REU Site: Tropical Ecology and Evolution at El Verde Field Station, Puerto Rico

This REU Site award to the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, will support the training of eight students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2016 - 2020. Research is conducted at El Verde Field Station, located at El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. The program focuses on Tropical Ecology and Evolution -- the study of plant population biology, stream ecology and aquatic insect dynamics, forest ecology, arthropod biology, and coevolution in tropical rainforest. El Verde is the base of operations of the program and of many tropical researchers and the Luquillo LTER program. Students develop independent projects under the advice of faculty mentors, spending most of their time conducting research and attending seminars and workshops on scientific data analysis and techniques to study tropical systems. The program also provides workshops on relevant topics, such as graduate school application process. A responsible conduct in science component is also provided to discuss issues commonly encountered by students during their careers. Student selection is based on their research interest, academic record, and potential for outstanding research in biological sciences. The project PI makes a short list and mentors make the final selection.

It is anticipated that a total of 40 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities, will be trained in the program. This program focuses on students with interest in ecological research and in pursuing graduate studies. Students will learn how research is conducted, many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences, and some will publish their work in peer-reviewed journals.

A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure (Directorate for Biological Sciences) will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine student career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. Applications are accepted starting in December every year. More information is available by visiting http://reu.ites.upr.edu/ or by contacting the PI (Dr. Ramirez at reu@ites.upr.edu).