An award was made to Auburn University (AU) to provide research training in warm-water aquatic ecology for 10 weeks for 10 students from diverse social and educational backgrounds, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, for the summers of 2011-2013. This REU Site is a collaborative effort involving ten AU faculty mentors specializing in diverse but complementary disciplines, including ecology, fisheries management, limnology, evolution, molecular biology, microbiology, invasive species, behavior, and conservation. Together these disciplines provide the educational basis for undergraduate students to learn about techniques and tools to study warm-water aquatic communities, such as reservoirs, farm ponds, streams, and brackish estuaries, in the southeastern U.S. The primary objectives of this project include exposing participants to different scientific hypotheses, research techniques, and ecological habitats and conditions in an engaging, interdisciplinary atmosphere that fosters a strong interest in aquatic sciences by the next generation of aquatic ecologists and water resource experts. During the REU program, students will explore many disparate aquatic habitats, experience life and coursework at a Ph.D. granting institution, engage in research projects inside the laboratory and out in the field, and present their summer research project results to their peers. REU participants will be trained in basic and applied aquatic ecology including fundamentals of the scientific method and data analysis and interpretation, development and critique of professional presentations, scientific ethics, research safety, preparing for opportunities beyond their undergraduate education, and professional networking during formal meetings and social gatherings. An AU program evaluator will gauge the effectiveness of these activities using independent and group assessment tools. Interactions and training within the REU Site will aid in the development of high-quality research projects executed by REU students, ultimately leading to publications in the peer-reviewed literature and presentations at national scientific conferences. Student support for stipends, travel, room and board, and research activities is provided. For more information about the program, please contact Dr. Alan Wilson (wilson@auburn.edu, 334-246-1120, http://wilsonlab.com/) or visit the project website at http://wilsonlab.com/reu/.
Over three years, thirty-four Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) participants studied diverse aquatic habitats throughout the southeastern United States using a variety of approaches, including lab and field experimentation, monitoring, modeling, genetic analyses, and systematics. Thus far, REU students have produced 17 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles and honors theses, and co-authored 61 presentations at local, regional, national, and international scientific conferences. These products have been on wide-ranging topics associated with warm-water aquatic ecology, including physiological responses of mussels to drought, aquatic community structure across a stream permanence gradient, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, disease epidemics in aquaculture fish, and the large ecosystem-level effects of consumer offense. In addition to sharing data generated from this project in the peer-reviewed literature and conference presentations, students participated in a variety of outreach events at field stations and daycares in addition to engaging REU students participating in other program at Auburn University and Tuskegee University. Field trips associated with different aspects of aquatic ecology helped connect each cohort and participating mentors. This program successfully prepared our REU students to conduct high quality research and to smoothly make the transition to graduate school. All students from the first two cohorts completed their undergraduate degrees and most of these students have already begun graduate programs at excellent universities around the country.
