This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE), with cofunding from the Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI), and the Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) supports a new Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at Towson University for the summers of 2008-2010. This program includes an ethics component which is funded through the Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES). The program will be directed and managed by Ryan Casey of the Department of Chemistry at Towson University. This site will provide seven undergraduate students with research experience for 10-weeks in the cross-disciplinary area of urban environmental biogeochemistry. All seven students will be supported with NSF funds. Targeted students will be raising juniors and seniors who are majoring in Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Environmental Science or other related areas. The primary focus of the program will be the development of the participants' research skills. Students will also be required to participate in activities designed to build the skill sets needed to discuss, present, and write up the results of their projects.
. Foremost, our work resulted in the training of highly qualified undergraduates in research techniques applicable to environmental issues. In three years we trained 25 students in research techniques, but more importantly, gave them experience as professional scientists. This grant directly supported 21 of these students; the remaining 4 were supported by other external grants. These students all intend to pursue graduate degrees and all intend to continue in the environmental, biological or chemical sciences. Thus far, at least 9 of these students have begun or been accepted into graduate programs and another 7 students are currently applying to graduate school. Five are currently working in their field at the bachelors level. We ultimately expect most of these students to pursue graduate degrees in science. Of these 25 students, 14 are women and 7 come from under-represented minorities in science. The students worked full time in a research laboratory and participated in supporting activities such as seminars on professional presentations, seminars by external expert speakers, seminars on ethics (with emphasis on environmental ethics), a defense of their proposed research and a final presentation of their research. Of 25 students who participated in this program during Summers 2008, 2009 and 2010, 4 are authors on papers that have been published, 3 are authors on papers in review and 4 are authors on manuscripts that are in the final stages of preparation prior to submission. This means that almost half of our participants will achieve a peer-reviewed publication as a result of their research. Almost all of these students earned first authorship on their papers by writing the majority of their manuscript. In addition, students in our program have made at least 5 presentations at national conferences and 5 at regional conferences. In terms of our research, our work has contributed to the body of research involving stormwater management practices, especially with regard to the salinization that is occurring in regions where road salt application is a common practice. We are contributing to the assessment of habitat quality in urban ecosystems with particular emphasis on the chemical stressors that limit urban habitat utilization by wildlife.
