REU Site: Interdisciplinary Research Experiences in Louisiana's Changing Coastal Environments

The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) DeFelice Marine Center, located in Cocodrie, LA, will host a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for eight students each summer. Coastal Louisiana serves as an ideal model system to study climate change impacts as rates of environmental change are substantially greater than most coastal systems in the US and abroad.

The goal of the LUMCON REU site is to provide stimulating, challenging, and lasting research experiences for a highly qualified, diverse cohort of undergraduate student participants interested in careers in coastal and marine science. Specific objectives of the LUMCON REU program are to 1) expose students to a variety of research settings and disciplines of coastal and marine science, 2) facilitate experiences that guide students through the planning, execution, analysis, interpretation, and presentation phases of an independent research project, 3) train students in oral and written communication of science, 4) expose participants to the diversity of scientific career paths and role models, 5) teach participants about the linkages between scientific research and ecosystem management, and 6) develop a cohort of future scientists through common research experiences and opportunities for both formal and informal exchange between students, mentors, other scientists, students, and educators.

This program will prepare participants for a diversity of careers in science, ecosystem management and/or policy by focusing on coastal environmental problems in Louisiana with relevance to issues faced elsewhere in the United States and abroad. Through a series of skill-building workshops and other opportunities, REU interns will learn to effectively communicate science to diverse audiences and outlets—skills beneficial in any pursued career path.

This program will continue to build on a strong history and growing network of contacts to attract diverse cohorts of REU participants, including students from underrepresented and underserved groups in STEM (e.g., underrepresented racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups as well as disabled and non-traditional students and those from non-research institutions). REU interns will be part of LUMCON’s summer community affording them networking opportunities with visiting high school, undergraduate, and graduate students as well as researchers.

The LUMCON REU program integrates research, education, and ecosystem management, a mission shared with LUMCON as an institution. The DeFelice Marine Center’s location on the upper end of Terrebonne Bay and its proximity to the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River deltas, extensive estuaries and coastal wetlands, and coastal waters to the deep-water Gulf makes it an ideal venue for field and experimental based marine science.

An emerging delta (Atchafalaya) and a degrading delta (Mississippi), combined with complex coastal processes (coastal erosion and wetland degradation), and continued nutrient inputs into the coastal zone provide diverse opportunities and challenges for both pure and applied research that have implications for coastal restoration, and flood control, and the vast living resources (oysters, shrimp, crabs, and fin fisheries) in the area. Focal areas of research currently include river/ocean interactions, delta formation and degradation, coastal loss and restoration, biodiversity, behavioral,general, and ecosystem ecology, biogenic systems, organic chemistry, geomicrobiology, biogeochemistry, and acute and chronic anthropogenic and environmental impacts including climate change, eutrophication/hypoxia, ocean acidification, and oil spills on coastal and marine systems.

The combination of mentor research interests and expertise with the diversity of habitats in this region provides a unique opportunity for REU interns to participate in a scientific research and professional mentoring program that interfaces fundamental research questions in dynamic coastal and marine ecosystems with problems central to science-based policy and management activities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.