The URM program at the University of Toledo will train undergraduate students, especially those from under-represented minority groups, in research and prepare them for future graduate study in environmental biology. Four cohorts of six students, who will be drawn from a very diverse student population on campus, will receive financial support to participate in two calendar years of intensive, independent, and integrated research and mentoring program. At least eleven faculty members will serve as mentors in this URM program and engage the students in a wide-range of environmental and ecological disciplines focusing on stresses to the land-lake ecosystem interface, including (i) toxic algal blooms and exotic species, (ii) declining fish spawning habitat and emerging VHS viral disease, (iii) wetlands and water quality, and (iv) terrestrial impacts on watershed services. URM students will interact in a joint course and seminar curriculum while earning independent research credits. This URM will provide regular interaction with agency and environmental professionals to develop an understanding of the significance and application of their research work, while augmenting the understanding of the role of anthropogenic stressors in water quality crises. For additional information, please contact Dr. Von Sigler at von.sigler@utoledo.edu, or visit www.utoledo.edu/as/envsciences/NSF-URM.html.
Our URM program trained and extensively mentored underrepresented undergraduate student scientists for graduate study in environmental biology, while augmenting our understanding of anthropogenic land-water interface stressors in the biodiversity, habitat, and water quality crises. URM students worked within a larger, interdisciplinary effort investigating the central hypothesis that industrial, urban, and agricultural activities significantly alter land and water quality, ecological habitats, community structure, species composition, and genetic diversity at the land-lake interface. We recruited and operated three cohorts of six students each, who engaged in two calendar years of intensive, independent, integrated research and mentoring in order to prepare them for graduate school. Our goals were facilitated and enhanced by concurrent high school interactions and our NSF-funded NSF GK-12 program. Through our research, seminars, workshops, site visits and outreach, URM students integrated with research faculty, as well as the environmental community, comprising 23 external participants, including the EPA, USGS, NOAA, NFL, the City of Toledo, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Ohio EPA, Partners for Clean Streams, and the Ohio Division of Wildlife, among others. Our students provided 68 research presentations on several levels, ranging from monthly, local seminars to regional and national conferences. Nine, peer reviewed research reports were published by our URM students in high-ranking scientific journals, while one website was developed to disseminate project-specific information. Since the beginning of our URM program, all three cohorts of URM students participated in many career and character-building activities that developed networking within their individual disciplines. Service commitments comprised a significant portion of these activities and included: (1) attending and presenting data and project results at the Posters at the Capitol symposia at the Ohio State Capitol building in Columbus, Ohio; (2) serving as judges at the University of Toledo Lake Erie Research Center’s NSF-funded GK-12 program poster contest; (3) volunteering at the University of Toledo’s Earth Fest as session moderators; (4) presenting project results in oral or poster presentation formats at the University of Toledo Chapter of Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium; (5) volunteering at the University of Toledo Stranahan Arboretum and at Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve clearing undesirable plants in order to restore the native prairie; (6) serving as science fair judges at the annual Northwest Ohio Regional 9-12 grade Science Fair Day; and (7) volunteering at the International Association of Great Lakes Research annual conference, held in 2009 at the University of Toledo. The training that we provided our URM students has given them a stepping-stone to careers in science. Of the 18 students that we trained, nine now have completed their undergraduate degree. Of the nine URM students that have completed their undergraduate degree, three are currently pursuing graduate degrees, one is planning to begin a graduate degree, one is now a schoolteacher, two have employment in STEM fields, and two are currently seeking employment. The remaining nine students have not yet finished their degrees, but two of those will graduate in the Spring 2014 and begin graduate programs in the Summer 2014. Since disadvantaged, minority citizens are likely to experience polluted and degraded environments, our URM program aimed to prioritize the participation of underrepresented groups. Currently, minority students receive 10% of the STEM baccalaureates and less than 5% of 'science' doctorates awarded to American citizens each year. Throughout our URM program, we have maintained an overall minority participation rate of 33%. Our URM program effectively increased the likelihood that these students would pursue a career in a science or technology related discipline. At every career step (e.g, graduate school, professional employment, beginning academics) the percentage of women and underrepresented groups following through to the next step decreases. The support and enrichment that all of our URM students received will make it more likely that they continue on to a professional career in science. Our URM program united students with a real, impaired environmental system through which they built an educational foundation focused on beneficial interaction with the natural environment, while improving their own local communities.
