Professor Tracy Gartner
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Professor Tracy Gartner and collaborators recently published a paper detailing approaches for incorporating on-going, collaborative research projects into the undergraduate experience in order to better prepare students to interpret and engage in science of the future. The article, “Strategies for incorporating long-term, distributed-network research projects into the undergraduate curriculum: lessons from the Ecological Research as Education Network’s decomposition project,” appears in the March 2020 edition of “American Biology Teacher.”

The Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN), was created in 2010 by a team of 18 faculty from 14 undergraduate institutions, including Carthage. The network, which was funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Coordination Networks-Undergraduate Biology Education Program, grew rapidly. EREN’s current membership includes more than 350 faculty representing over 200 institutions from diverse countries, and it is estimated that over 4000 students have been involved with EREN projects or EREN data in courses, independent studies, or summer research experiences. While many other distributed networks exist, most tend to be narrowly focused on a single topic. By contrast, EREN includes a wide variety of research specialties and has an explicit focus on the undergraduate level, with projects that are appropriate for students at two- and four-year institutions.

Prof. Gartner, along with former colleague and friend Professor Carolyn Thomas (Ferrum College), coordinated one of the first on-going projects that was built into the EREN grant as a test of the PUI-collaboration concept. The project (Decomposition in Aquatic and Terrestrial Invaded Systems, or DATIS) examined leaf decomposition rates from native and non-native woody species across a gradient of sites to assess if and when decay rates of non-native leaf litter were faster than their native counterparts. This is important because as communities shift in composition in response to environmental change, nutrient retention and carbon storage ability may also shift in response, with implications for long term ecosystem health.

In addition to its scientific relevance, the DATIS project within EREN offers a good model for examining how to minimize challenges and maximize opportunities associated with classroom use of long-term, collaborative research projects. The “American Biology Teacher” publication identifies 11 key challenges of this approach, providing practical solutions for each, with the goal of informing and inspiring others seeking to engage in research at the undergraduate level, either as potential research coordinators or as collaborators in an existing network.

SPONSORING DEPARTMENT, OFFICE, OR ORGANIZATION:

Environmental Science; Biology

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Tracy Gartner, tgartner@carthage.edu