Celebrate Earth Month by Documenting the World’s Biodiversity! 4/13 through 4/16 online & @ the Field Museum

Dear community scientists!
 
You are receiving this email because you registered and/or kindly participated in a prior WeDigBio event, Meet a Scientist, Members Night, etc. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you will find instructions to unsubscribe after our signatures.
 
Be a part of a global effort to digitize centuries of data about life on Earth! Organisms may include ferns, fungi, mosses, lichens, insects, and mammals. Participants will have an opportunity to meet scientists and join in behind-the-scenes tours or talks about the significance of the scientific collections!
 
WeDigBio will be held online daily from Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th.
 
The Field Museum is kindly welcoming a small group of volunteers to work in-person to assist with the curation process of the botanical collections. This opportunity is on a first-come, first-served basis so please fill out the registration form below. NOTEThe Field Museum will not be offering free parking at this time, only free admission. If you are a docent/volunteer with the museum, you will still be able to use your badge for parking at the West Lot. We are sorry for the inconvenience!
 
To register for this event, please click here.
 
WeDigBio is ideal for teens aged 15+ and adults. However, families are welcome as it is a great opportunity for all age groups to work together.
 
For educators with classes, please contact us directly.
 
Details for all WeDigBio days:
  • A Zoom link will be emailed the day before each session starts regardless if you are participating online or in-person.
  • Check-in will start at 9:30am CDT (10:30am EDT/8:30am MDT/7:30am PDT) whether you are volunteering online or in-person.
  • For in-person volunteering at the Field Museum, volunteers will be checked in at the East Entrance of the museum and must be masked when behind-the-scenes – in compliance with Museum policy.
  • Each event will begin at 10:00am CDT until 1:00pm CDT (11:00am–2:00pm EDT/9:00am–1:00pm MDT/8:00am–12:00pm PDT).
    • Talks and behind-the-scenes tours will be scattered throughout.
Thank you everyone for considering participating in this event!
 
The WeDigBio Team
Matt, Jessica, Miranda, and Yarency

Questions? Reach out to:

Matt von Konrat, Ph.D., FLS

Head of Botanical Collections, Gantz Family Collections Center

Adjunct Curator & McCarter Collections Manager (Bryophytes & Pteridophytes)

pronouns: he/him/his

O: 312.665.7864

 

Field Museum

1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive

Chicago, IL 60605

fieldmuseum.org

 

Apply to the McNair Scholars Program! (There’s Still Room)

The McNair Scholars Program at Roosevelt has extended its deadline for recruiting new scholars for this spring’s 2023 cohort. McNair is a federally funded research based program that aims to develop a student’s understanding of research and supports their scholarly efforts in their respective fields (while providing a $2,800 stipend). The Program supports students in the graduate application process by providing GRE prep material and one-on-one guidance.

Any students who like to do research and are (1) first generation AND low income, OR  (2) from an underrepresented group, please email Noe Ramirez for more information.

nramirez19@roosevelt.edu

mcnair@roosevelt.edu

Get Paid To Do Research this Summer 2021

SUST majors @RooseveltU, particularly those who have had some biology and/or environmental science classes, are in a good position to apply for a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) summer fellowships, offered through generous funding by the National Science Foundation. These fellowships are excellent opportunities to work directly with scientific researchers on lab- and field-based topics, gain hands-on research experience, and network with fellow undergrads from other schools. Plus they’re well compensated with a fellowship stipend of several thousand dollars. (Yes — you read that correctly.)

Chicago Botanic Garden REU Symposium 2015 (Source: CBG)

Chicago Botanic Garden REU Symposium 2015 (Source: CBG)

Here in the Chicago region there are several notable REU programs that offer multiple paid fellowships, including those based in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Biology and Conservation Program (2/5 application deadline) and Northeastern IL University‘s water quality study in the Yucatan Peninsula (2/15 deadline).

