By: Tiffany Whitfield
Students from United States colleges or universities have an opportunity to pursue international research thanks to a recent grant secured through the National Science Foundation. Associate Professor David Gauthier of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University and Associate Professor Chris Bird of Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, Corpus-Christi, were recently awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students (NSF-IRES).
The collaborative Philippines International Research Experience for Students project (Ph-IRES) is related to the current NSF-PIRE grant (PI: Kent Carpenter, Professor of Biological Sciences, ODU) "Centennial Genetic and Species Transformations in the Epicenter of Marine Biodiversity" and will provide authentic international research experiences at Silliman University (SU), in the Philippines. Fifteen undergraduates will receive a $5,000 stipend to expand their knowledge in biodiversity while studying abroad in the Philippines.
"This experience will prepare students for future international collaborative work in research and other settings and will also provide them with unique perspectives on the diversity of research methods and environments," said Gauthier. Students will publish and present their work, increasing their competitiveness and setting them up for success in graduate or professional programs.
The Philippines has more marine species per unit area than any other place on Earth and includes an epicenter of biodiversity in the central region of the Archipelago. The Philippines also ranks highest globally for threats to marine biodiversity and is a hotspot of fisheries overexploitation. "There are numerous threats to the biodiversity of coral reefs and other marine habitats in the Philippines from habitat destruction and climate change," said Gauthier. "However, as in other parts of the ocean, overexploitation is the most prominent threat to marine fishes."
Society relies upon marine resources for food security, and the research performed by Ph-IRES students will contribute to sustainable fish harvesting by helping us understand how our activities affect their evolution. Marine populations in the Philippines have been severely impacted by intense fisheries exploitation and habitat degradation in the past century, thereby providing an excellent system to test for relationships between anthropogenic activities and biodiversity of fishes, fish population connectivity, marine fish evolution, and fish health.
Ph-IRES students travel to the Philippines in late May and spend the 8 weeks working in the laboratories of marine scientists at SU. Projects will include molecular barcoding of marine reef species, examination of how exploitation affects fish growth and maturity, effects of microplastics on fish health, and how human activities affect marine reef fishes. To promote group learning, collaboration, and teamwork, there will opportunities to exchange feedback with students in the sister PIRE REU program. Students will also participate in a one-week intensive bioinformatics workshop, working alongside graduate and undergraduate students from SU. After returning from the Philippines, Ph-IRES students will travel to the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM conference to present their work and will receive continuing mentorship with the goal of publishing their summer research.
Although the Philippines is currently completely closed to foreign visitors due to COVID-19, "We are working on several contingency plans right now, including an in-person experience in the Philippines as originally planned, a remote option where students work at ODU or TAMUCC under remote guidance from Filipino mentors, or even pushing the program to next summer," said Gauthier.
Undergraduate students from ODU, TAMUCC, Arizona State or Rutgers University (PIRE institutions) can apply to the NSF PIRE program here.