Education at the AM-CC

Juniors and seniors in high school are matched with mentors throughout the Museum so they can learn about the inner workings of the Museum. They pursue projects in both the scientific and operational departments, from the molecular biology lab to the planetarium, and from security to public relations. They gain experience in the sciences, in education, exhibition, development, visitor services, and various administrative fields.

The AMCC has been participating to the Inside View program with the support of Abby Remer (Education Department) since the opening of the facilities and has, as of July 2002, been welcoming three 'Inside Viewers'. The students are paired with a curatorial assistants and work with him or her on every aspect of the facilities, from building up the bibliographical references to accessioning samples into the AMCC freezers and database.

Since 1989 the American Museum of Natural History's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs have attracted outstanding students from diverse academic and social backgrounds and brought them into the museum's research community. Our programs revolve around projects which have been carefully designed to introduce undergraduates to the challenge and excitement of research in evolutionary biology and collections-based science. Most students enter the program with little hands- on research experience, and few have a solid grounding in contemporary organismic or systematic biology. Nonetheless, they leave the program with a solid understanding of the nature and relevance of systematics and collections-based research, and with an invigorated confidence in their abilities as "problem-solvers" and communicators.

In addition to the hands-on experience of research and publication, the programs include a series of roundtable discussions, facilitated by the PI, in which students discuss their research programs, "show and tell" latest findings, and discuss their ideas and experiences in an informal and friendly setting. A special lecture series introduces students to eminent museum scientists whose lectures address current debates in evolutionary biology, systematics, conservation biology, and the role of museum research and collections in each of these areas. Many student projects additionally include fieldwork components giving participants a much-valued opportunity to experience field research techniques and protocols.

REU sessions end with a student seminar in which each participant gives a formal presentation and answers questions from the floor. The seminar takes the format of a professional meeting and acts as an important focus providing a deadline to help organize research findings clearly and succinctly. Mentors, administrators, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, scientific support staff, high-school interns and other invitees of the students' choice attend the seminar. Two weeks prior to the seminar, a 200-word abstract of each presentation is circulated throughout the museum community to act as an introduction to the themes that will be presented. Effective communication skills are stressed throughout the program, and each presentation is videotaped and copies distributed to students for their review. After the oral presentation a written report summarizing their results and outlining future research and publication plans is submitted.

The NSF-funded REU programs at the American Museum continue to be an outstanding success and in no small measure, to reaffirm a major institutional commitment to undergraduate training in museum-based and systematics research. With ongoing funding from the NSF and from the museum, 10-15 fully funded student positions are supported each year. In addition to the increasing number of participants, another concrete measure of the program's success is a strong track-record of alumni continuing into graduate programs (consistently over 60%) and an impressive number of high-quality scientific publications generated from REU research. Many alumni continue to do research at the AMNH before, during, and after entering graduate school, and one-third have received additional institutional support to facilitate this ongoing relationship.

To view the REU's research and powerpoint presentations, please click here: REU Presentations

For more information on the programs as well as stories and reports of the AMNH Inside View and REU program, please look at the AMNH Education Department Web site

For application to these programs, please look at the AMNH Grants and Fellowships

AMNH ASCEND Program

The AMNH ASCEND program is funded in part by the National Science Foundation

Students begin the program with a three week Summer Science Institute and select a "major" in order to learn about the methods and content of one discipline in depth. Current majors include Anthropology, Astrophysics, Biodiversity, and Genetics, all areas in which the Museum specializes. During the first year, young people learn the fundamental concepts and skills of the chosen discipline, talk with scientists at the Museum and at other scientific institutions, and take trips to conduct fieldwork, visit colleges, and see firsthand the range of applications and careers available to someone who pursues work in that field. By the second summer, students conduct research projects and present findings to peers and professionals.

