Chapter Directory > Iowa State University
"Iowa State University SEEDS" » Ames, Iowa
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The Iowa State University SEEDS Campus Ecology Chapter serves to recruit and retain more underrepresented students (high school and undergraduates) in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
field. Our chapter works with high school students, undergraduates, and several faculty and staff affiliated with the university and outside the university community as well. Our work helps give
students hands-on exposure to the field which will spark and nurture their interests in ecology. Our SEEDS Chapter activities and collaborations will help seal the pipeline that has documented to have a "leak" in it from as early as
the high school level. We help motivate high school and undergraduate students to pursue advanced degrees in Ecology and become employed in the field of Ecology as well. |
Plans for 2007-2008
- On 11-12 May 2007, the TREE (Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology) students will participate in team building, camping, and outdoor activities such as GPS locating, finding and appreciating reptiles, and "processing" these reptiles by measuring and visually observing, in preparation for the two-week program in June. Here, students will meet their mentors and each other, find out about the research that will take place in June, and get brief experience living and working in the outdoors.
- In June 2007, undergraduate and high school TREE students will arrive at Turtle Camp. Research, education, mentoring, and outreach activities will take place during the two-week period while TREE students are present at Turtle Camp. TREE students will participate in research on the nesting ecology of painted turtles and will work closely with a team of undergraduate and graduate students on one of three additional research projects. Each team will present research findings in early August 2007 at a poster session at ISU. In addition, TREE participants will engage in outreach activities in which the students will explain their research projects to the public and will assist in creating informational brochures to distribute to the public.
- In January 2008, TREE students will be encouraged to attend and present their research at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology that will take place in San Antonio, Texas.
- SEEDS members will post flyers throughout campus to advertise TREE and SEEDS.
- In August 2007, TREE students will present posters of team research projects at the Research Experience for Undergraduates Symposium at ISU.
- Two undergraduates will present posters at the Program for Women in Science and Engineering symposium in August 2007.
- In mid-September 2007, TREE students will return to Turtle Camp with faculty and student mentors to excavate painted turtle nests and retrieve hatchling turtles for further study.
- Jeramie Strickland will introduce SEEDS and TREE to ISU's MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences) Program. This linkage will occur during the MANRRS Welcome Back Reception that will take place in October 2007. The purpose of this introduction is to help create a collaborative partnership between both groups. This collaboration will expand SEEDS involvement in seminars, workshops, and outreach/community service during the upcoming academic year.
- The ISU SEEDS team will apply for a SEEDS Chapter Maintenance Grant to further promote SEEDS and TREE along with support meetings and mixers that will take place in the near future.
- The ISU SEEDS team will apply for another SEEDS Special Project to support TREE, possibly in summer 2008.
2006-2007 Activities
- Iowa State University (ISU) joined the SEEDS Campus Ecology Chapter Network in late Fall 2006. Six students were originally in the chapter and we are proud to announce that our chapter membership has increased to seventeen students, including six high school students who are a part of an outreach program.
- ISU's SEEDS Campus Ecology Chapter was awarded a Special Project Grant in Spring 2007 in support of a high school outreach program entitled, "Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology", or TREE. This program is an intensive two-week research and education program for high school students interested in ecology and biology. We have applied for additional financial support for the TREE Program from the National Science Foundation.
- ISU SEEDS Chapter and TREE Program formed a collaborative partnership with Science Bound. Science Bound is a program that encourages the involvement of ethnic students from Des Moines, Iowa public schools in science and math. Initially, a meeting was planned with the ISU Science Bound Program high school students to distribute TREE applications. Due to dangerous weather conditions, that late February event was cancelled. As a result, we recruited high school participants by distributing applications for the TREE program directly to teachers of Science Bound students and additional individuals in the area who showed interest.
- Finally, two ISU SEEDS students received travel awards from the SEEDS Program. Kyndra Lundquist received a travel award to attend the June 1-8, 2007 Field Trip to Chiapas, Mexico. Jeramie Strickland received an alumni travel award to attend the 92nd Annual Meeting of the ESA as a SEEDS Alumni Mentor.
"Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology Program (TREE)" Special Project |
Since 1988, Professor Fred Janzen of Iowa State University (ISU) has researched reptile ecology on and around an island in the Mississippi River, affectionately known as Turtle Camp. These activities primarily take place annually from mid-May to the end of June, during which time Professor Janzen and his students live and work on the island. Given the well-established nature of Turtle Camp, and the high quality of research and education that take place there, we believe that it serves as an outstanding framework on which to build a high school and undergraduate student research, education and mentoring program. The Turtle Camp Research and Education in Ecology (TREE) program will provide students with an opportunity to conduct ecological research on organisms in their natural environments, learn key ecological concepts, discuss their work with the public and the scientific community, and participate in multilevel reciprocal mentoring. High school and undergraduate student participants will come from diverse ethnic, economic and social backgrounds, and thus, TREE will further the mission of SEEDS by immersing traditionally-underrepresented students in an environment of intensive ecological education and research. |
Faculty Advisor
Fredric Janzen, PhD
Professor of Ecology
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Iowa State University
253 Bessey Hall
Ames, IA 50011
