College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Getting involved

Now in its second year, a program to involve more students in environmental biology is taking shape
As far as the National Science Foundation (NSF) is concerned, a $275,000 four-year grant awarded to four Iowa State professors is intended to attract undergraduate students from under-represented groups into environmental biology.

That may be the case, but the four Department of Zoology and Genetics faculty members, have much more planned for the program.

"The main thing is to get students interested in environmental biology," said Eugenia Farrar, associate professor of zoology and genetics, "but we also want to contribute to increased diversity in the field."

The UMEB (Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology) program is currently in its second year of operation at Iowa State. It allows faculty members to recruit at least eight undergraduates per year, provide training and intensive mentoring, help them set up and perform research projects, and let the students experience what environmental biology has to offer as a career choice.

"There is a huge need for environmental biologists today," said Fred Janzen, associate professor of zoology and genetics. "In addition to a number of career opportunities in environmental biology involving basic science research, many organizations are looking for people who can work on applied issues, such as the impact of agriculture on declining amphibian, reptile and migratory bird populations.

"The UMEB program is designed to recruit top students to careers in environmental biology by exposing them to diverse and important research questions, give them the scientific and social tools to address those questions, and challenge them to seek answers," he continued.

Farrar, Janzen, Carol Vleck, associate professor of zoology and genetics; David Vleck, associate scientist, and Mike Mullins, graduate coordinator, are targeting groups under-represented in environmental biology - primarily minorities, the disabled and first-generation college students. The first couple of years of the project have focused on currently enrolled Iowa State students. In the future, the faculty members hope to be able to recruit freshmen and transfer students into the program.

The grant pays for a student to perform his/her own research project. The student will be involved in developing the project, carrying it out and reporting results. The four faculty members help the students develop posters and write scientific papers, which they hope will be published.

"This program will introduce them to research projects that hopefully will ultimately stimulate them to pursue the material for a long period of time," said David Vleck.

"We hope to show them the whole process of doing science as a profession," Farrar said. "We're trying to prepare these students for grad school."

Currently there are seven students enrolled in the program after an initial year of nine students. During the regular school years, the students work an average of 10 hours a week on individual projects, take part in a weekly seminar, meet personally with distinguished visiting environmental biologists, and participate in scheduled field trips like a visit to the Everglades.
Except for the field trips, that changes in the summer.

"What's unusual about this program is that it's all year round," Farrar said. "Not only are the students involved in research during the school year, but they work full time during the summer
months."

Students in UMEB have been active not only in the lab but in other related areas as well. A talk was given this fall semester at a professional meeting and four posters will be presented in January at a conference.

According to Farrar, it's just the beginning of what could be an outstanding level of achievement by the time the student graduates.

"If they're (the students) serious about this, they could come out of the program with two to three publications and a wealth of experience of what science as a profession is all about," she said. "That will be extremely beneficial when it comes time for them to apply to graduate school."

One of the students (Sara Kaiser) that participated in the first year of the program has graduated and been accepted into grad school at Michigan State University. She has indicated that the UMEB did help prepare her for that next level.

"One of the things Sara has told me is that she learned an awful lot about what it took to be in the sciences in grad school," said Carol Vleck. "Because she had already participated in data analysis, writing and rewriting papers, that transition wasn't as much of a shock to her."

Eboniece Cason is one of the currently enrolled UMEB students. The senior double major in biology and Spanish is currently working on a research project on tadpole digestion.

"This program has not only allowed me to work closer with a professor on a research project," she said, "but I'm also writing my own paper, doing my own poster. The professors help me along with the process, but it's all my own thoughts."

The student research projects will focus on native biological species in Iowa. Each project will cover the importance of species conservation and how wild animals live and function in Iowa.

"What we have in Iowa is land that has been heavily modified by humans, but there are a lot of organisms that still live here," Janzen said. "How do they handle this very modified environment? How do spade-foot toads, which only breed in ephemeral pools in Western Iowa, persist when all of their pools have been drained for farmland? What kind of resources do they need to survive?

"There are a million questions related to wild animals in the Iowa environment."