This award provides funding for a new Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Savannah State University to be called "Bridge to Research in Marine Sciences: A Summer REU Program in Savannah, Georgia". The program will support eight to ten students during a seven week summer research program. Savannah State University along with its local partners the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO), Georgia Tech, and Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary in Savannah (GRNMS), Georgia have research environments that are well-equipped and staffed to provide intellectual merit in student research projects. Student recruitment will focus on freshmen and sophomores from HBCU's and small non-research colleges and universities. The first two weeks of the program will focus primarily on whole-group activities including short courses and workshops in marine science, statistics, technical writing, experimental design and ethics, guest lectures, field trips, and visits to marine laboratories in the Georgia/South Carolina coastal region. The second part will consist of a research cruise on an oceanographic vessel (UNOLS, R/V Savannah), and the third phase will involve four weeks of research capped with a student research seminar. Student deliverables will include a log/journal, formal written research report, a seminar presentation and a completed program evaluation form. It will include independent research projects by the students, participation in a semi-weekly summer lecture series on topics like scientific writing, science careers, ethics and data visualization. The program will conclude with a written report and student poster presentations. This program is mainly field-based, but students will have access to global databases and excellent computer equipment. Students will be encouraged to publish in peer-reviewed journals and participate in national conferences following the summer research program.
In 2009, Savannah State University launched the Bridge to Research in Marine Sciences program (an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program). The program has proven successful in inspiring under-represented student populations to pursue degrees and careers in STEM based research fields. African-Americans are greatly underrepresented in the ocean sciences; of the 28 students who have completed the program, 20 are African-American. The Savannah State Marine Sciences REU is unique in that it reaches students in their freshman and sophomore years. The timing is critical in that it gives students who traditionally do not apply for REUs exposure that leads to ambition and confidence when choosing a major in a STEM field and continuing on to more traditional REU programs. The 7-week Bridge to Research program started with field trips and classroom work covering research basics. Once that was done, students climbed aboard a 2-day oceanographic research cruise in the South Atlantic Bight. The students collected data that supplemented current estuarine research projects and discovered research interests associated with near shore or offshore processes. They then were paired with a mentor at one of the participating organizations: Savannah State University, Skidaway Institution of Oceanography, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, and Georgia Tech-Savannah. During this partnership, they conducted research and then presented it at a public forum. A 2009 program participant explained why the program is working by saying, "During my experience in Savannah I found that research was quite interesting and that it's up to you to find that thing that gets your blood flowing when it comes to research. That and with the combined love and passion that the mentors Dr. Gilligan, Dr. Cox and Dr. Hintz showed when you talked about research and what we found or the grad students found was inspiring and it helped me to learn to appreciate research." That student is now volunteering in a medical lab and applying to graduate school. The numbers affirm the Bridge to Research Program’s success. From 2009-2011, 28 students completed the program. Through post-program surveys, SSU has follow-up information on 21 of those students. Of the 11 who have already graduated, 5 are currently in graduate school or have graduated with a graduate degree; one is working in a microbiology lab and applying to graduate school; one is applying to pharmacy school; and one is applying to medical school while working in a medical research laboratory. Of the 10 students still working toward undergraduate degrees, 8 are progressing towards degrees in a STEM discipline, thus accomplishing our goal of high retention in STEM disciplines (89%; 25/28). Interestingly, one of the three students not retained in the STEM disciplines is pursuing a criminal justice major with the goal of becoming an environmental lawyer – a field that was introduced to her during her REU internship at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The Bridge to Research program was funded again for 2012-2014; we anticipate even stronger results of increasing participation and retention in STEM-related fields, especially marine science, by under-represented groups.
