SEA Receives Additional Funding to Involve K-12 Teachers and Undergraduate and High School Students in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Initiative

The Science and Engineering Alliance, Inc. (SEA) has been awarded a $61,000 grant supplement by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to expand its effort to broaden participation in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) initiative to include advanced NEON research training of a faculty member from a minority serving institution (MSI), and engaging K-12 teachers, undergraduate and high school students in NEON.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 11, 2008 - A supplemental grant awarded by the NSF will support initiatives by SEA in which summer research experiences will be implemented for: (1) a faculty member from a MSI under the Research Opportunity Awards (ROA) program, (2) K-12 science teachers Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), (3) undergraduate students under the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and (4) high school students under the Research Assistantships for High School Students (RAHSS) programs.

The summer research experience will engage all participants in NEON-related research. "Catastrophic events resulting from spatial nonlinearities often result in major changes in ecosystem properties and services as well as loss of biodiversity. Our ability to forecast these events, particularly in the presence of environmental and societal changes, is constrained by our limited understanding of the processes, feedbacks, and nonlinear interactions that result in these spatially complex dynamics. NEON will provide a framework for determining the impact of changes in climate and land use that can track rates of conversion of landscape in the rural-urban fringes around growing metropolitan areas. Urban forests along riparian corridors need analysis in an ecosystem context," and we are delighted to bring Dr. Zhu Ning, Professor of Urban Forestry at Southern University and A&M College (SUBR) in Baton Rouge, LA, into these discussions," noted Dr. Alan Covich, Professor, Institute of Ecology, College of Environment and Design, University of Georgia in Athens, GA. Dr. Ning will collaborate in Dr. Covich's laboratory during the summer of 2007.

The teachers, undergraduate students and high school students will conduct their summer research at two locations, i.e., one group will be in a laboratory in Alabama and the other in a laboratory in Florida. "Each watershed community has its own unique problems and must engage its citizens to find the right set of solutions on a local level. It is critically important for educators and citizens to understand how human activities negatively impact aquatic flora and fauna in order to determine ways to alleviate threats such activities have on the quality and flow of water. Benthic macroinvertebrates are reliable indicators of water quality and healthy watersheds, and diversity and relative abundance of indicator species within each watershed change as water quality changes. Focus on watershed research at the local and regional levels creates an opportunity for the participants this summer to gain an understanding of relationship of this work to the NEON continental scale efforts," noted Dr. Teferi Tsegaye, Professor and Chair of the Department of Plant & Soil Science, Alabama A&M University (AAMU) in Huntsville, who will direct the effort in Alabama.

Dr. Larry Robinson, Professor in the Environmental Sciences Institute, at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, FL. Florida A&M University and director of the Florida summer program agrees, and looks forward to working with his summer teacher and students. "We plan to introduce our summer research team to four National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERR) that are of special interest to the Environmental Cooperative Science Center. The river parameters that would be obtained are essential for applying computer programs for river water flow," noted Dr. Robinson.

"Broadening the participation to include K-12 teachers, undergraduate and high school students is a priority focus of SEA," noted Dr. Robert Shepard, SEA Executive Director and Principal Investigator (PI) for the summer research initiatives. Dr. Ronald Mason, President of Jackson State University and SEA Board Chair said, "This NSF Supplement might heighten the interest of K-12 teachers in bringing more ecological science to the classroom and expose minority students to new career options. NEON is examining some important research questions and we are pleased that through the efforts of SEA, K-12 teachers and high school students from underserved communities will now enter the dialogue."

SEA is a Washington; D.C. based non-profit organization established in 1990 "to address the challenge of establishing an ethnically diverse technical workforce prepared to compete in today's global marketplace." Its unique program is dedicated to ensuring that historically underrepresented talent plays a vital role in the nation's scientific and engineering future. It is believed that by working together, SEA will accelerate the production of globally competitive American scientists and engineers among people of color. Public and private sector organizations seeking to enhance their intellectual talent pool can look to SEA member institutions to provide quality scientists and first-rate scientific research.

SEA members include: Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL); Jackson State University (Jackson, MS); Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, TX) and Southern University and A&M College (Baton Rouge, LA), and two national laboratories -- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. SEA serves as a "Unique Resource for the Nation®" that focuses on creating opportunities for access and inclusion of its members more fully in the public and private research and development enterprise.

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