Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology URSSA Survey since 2006

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 objective of this initiative, reaffirmed by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, is to track the success and outcomes of REU participants. Section 514 of this Act requires that “student participants are tracked, for employment and continued matriculation in STEM fields, through receipt of the undergraduate degree and for at least 3 years thereafter”. Beginning in 2010, there was an initiative among BIO REU programs to use a standard assessment tool to measure learning gains based on student participation in REU programs. The Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment (URSSA) was selected and, and although not required, this assessment instrument was recommended as a standardized comparison tool.项目背景 自1985年一名本科生开展老龄森林研究以来，哈佛森林生态学夏季研究项目（Harvard Forest Summer Research Program in Ecology, HF-SRPE）已发展为一项蓬勃发展且协调规范的项目，成为该生物野外站教育与研究使命的核心组成部分。自1993年起，该项目获得了美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation, NSF）多轮本科生研究体验计划（Research Experiences for Undergraduates, REU）站点资助及REU补充资助的核心支持，并辅以哈佛大学的额外资金，如今每年可支持20至30名本科生参与。项目由首席研究员与资深科学家担任导师，指导学生开展生态学、土壤科学、古生态学、野生动物生物学、保护生物学及大气科学领域的研究。HF-SRPE学生所开展的研究，对多项长期科学调查起到了重要支撑作用，这些调查包括美国国家科学基金会的长期生态研究（Long-Term Ecological Research, LTER）与国家生态观测站网络（National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON）、美国国家航空航天局（NASA）地球系统科学探路者（Earth System Science Pathfinder, ESSP）-地球探索计划（Earth Ventures, EV）项目、史密森学会的ForestGEO样地网络，以及美国能源部（Department of Energy, DOE）全球环境变化国家研究所（National Institute for Global Environmental Change, NIGEC）相关工作。本项目的总体目标包括：提升学生开展高质量跨学科研究的能力；组建研究团队，让学生发挥各自所长，合作开展前沿课题研究，并形成自身的学术见解；鼓励学生在研究中兼顾基础与应用问题；培养兼具多元背景与经历的下一代生态学家与教育者，以反映美国学生群体的多样性。 问题陈述 2005年起，作为本科生研究项目最大资助方之一的美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation, NSF）开始强调采用项目评估手段，从定性与定量两个维度衡量REU项目的成效（《本科生研究体验计划补充与站点：项目征集NSF 05-592》，2005年）。该倡议的目标之一经2010年《美国竞争力再授权法案》再次确认，即追踪REU参与者的发展与成果。该法案第514条要求“对学生参与者进行追踪，覆盖其获得本科学位后的就业及STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）领域的持续升学情况，且追踪时长至少为毕业后3年”。2010年起，生物领域REU项目开始倡议采用标准化评估工具，以衡量学生参与REU项目后的学习收获。最终选定了本科生研究学生自我评估（Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment, URSSA），尽管该评估工具并非强制要求，但仍被推荐作为标准化对比工具。