology is inherently multidisciplinary and often requires inquiry over long periods and across large spatial scales. Although engaging undergraduates in authentic ecological research is a critical component in the training of professional ecologists, most undergraduate research, particularly at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), is limited in time and spatial scales. In addition, research is often carried out with a student being "siloed" in the faculty mentor's lab and thus isolated from his/her/their research peers. To address these issues and to provide more research opportunities for students, the project team aims to develop the Research Experiences in Southern California for Undergraduate Ecologists Network (RESCUE-net). By bringing faculty from across the region together, RESCUE-net will also catalyze new research collaborations and allow participating faculty to share expertise and resources. Collaborations will focus on preserving the California Floristic Province, a biodiversity hotspot.This grant supports the formation of RESCUE-net, a network of faculty in southern California dedicated to developing opportunities to attract and train diverse students for the conservation workforce and improve student learning while enhancing the scope of faculty research programs at PUIs and building a community of researchers who identify as teacher-scholars. In a series of meetings and workshops, the members of RESCUE-net will work together to identify 1) barriers to providing authentic, collaborative research experiences to a diverse group of undergraduates; and 2) concrete ways the network can enhance undergraduate research at PUIs and bring that research into the classroom. Using this information, RESCUE-net will develop a framework that enables more undergraduates to conduct student-centered research projects that address the many environmental challenges facing the California Floristic Province.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action" (http://visionandchange/finalreport).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.

生态学本质上是多学科的，通常需要长期、跨大空间尺度的探究。尽管让本科生参与真实的生态研究是专业生态学家培训的关键组成部分，但大多数本科生研究，特别是在本科院校 (PUI)，在时间和空间尺度上都是有限的。此外，研究通常是在学生被“孤立”在教师导师的实验室中进行的，从而与他/她/他们的研究同行隔离。为了解决这些问题并为学生提供更多研究机会，项目团队旨在开发南加州本科生生态学家研究经验网络（RESCUE-net）。通过将整个地区的教师聚集在一起，RESCUE-net 还将促进新的研究合作，并允许参与的教师分享专业知识和资源。合作重点是保护生物多样性热点加州植物区省。这笔赠款支持成立RESCUE-net，这是一个位于南加州的教师网络，致力于创造机会吸引和培训多样化的学生加入保护队伍，并改善学生的学习，同时扩大 PUI 教师研究项目的范围，并建立一个由教师学者组成的研究人员社区。在一系列会议和研讨会中，RESCUE-net 的成员将共同努力确定：1）向不同的本科生群体提供真实的协作研究经验的障碍； 2) 该网络可以加强 PUI 本科生研究并将该研究带入课堂的具体方式。利用这些信息，RESCUE-net 将开发一个框架，使更多本科生能够开展以学生为中心的研究项目，以解决加州植物省面临的许多环境挑战。该项目由生物科学理事会、生物部门共同资助基础设施、教育和人力资源局、本科教育司作为其努力的一部分，解决“本科生物教育的愿景和变革：行动呼吁”(http://visionandchange/finalreport)中提出的挑战。这该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。