The American Museum of Natural History is a world class scientific and research institution. Behind the Museum's 45 exhibit halls, more than 200 scientists work in over 100 laboratories in departments that house 32 million specimens and artifacts. Museum scientists are actively engaged in research using the collections, going on expeditions, and conducting experiments with the latest technology in state-of-the-art facilities. From creating computer models of colliding galaxies to sequencing DNA, from excavating dinosaur fossils in Mongolia to studying coral reef systems in the Bahamas, from discovering planets outside our own solar system to collaborating with "descendant communities" to uncover the cultures of the past and the present, Museum scientists are involved in the most current topics and issues in science today. (See scientists' web pages on the Museum's website at http://research.amnh.org.) The High School Science Research Program takes young people behind the scenes and gives them the skills, connections, and opportunities to be part of this extraordinary community.

For more, see: http://www.amnh.org/education/child_youth_fam/hsresearch.html

AMNH UMEB (Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology) Program

The AMNH UMEB program is funded by the National Science Foundation

The AMNH/AMCC is also participating in the NSF UMEB program, with St Francis and Medgar Evers colleges. (See also: http://research.amnh.org/UMEB/)

Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) is a program developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The four Divisions of the Directorate for Biological Sciences of NSF, which include the Division of Environmental Biology, the Division of Integrative Biology & Neuroscience, the Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Division of Molecular & Cellular Biosciences, support this program. The main objective of NSF's program is to provide support for talented undergraduate students to gain research experience in biological sciences related to the environment within a culturally diverse, research-rich learning environment. A second NSF objective is to enable faculty members to become better mentors. Projects involve year-round mentoring and include major emphasis on direct student participation in research. Research activities encompass the academic year and summer, with individual students continuing in the program for more than one year.

PROGRAM GOALS:

This program is designed to enable academic institutions and their partners, as well as professional societies, to enhance access to careers in environmental biology (broadly defined) for undergraduate students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.

Two types of project may be supported:

(1) Research-Mentoring grants provide support for talented undergraduate students to gain research experience in biological sciences related to the environment within a culturally diverse, research-rich learning environment, while enabling faculty members to become better mentors.

(2) Travel to Meetings of professional societies by undergraduate students may be supported through grants to or on behalf of the professional societies.

Unlike previous years, planning grants are no longer supported and there is no deadline for submission of travel grants.

All projects should emphasize factors that encourage and enable members of underrepresented groups, as defined in the Program Solicitation, to enter and remain in environmental biology. The short-term goal is to train upper-division undergraduate students in the subject of environmental biology. The intermediate goal is to encourage these students to develop their careers in the fields of environmental biology research, education, or management.

"Environmental biology" is broadly defined to include areas of research focusing on organisms as they evolve, interact with each other, and/or interact with their environment, from perspectives that range from molecular to ecosystem levels.

For more on the program, see http://www.umeb.net/

Postdoctoral Researchers

In December 2002, the AMCC inaugurated its first postdoctoral research program with T. Ryan Gregory, Ph.D.

Ryan's studies and interests in his own words: "My academic interests include genome evolution (especially the "C-value enigma"), macroevolution, hierarchical selection theory, the history and philosophy of science (especially evolutionary biology), interspecies ethics, physiology, behaviour, biodiversity, and general biology and zoology. I am interested in all animals and their genomes, although my current focus is on collecting some much-needed genome size data for invertebrates (especially terrestrial arthropods). I am always interested in collaborating on a variety of different projects."

For more details on Ryan's work and shameless self- promotion, click on this link: http://www.genomesize.com/rgregory

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Just Visiting

The AMCC is dedicated to the outreach and education of a wide array of public, from 6 to sixty years old! Since our opening in May 2001, we have been welcoming school and college groups (Hunter College, NYU, Columbia University), summer camps (Wave Hill), curatorial groups from around the world (Europe, US, Australia, Africa), as well as individuals, from curators to collection managers, to enthusiastic museum visitors

For many of the children who tour the AMCC facilities, the experience is a first encounter with the world of microbiology. For the first time, they are shown what a cell looks like, and for the first time, they are explained the reasons why cold and extra-cold preserves tissues (something which they can relate to in their everyday lives!)

Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection (AMCC)

Contents

Education at the AMCC

The AMCC and the AMNH Inside View Program

The AMCC and the AMNH REU Program

AMNH ASCEND Program

The AMCC and ASCEND May 2003 Field Trip:

AMNH UMEB (Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology) Program

The AMCC and Hunter College

Postdoctoral Researchers

Just Visiting