This award will provide funds to build a more diverse ecological science workforce trained to undertake trans-disciplinary research and educational outreach at several of the Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) by leveraging the expertiseband knowledge of large ecological projects such as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and ESA's Future of Environmental Decisions (FED) education activities. The Science and Engineering Alliance, Inc. (SEA) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA) propose to conduct two workshops that will bring faculty and graduate students from Minority Serving Insitutions to the next Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. The first workshop will provide a forum for faculty to gain knowledge of infrastructure enabled continental scale research, technologies and protocols to implement local research that dovetails with large projects like NEON, and develop collaborative partnerships with other MSIs and Ecologists. The second workshop will focus on Engaging HBCUs and MSIs in Education Using Large Scale Datasets. Participants will gain knowledge of data analysis and systems eduction in the context of Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, common student misconceptions of key ecological concepts, and assessment strategies associated with introducing large scale data analysis in the classroom. The workshops strategically target underserved communities to increase their training and research capabilities in continental scale ecology. Through participation in the workshops and participation in the ESA Annual Meeting, the participants will increase their knowledge, skills, and ability to conduct large scale research and prepare students for a research future at the lead edge of a new field of ecology.
