This award will provide opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in the National Museum of Natural History Research Training Program at the Smithsonian Institution. This program introduces undergraduates to the diversity of scientific disciplines, research techniques, and career choices available in the fields of modern natural history and systematic biology. The ten-week program focuses on a research project guided by a research advisor who is one of the over 100 Ph.D.s on the institution's scientific staff. Each student participant, in conjunction with the research advisor, develops and tests a scientific hypothesis(es) using appropriate techniques and communicates the results in written manuscripts and oral presentations. That research experience is supplemented with lectures, discussions, demonstrations, field trips, and tours to provide a broad and balanced view of natural history careers. This previously funded REU Site has been very effective in encouraging women and minority students to pursue careers in natural history and systematic biology. This award will foster the continued education and training of our next generation of researchers in the Biological Sciences.
