Michigan State University (MSU) Distinguished Professor Kay Holekamp will launch a 3-year International Research Experience for Students (IRES) project that builds on a strong, well-established scientific program of carnivore research in Kenya. Each year, four top US undergraduates will be selected from a nation-wide pool of applicants to conduct field research on spotted hyenas and other African carnivores. There is no other comparable field research-training program available that offers US undergraduate students the chance to study the biology of free-living African carnivores in one of the world's most magnificent game parks.
The IRES students will help expand the current research focus from single-species to a much richer comparative analysis of multiple sympatric species that inhabit the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem; IRES will also foster a training partnership with three highly experienced Kenyan scientists at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Nairobi, all of whom will mentor the US students. Aided by the mentoring team, the students will address a broad array of hypothesis- driven research questions about the behavior, conservation and physiology of African carnivores, ranging from the evolution of their cognitive abilities to anthropogenic effects on their stress physiology.
Before departure, students will participate in a rigorous web-based research and cultural orientation, and Swahili language training. In-country, they will train initially at the Kenya Wildlife Service HQ, and then transit to the tented research camp in the Masai Mara National Reserve where they will spend seven weeks developing and executing the research. Before leaving Kenya, the students will present their work at the Carnivore Researchers Conference held each year at the KWS HQ.
The research opportunities offered here are unparalleled, not only to investigate the biology of several carnivore species that remain poorly understood, but also to make important contributions in the intellectual domains of behavioral ecology, stress physiology, and conservation biology. It is expected that IRES student research will shed considerable new light on the basic mechanisms by which African carnivores interact with their environments and with one another. This newly acquired knowledge will be widely disseminated via conference presentations and publication in professional journals, and will be applied directly to carnivore management and conservation efforts in Kenya. For reference: www.naturalscience.msu.edu/students/undergraduate/enhance_your_experience/undergraduate_research/index.html
Additionally, participants in IRES will learn a great deal about African life and culture, and about the complexities associated with carnivore conservation in a developing country. By fostering long-lasting friendships and collaborations between Kenyans and Americans, this experience will contribute significantly to the development of a new generation of global scientists who are united in their desire to understand and protect the natural world.
The goal of this project was to develop a training program designed to enhance the professional development of young biologists at a critical early stage of their careers by allowing them to participate in wildlife research in a rich international setting in Africa. The intellectual focus of this project was on the behavioral ecology, physiology, and conservation of African carnivores, which play key roles in regulating important ecosystem processes. Despite their importance, however, carnivores are in global decline due to habitat degradation and direct human persecution. In fact, today many carnivore populations are declining even within protected areas. It has become clear in recent years that our ability to conserve mammalian carnivores, including most of those in Africa, is limited by a dearth of knowledge about many aspects of their basic biology. Here my co-trainers and I helped IRES students investigate specific aspects of the basic biology of African carnivores. In addition we ensured that this newly-acquired knowledge was widely disseminated via conference presentations and publication of students’ results in professional journals. To develop this training program, I joined forces with one of my former PhD students and three Kenyan PhD-level scientists associated with the Kenya Wildlife Service. Four top American undergraduate students were selected each year from enormous nation-wide pools of applicants interested in conducting field research in Kenya on spotted hyenas and other African carnivores. No other laboratory in the United States offers undergraduate students such opportunities to conduct field research investigating the biology of free-living African carnivores. IRES students spent 8-9 weeks in Kenya living in tents inside a game reserve, developing and executing research projects that not only shed new light on the behavioral ecology of African carnivores, but that also enhance our ability to protect and preserve these marvelous animals. Project funds were used to support summer-long research in Kenya conducted by 12 students, five of whom were from groups (Latino, Pacific Islander and Native American) currently underrepresented in the scientific community. Four IRES students are currently seniors at their respective universities. The eight others have now graduated, and all them have already matriculated as graduate students in biology or in programs in veterinary medicine. Three of these students even won NSF Graduate Research fellowships to support their graduate training. At least four of the eight pursuing graduate work continue to conduct research abroad in their respective graduate programs. Thus it appears that our IRES program was remarkably successful at getting these students "hooked" on international research in behavioral ecology and conservation biology. Most IRES students reported in exit surveys that their months in Kenya represented a life-changing experience for them, and that their IRES training allowed them to set themselves on professional trajectories they would never have believed feasible beforehand. IRES students worked closely with Kenyan students, trainers, and research assistant, thus developing collegial and respectful relationships that should serve them well in future. IRES students also received explicit instruction in scientific communication, and the students contributed posts each year to a research blog at http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com in which the goal is to educate lay people about what it is like to live in the remote African bush while studying large carnivores. Finally, in addition to undergraduates, NSF funds received in this award were also used to support one graduate assistant on the project each year.
