This program provides underrepresented minority students with an enriched educational and research experience, focused on the theme of human impacts on natural ecosystems. The goal is to provide students with research skills and with confidence based on their accomplishments, thus encouraging them to pursue careers in environmental biology. Faculty will participate in workshops to facilitate effective mentoring relationships with students from minority groups. After an initial student orientation including laboratory rotations, students will work closely with their chosen mentor. Students will engage in rigorous yet supportive research settings, leading to the completion and presentation of an independent project. To promote a sense of community, students and faculty will participate in group activities discussing the practice and implications of science, and exploring the theme.
The consequences of human stresses on the environment remain a pressing issue requiring intense investigation. These consequences range from transformation of the land (agriculture, forestry and urbanization) and sea (trawling, dredging and waste dumping) to alterations of biogeochemical cycles and reduction of biodiversity. The students will directly advance active research programs addressing these impacts. The students joining the program will be drawn from urban communities with environments highly influenced by human activities. They will be keenly engaged in science involving their environment and the benefits of the research will be apparent. This urban cohort of students will have a greater likelihood of continuing their studies beyond the program and brings a unique and important perspective to the field of environmental biology.
