Research Partnerships:
UC Davis Biological Invasions IGERT
Strategies to Promote Diversity
Nobleboro, Maine
12 March 2007
Carole L. Hom
Academic Coordinator, UC Davis Biological Invasions IGERT
Western Regional Representative,
Institute for Broadening Participation
clhom@ucdavis.edu
UC Davis
• Northernmost campus in the UC system
• Land grant: research, teaching, public service
• Fall 2006 enrollment of 30,500 students total
– 23,500 undergraduates
– 65% science majors
– over 60% of undergraduates are non-white
UC Davis
• Interdisciplinary graduate study predominates (86
programs)
– e.g., Ecology Graduate Group: over 100 faculty from over a
dozen academic departments
• Collegial student-faculty relationships
UC Davis outreach and professional
development: graduate
• AGEP (University of California Alliance)
– Incoming students: summer transitional program
– Continuing students: academic year enrichment and mentoring
• Professors for the Future
– Fellowship program designed to develop the leadership skills
of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who have
demonstrated their commitment to professionalism, integrity,
and academic service
• Professional Development series: open to all students
• Teaching Resources Center: teaching methods for
faculty, grad students, and postdocs
UC Davis outreach and professional
development: undergraduate
• McNair Scholars
• Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program
– Academic development, research, mentoring
• Research programs for minority students in physical
and agricultural sciences
• Annual campus-wide undergraduate research
conference
– Annual, since 1989
– Hundreds of participants in concurrent oral and poster
sessions
Outreach and professional
development: undergraduate
• Summer Undergraduate Research Program
(http://www.gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/surp/index.html)
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UC Davis Graduate Studies initiative
research and academic development
housing and stipend provided
for students in any field, from any institution
• REU at Bodega Marine Laboratory
"...the REU program is your opportunity to explore
and have fun during the summer. A todas las
mujeres Latinas echenle ganas y puro pa' adelante."
-Angelica Zavala, UC Davis
2005 REU participant
What are Biological Invasions?
• organisms that have evolved
somewhere, been
transported to someplace
else, spread rapidly, and
become problems in their
new environment
• exemplars of environmental
problems
• require interdisciplinary
approaches to solve
Yellow starthistle has infested 32% of
California rangelands and created
environmental and economic problems
IGERT research partnerships
• Between different academic
units
– Ecology
– Molecular biology and
genetics
– Resource economics
– Environmental history and
cultural studies
– Policy and law
– and others
Ecology, economics, and history students in
the 2004 cohort found discrepancies between
strategies advocated by scientists to control
yellow starthistle and what cattle ranchers
actually use under constraints of available
information, time, and money
Research partnerships…
• Between academics, agencies, and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs)
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The Nature Conservancy
California Department of Food and Agriculture
California Invasive Plant Council
and others
• Internships
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Agencies and NGOs listed above
Gulf of Farallones National Marine Reserve
Ecological Society of America policy office (Washington DC)
The Davis Enterprise (daily newspaper)
• Agency staff advise students on year-long student
projects
Products
• Publications
– voluntary control initiatives in the horticultural
industry (Burt et al. 2007, Biological Invasions)
– Invasive plants’ impact on California Indian
basketweavers (Pfeiffer and Huerta Ortiz, 2007,
Fremontia)
Ely Huerta Ortiz (at left) participated
in the basketweaver project as an
undergraduate and now is working
as an environmental educator before
starting graduate study in
ethnobotany
Products
• Environmental documentary film
– Envisioned, written, and filmed by trainees
(http://cpb.ucdavis.edu/bioinv/projects/pike/)
Fear and Fishing in Lake Davis
vividly portrays the clash
between a local community and
state government over controlling
the invasive northern pike.
"Fear and Fishing... superbly captures
the complexity of issues surrounding
biological invasions, and it clearly
demonstrates that science alone will
not lead to effective resource
management if local stakeholders are
not engaged." (Simberloff, review in
the journal Biological Invasions)
Products
• High school curriculum for environmental education
– Intended for use by the Center for Land-based Learning
(http://www.landbasedlearning.org/about.php)
– Targets students in the greater Sacramento region; many
English-language learners with over 30 languages spoken
at home
The Center for Land
Based Learning brings
together students and
adults from diverse
ethnic and cultural
communities to work as
a team in learning
about the environment
and agriculture.
“It makes a difference to
the community and it
changes your attitude
toward biology and
Outreach and recruitment
• Augmenting the pipeline
– Undergraduate researchers: research, mentoring,
professional development
– Cooperation with McNair Scholars program and other
UC Davis outreach programs to target
undergraduates from underrepresented groups
2005-2006 undergraduates: now
working in science or science
education, or starting grad school at
U Wisconsin or Harvard
Two Latina, one Native American/
disabled, one hearing impaired
Outreach and recruitment
• BioInvasions faculty and grad students recruit at minority
student events at professional society meetings
• Faculty recruit at SACNAS, HBCU-UP, ABRCMS
• Campus participation in California Diversity Forum
(http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/forum-for-diversity/recruiters/index.html)
– Graduate recruitment fair that targets minority students
– Fall: northern California, spring: southern California
– 3 November 2007 at UC Davis
• Strategies for Ecology Education, Development and
Sustainability (SEEDS) chapter
– program of the Ecological Society of America
– Organized by UC Davis students and faculty, goal is to broaden
participation in ecology
Outreach and recruitment
• Partnership with Howard University (HBCU) and
California State University, Fullerton (Hispanic serving
institution)
– sites of Undergrad Mentoring in Environmental Biology
programs
– UC Davis faculty visit for seminar, info sessions on graduate
school
– Howard and CSUF faculty and students do summer research
at UC Davis
– Howard and CSUF faculty and students attend UC Davis
IGERT fall conference
Retention
• Web of mentoring: faculty, staff, peers
• Close-knit student community formed through
coursework and challenges of year-long project
• 100% retention in
Biological Invasions
IGERT
IGERT students from three cohorts at
2005 fall conference