Further afield, there are many other opportunities available in Illinois, in the Midwest, and across the US. Two excellent ones, for example, are the Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region program at the University of Michigan Biological Station (2/15 deadline) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Summer Student Fellowship program (2/5 deadline). Both have very generous stipends and are phenomenal places to spend a summer doing field-based environmental research! (Coincidentally, SUST prof Mike Bryson worked at both of these sites back in his college days in the late 1980s, when the REU program was a new thing.)

Interested applicants should also check out the NSF’s REU Students website for access to dozens of fellowships opportunities across across the US. Consult individual program sites for 2020 application materials and deadlines, which are usually in late January or throughout February/March.

Back in summer 2012, SUST alum Allison Breeding (BA ’13) won a REU fellowship at SIU’s Center for Ecology and studied agroecology in beautiful Southern Illinois. She blogged about her experiences here and presented an overview of her research at the October 2013 Sustainability Studies Student Symposium.

Want to learn more? Check out the links above! And remember: you can’t get one of these awesome fellowships unless you apply . . .

From the NSF Website (REU For Students):

NSF funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in the research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, where he/she works closely with the faculty and other researchers. Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance with housing and travel. Undergraduate students supported with NSF funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions. An REU Site may be at either a US or foreign location.

By using the web page, Search for an REU Site, you may examine opportunities in the subject areas supported by various NSF units. Also, you may search by keywords to identify sites in particular research areas or with certain features, such as a particular location.

Students must contact the individual sites for information and application materials. NSF does not have application materials and does not select student participants. A contact person and contact information is listed for each site.

Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposia in April 2019 & RU Workshop this Friday 2/22

This is a great opportunity for RU students in all disciplines to present their research, get public speaking experience, receive feedback from faculty experts on their work, network with fellow students at Chgo-area universities, and build professional credentials for their work résumés or grad school applications.

In addition, the Office of Student Research @RooseveltU is running a student workshop this Fri 2/22 at 1pm on the Chgo Campus geared toward preparing students for the RU Student Research Symposium on Fri 4/12 and/or the CAURS on Sat 4/13. See below for details!

Research Presentation Workshop @RU, 2/22, 1pm Learning Commons

Access the pdf of the above image.

 

FOIA Workshop Session @RU Monday 2/18

SUST and SOC majors, check out this excellent workshop at RU scheduled for tomorrow, Mon 2/18, at 11am in AUD 314. (See this pdf).

This workshop is ideal for students in my current SUST 340 Policy, Law, & Ethics course, as well as for all SUST and SOC majors. If you’re on campus tomorrow and free at 11, I highly recommend attending! However, if you’re unable to make it, no worries: there will be handouts available — and Prof. Cusac is a good colleague of mine who would be happy to speak with you individually about how FOIA requests could enhance your environmental/sociological research.

RU Students! Apply Now for Funding thru the Office of Student Research

To my RU students and advisees — the new Office of Student Research is currently accepting proposals (due Nov. 15) for student research projects for Spring 2019. See below for details, and check out the OSR website for more info. Contact me via email if you have an idea and want to brainstorm. This is a phenomenal opportunity to get funding do a scholarly, campus- or community-based, and/or creative project and, in the process, build your professional résumé!

The Office of Student Research offers financial and academic support to help students interested in developing and executing research and mission-related creative and scholarly projects. OSR initiatives support students at each stage of the research process, from connecting with mentors and securing funding, to gaining research skills, to sharing results with the Roosevelt University community and beyond. The OSR also provides professional development, graduate school preparation resources, and information on nationally competitive summer programs and fellowships.

Fellowships – The OSR provides several types of fellowship awards to support students engaged in research and mission-related scholarship projects:

Early Research and Scholarship Fellowships ($1,000)
Available to all Roosevelt University students, especially first- and second-year undergraduate students, to begin research and creative scholarship early in their studies.

To learn more about eligibility, the application process, and expectations download the complete pdf guide

Advanced Research and Scholarship Fellowships ($2,000)
Available to all Roosevelt University students, especially third- and fourth-year undergraduate students and recent transfer students, to conduct advanced research and complete creative scholarship. Several fellowships are reserved for graduate students who wish to conduct research early in their studies, although fellowships will be approved for thesis completion.

