This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) on the Chesapeake Bay will offer an REU program in environmental biology to ten undergraduate students during the summers of 2009-2011. SERC interns participate in a comprehensive 12-week period of field research, laboratory work, and educational training on some of the most challenging environmental issues of the 21st century, including climate change, biodiversity loss, invasive alien species, and the alteration of global biogeochemical cycles. Students work side-by-side with Smithsonian staff scientists to design and conduct their research projects, and at the end of their internship, each intern presents a formal research seminar describing their project to the SERC science community. While conducting their research projects, interns also take a series of mini-courses, attend seminars by visiting scientists, participate in laboratory exchanges with other SERC labs, and take field trips to affiliated research institutions. SERC encourages participation by groups that are traditionally underrepresented in scientific careers. Additional information can be found at www.serc.si.edu/pro_training/internships/internships.jsp, or by contacting the Fellowship Coordinator, Dan Gustafson, at 443-482-2217 or gustafsond@si.edu.
