This experience will be held in Costa Rica from June 9 to August 10, 2016. Students will live at La Selva Biological Station during the entire nine-week research experience.
OTS and the National Science Foundation offer two Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Programs in Costa Rica to provide hands-on, field-oriented research experience for undergraduate students from the United States. One program is supported by NSF, and the other is supported by LSAMP-NSF (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Program).
Students will complete an independent research project in the field with an experienced tropical ecologist, from the project planning stage to symposium presentation and potential publication. Twenty undergraduates will be selected through a competitive application process for an nine week research program at the world renowned La Selva Biological Station in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. The program provides students with a first-hand insight at the challenges and rewards of tropical field ecology. Students will live immersed in a rich academic community of researchers conducting novel tropical research, and they will attend workshops on field skills, current research in tropical biology, international research ethics, statistics, and scientific written and oral communication. Participants also have access to the social, cultural, and recreational activities of rural communities surrounding La Selva.
The OTS REU award covers the cost of room and board and international travel to and from Costa Rica. Participants will also receive a stipend of $4,000 for their 9 weeks of research.
Who can apply? The NSF-OTS REU program is open to undergraduates who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents enrolled at accredited U.S. institutions. Graduating seniors (May or August 2016) and students from R-1 research universities are not eligible. The LSAMP REU program is open to undergraduates who are (1) U.S. citizens or permanent residents, (2) members of underrepresented minority groups (African-American, Hispanic, and/or Native American), and (3) enrolled in a LSAMP program. Graduating seniors (May or August 2016) are not eligible.
The application deadline is January 31, 2016.
For more information on our program, please visit www.tropicalstudies.org/reu
