Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology Pre/Post Survey 2006-2015

Program Context Since its inception in 1985, when a single undergraduate worked on a study of old-growth forests, the Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology (HF-SRPE) has developed into a thriving and well-coordinated program that is central to the educational and research mission of the biological field station. With core support since 1993 from a succession of NSF REU Site awards and NSF REU supplements, and with additional funding from Harvard University, HF-SRPE has grown to support 20-30 undergraduate students annually. Students are mentored by principle investigators and senior scientists in conducting research in ecology, soil science, paleoecology, wildlife biology, conservation biology, and atmospheric sciences. The research conducted by our HF-SRPE students contributes substantially to long-term scientific investigations supported by NSF’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) – Earth Ventures (EV) programs, The Smithsonian Institution’s ForestGEO network of plots, and Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC). The overarching objectives of the program are to: enhance the ability of students to undertake high-quality interdisciplinary research; build teams of researchers in which students bring different strengths to the table, collaborate on cutting-edge projects, and find their own intellectual “voice”; encourage students to link fundamental and applied issues in their research; and cultivate the next generation of ecological scientists and educators that reflects the diversity of backgrounds and experiences of students in the United States. Problem Statement Starting in 2005 the National Science Foundation (NSF), as one of the largest funders of undergraduate research programs, began emphasizing the use of project evaluations to both qualitatively and quantitatively measure the success of REU programs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Supplements and Sites: Program Solicitation NSF 05-592, 2005). One of the primary objectives of this initiative was to evaluate the degree of student learning aligned with specific programmatic goals. A comprehensive assessment tool for BIO REU programs would not implemented until 2010 using the Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment (URSSA) survey. Although the implementation of URSSA does provide national programmatic benchmarks, it is limited to a single post assessment which does not capture the change associated with the intervention project. This inability to capture the degree of gains is further exacerbated by the high caliber students recruited by HF-SRPE, presumably entering with more extensive skillsets.