To learn more about eligibility, the application process, and expectations download the complete pdf guide

Community-based Research Fellowships (Based on funding/project)
Available to all Roosevelt University students who wish to conduct applied, collaborative, community-based research. Students awarded these fellowships will join existing university-community collaborative projects, working as part of a team.

**OSR fellowships are not the only Roosevelt program providing research funding. Honors students should explore research opportunities in the Honors Program. Contact the McNair Scholars Program to learn if you are eligible to participate in this federally-funded program offering research, mentorship, and graduate school preparation resources.

Research and Scholarship Supply Funds – Students awarded a Research and Scholarship Fellowship will receive a stipend. The stipend is intended to provide the student adequate time to complete the project. Students and mentors can apply separately for up to $300-$400 in a research budget.

Research and Scholarship Travel Funds – The OSR provides resources and travel funding for students presenting their work at discipline-based, regional, and/or national conferences. If you need travel money to conduct your research, please consider this when developing your budget.

Wildness: Relations of People and Place

Wildness 2017 UofChgoPThis March saw the publication of the new book Wildness: Relations of People and Place, edited by Gavin Van Horn and John Hausdoerffer (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2017), an environmental humanities project sponsored by the Center for Humans and Nature. Part 3 of the book, entitled Urban Wild, includes an essay I co-wrote with Mr. Michael Howard, a Chicago community leader, conservationist, and environmental educator: “Cultivating the Wild on Chicago’s South Side: Stories of People and Nature at Eden Place Nature Center.”

I’m fortunate to have been part of this wonderful project, which began with a writer’s retreat in September of 2014 in Crested Butte, CO, featuring writing workshops by the award-winning scientist and nature writer, Robert Michael Pyle (whose own essay follows a poem by none other than the legendary Gary Snyder). My interviews and writing sessions with Mr. Howard at Eden Place in 2015, and the three semesters I’ve worked there with my students each fall since 2014, have made getting a sense of this special place in the world an immensely gratifying experience. Thanks to Gavin and John for shepherding this project through its publication!

From the book’s promo page on the Univ. of Chicago Press website:

Whether referring to a place, a nonhuman animal or plant, or a state of mind, wild indicates autonomy and agency, a will to be, a unique expression of life. Yet two contrasting ideas about wild nature permeate contemporary discussions: either that nature is most wild in the absence of a defiling human presence, or that nature is completely humanized and nothing is truly wild.

Eden Place Nature Center, Sept 2014 (M. Bryson)
Eden Place Nature Center, Sept 2014 (M. Bryson)

This book charts a different path. Exploring how people can become attuned to the wild community of life and also contribute to the well-being of the wild places in which we live, work, and play, Wildness brings together esteemed authors from a variety of landscapes, cultures, and backgrounds to share their stories about the interdependence of everyday human lifeways and wildness. As they show, far from being an all or nothing proposition, wildness exists in variations and degrees that range from cultivated soils to multigenerational forests to sunflowers pushing through cracks in a city alley. Spanning diverse geographies, these essays celebrate the continuum of wildness, revealing the many ways in which human communities can nurture, adapt to, and thrive alongside their wild nonhuman kin.

From the contoured lands of Wisconsin’s Driftless region to remote Alaska, from the amazing adaptations of animals and plants living in the concrete jungle to indigenous lands and harvest ceremonies, from backyards to reclaimed urban industrial sites, from microcosms to bioregions and atmospheres, manifestations of wildness are everywhere. With this book, we gain insight into what wildness is and could be, as well as how it might be recovered in our lives—and with it, how we might unearth a more profound, wilder understanding of what it means to be human.

Visit the Center for Humans and Nature’s Wildness website for upcoming events and a series of related short films, including one of Michael Howard and Michael Bryson talking about Eden Place.

Eden Place video for WildnessClick on the image above to go to the video interview of Michael Howard (pictured) and Michael Bryson at Eden Place Nature Center.