Harvard Forest Announces New Research Course

In response to a University-wide call to expand small group, experiential study in the sciences, the Harvard Forest will launch a new course and expand its summer research opportunities for Harvard Undergraduates this Spring. The new course, OEB 122 - Field Research in Ecology and Conservation, features hands-on field training and student research activities. Course highlights include:

• Participation in small discussion groups in Ecology and Conservation Biology while developing projects with individual members of the Harvard faculty.
• On-campus classes, field trips, and workshops at the Harvard Forest
• Readings of scientific literature, formal training in field and lab techniques, and workshops on data analysis, presentation, and scientific writing.
• Multi-disciplinary topics and project in areas as varied as population and community ecology, paleoecology, land-use history, aquatic ecology, biochemistry, soil science, ecophysiology, and atmosphere-biosphere exchanges.

Participating research mentors include from the Harvard Forest Director Dr. David Foster, researchers Dr. Aaron Ellison and Dr. Kristina Stinson, Faculty in the department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology: Drs. Missy Holbrook, Kathleen Donohue, and Paul Moorcroft and Earth and Planetary Sciences Dr. Steve Wofsy.

The course runs both semesters. The spring course, OEB 122a, emphasizes field research methods and the fall course, OEB 122b, provides a formal structure and workshop setting for advanced data analysis, scientific writing, and presentation skills.