Undergraduate Programs
The Hubbard Brook Research Foundation conducts undergraduate training year-round. Though our major program is a 10-week Research Experience for Undergraduates program in the summer months, additional efforts include development of ecological data-based lessons, partnerships with visiting undergraduate classes and a Winter Ecosystems course held in early January.
Research Experience for Undergraduates Program
Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (HBRF), in cooperation with Plymouth State University, scientists of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, and the U.S. Forest Service, offers a unique undergraduate summer research experience based at the Hubbard Brook Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The program emphasizes the societal relevance of ecology and ecosystem science and is designed to appeal to students interested in both ecosystem research and the communication of ecosystem science to broad audiences.
Congratulations to the nine students selected for the 2013 program, who hail from Bates, Dickinson, Hobart and William Smith and St. Olaf colleges, Cornell and Plymouth State Universities, and the universities of Delaware, Montana and Vermont. Students will participate in mentors’ research projects as well as design their own research within the same topics. Projects fall under the broad themes of animal ecology, biogeochemistry, soil hydrology, forests and carbon, and ecosystem services.
HBRF is grateful to the mentors who make this program possible: Scott Bailey (USDA-FS and Plymouth State University), Claire Bayer (Montana State University), Joe Boyer (Plymouth State University), Don Buso, (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies), Charlie Cogbill, Natalie Cleavitt (Cornell University), Jon Davenport (Montana State University), Tim Fahey (Cornell University), Gene Likens (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies), Windsor Lowe (Montana State University), Kevin McGuire (Virginia Tech), Michele Pruyn (Plymouth State University), Shannon Rogers (Plymouth State University), and Tammy Wooster (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies).
College and University Field Trips
We offer tours to college and university classes from May through October. We request course instructors to provide us with their course syllabus and brief written statements describing how the site visit is incorporated into the course curriculum. This helps us tailor tours to the needs of the course and provides us with data on how our field trips fit into higher education. For more information, please contact the Programs Director.
Winter Field Courses
Our first Winter Ecosystems course was piloted in January, 2010 as a first step towards offering winter field courses at Hubbard Brook. Seven scientists and staff presented a 4-day Winter Ecosystems module as a major part of a winter ecology course offered at neighboring Plymouth State University. We expect to build on this effort and offer some form of a winter course each winter, targeting regional teachers and undergraduates in alternating years.