Please see the below opportunity for the second year of the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site “Preparing the Next Generation of Scholars through Community GIS and Citizen Science.” The program offers fully funded summer research experiences for at least 8 undergraduate students in Belize for 5 weeks and Orlando for two weeks hosted at the University of Central Florida. The program is open to all currently enrolled U.S. undergraduate students and runs June 19-August 4, 2017. We are interdisciplinary in nature emphasizing community geography, community GIS, and citizen science through mixed methods, including sketch mapping, mobile mapping applications, focus groups, in-depth interviews, GIS, and spatial analysis. Last year we had participants from a range of academic backgrounds including environmental science, geography, urban planning, marine biology, geology, public health, and more. We are very much interested in recruiting a diverse suite of researchers for this summer! Please see below for more information on the specifics of our program (and feel free to share with your networks or post the attached flyer as well in your departments). Thank you very much for your support! We hope you’ll distribute to any interested students!
Research opportunities: Students will work in one of two research directions with community partners and mentors from University of Central Florida, University of Belize, Georgia State University, The Hopkins Belize Village Council, and The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems
Program:
- Research Direction 1: Mapping disparities in flooding & disaster management
- Research Direction 2: Mapping marine debris & mitigating impacts on coastal communities
Compensation: Each REU student will receive a competitive funding package, including a $3500 research stipend, a meal allowance, free shared housing in Belize and Orlando, up to $750 in travel support to/from the REU Site, up to $750 for post-REU conference travel, and 2 research methods books.Application process: The priority application deadline is Friday, February 17 @ 5 PM EST. Complete program information and application instructions can be found at http://www.citizensciencegis.org/ucf-reu-site/.Student reflections from the field: “Challenging, emotional, fun, collaborative, thought-provoking, interesting, real-life, and eye-opening.” These are some of the words used by students to describe our previous research program. Check out a short video from our REU Year 1 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5zSFKw7F24&feature=youtu.beQuestions can be directed to:Dr. Timothy Hawthorne: Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Systems at University of Central Floridao timothy.hawthorne@ucf.eduo phone: 407.823.1030Dr. Christy Visaggi: Co-Principal Investigator, Lecturer and Undergraduate Program Director in Geosciences at Georgia State Universityo cvisaggi@gsu.eduo phone: 404.413.5755