Matthew J. Parris - US grants

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Jack Grubaugh at the University of Memphis to construct living quarters at the Meeman Biological Field Station (MBFS) in Shelby County, Tennessee. The primary missions of the field station are to: 1) provide a unique, field-oriented curriculum to urban undergraduate students, and 2) serve as a focal point for ecological studies of the lower Mississippi River, its floodplains and tributaries. While use of the station as both a teaching and research venue has increased over the past five years, development of these missions has been hampered by the lack of living quarters to house students, instructors, and visiting researchers.

This grant will support the first phase of a two-phase plan to provide critically needed living quarters at MBFS. This first phase includes the construction of a dormitory to accommodate approximately 24 students, instructors, and researchers. In addition, a kitchen area and a multi-purpose dining and meeting facility will be constructed in this first phase of the project. Thus, the first phase will provide fully functional living quarters to support station use. The second phase of construction will focus on the development of additional student and faculty housing.

This grant will greatly enhance the teaching and research missions of MBFS. The living quarters will allow University of Memphis faculty to increase the number of field courses taught at the station and to offer courses on a year-round basis. Furthermore, housing will eliminate the need for time-consuming daily commutes from Memphis in order to conduct on-site research or to launch research efforts on the river and floodplains of the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Funding from NSF will support an Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) program at the University of Memphis. We propose to actively involve students from underrepresented ethnic groups in environmental research, thus encouraging them to pursue professions in environmental biology as viable career choices. We plan to use research facilities at The University of Memphis and the Meeman Biological Field Station to provide a unique learning experience for participating undergraduate students. Our goals are to teach the scientific method, critical thinking, data analysis, and writing skills by directly involving students in the development and testing of hypotheses centered on environmental biology. Seven professors from a variety of science and math fields will recruit and mentor minority students from their sophomore-senior years. We have a plan to attract underrepresented students in the sciences and present them with specialty skills-oriented courses, field and laboratory research experiences, and exposure to minority role models to prepare them for professional careers in environmental biology. We have partnered with numerous private and government agencies and potential employment institutions to expose students to academic and professional role models and employment opportunities. Assessment of our program and dissemination of information will include professional presentations and manuscripts, Internet links from the University, and the use of our participants as recruiters for additional candidates. We believe that our UMEB program will nurture excitement for scientific inquiry, increase minority participation in careers in environmental biology, and provide a model for other urban institutions to increase the number of underrepresented groups actively involved in environmental research. This collaborative effort will reinforce the commitment of the mentors and the educational philosophy of our institution to NSF-funded research and education of students who are underrepresented in environmental biology.