The University of Connecticut (UConn) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) have joined forces to provide students exciting experiential learning and research opportunities at four tropical field stations: three in Costa Rica (La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde) and one in South Africa (Skukuza). The partners have a long history of cooperation: UConn has been a consortium member of OTS for over 40 years and is the first permanent member.

UConn's Office of Global Affairs and Institute of the Environment collaborate to oversee a suite of undergraduate courses offered at OTS field stations, for which UConn is the school of record. Becoming the school of record is the first in several steps to addressing some of the most challenging environmental questions to face society in the 21st century by leveraging UConn's record of excellence in education and research and OTS' long-standing reputation for advancing integrated research and educational activities in the tropics and beyond.

Three integrated semester-long suites (16 credits total) of experiential learning courses are taught in South Africa (one program) as well as in Costa Rica (two programs). Regardless of country, these courses represent a dynamic mix of lectures, skills workshops, fieldwork, and directed research that is supported by an international team of instructors (professors and practitioner or managers in the field). UConn provides academic transcripts for credits earned in the program by UConn or non-UConn students.

Interested UConn students should contact abroad@uconn.edu for advising, and non-UConn students should contact undergraduate@tropicalstudies.org or call OT Enrollment Management at 919-684-5155. Additional information is available through the Experiential Global Learning website. Course lists are provided below.

(1) South African Ecosystems and Diversity (EEB/NRE 3390, 4 Credits)

(2) Conservation, Biodiversity, Management, and Protected Area Design in South Africa (EEB/NRE 3490, 4 Credits)

(3) Directed Field Experience (EEB/NRE 4990, 4 Credits)

(4) History of Southern Africa (HIST 3760, 3 Credits)

(5) Supervised Field Work (South African History) (HIST 3991, 1 Credit)

(1) Tropical Biology on a Changing Planet (EEB/NRE 4490, 4 Credits)

(2) Environmental Science and Policy in the Tropics (EVST/NRE 3255, 4 Credits)

(3) Directed Field Experience (EEB/NRE 4990, 4 Credits)

(4) Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced Study Abroad Spanish (choose one):

1. Elementary Spanish II (SPAN 1002, 4 credits)
2. Intermediate Spanish I (SPAN 1003, 4 credits)
3. Intermediate Spanish II (SPAN 1004, 4 credits)

The MERGAS Program, executed in collaboration with CESE, provides funding to graduate students for compelling interdisciplinary projects that catalyze research at the frontiers of environmental disciplines.

To be eligible for funding consideration, projects:

• Must be completed by the summer following the solicitation, and funds must be expended before the end of the fiscal year
• Must be undertaken in association with two faculty members who serve as mentor-collaborators. The mentor-collaborators must represent different departments and disciplines.
• Should provide support for new collaborations, especially those that extend graduate research beyond the disciplinary bounds of their thesis and dissertations.

Allowable expenses include student summer salary, student travel for field research, and supplies or equipment needed to complete the proposed research. Students must be in good standing in a graduate program at UConn, and the mentor-collaborators must be members of the graduate faculty from two different departments. Awards vary in size but are generally less than $5,000, except in well-documented circumstances and with strong justification.

MERGAS proposal solicitation occurs during fall semesters.

The GASMEA Program, executed in collaboration with CESE, supports multidisciplinary environmental research or advances environmental education and outreach by faculty members. GASMEA provides assistantships to students who assist faculty members on environmental projects. Proposals should cogently describe the nature of the environmental project and detail the kinds of activities that would be undertaken by a graduate student as well as the value of those activities to the student’s professional development.

Supported activities include those involved with:

1. publication of multidisciplinary scholarship;
2. production of proposals to request extramural funding for environmental research, education, or engagement;
3. gathering of preliminary data in support of proposal production; or
4. development of new environmental initiatives that are related to research, education, or engagement.

GASMEA proposal solicitation occurs during fall semesters.

MiSER leverages the analytical capacity of CESE laboratories to assist faculty members in development of research projects that do not currently enjoy extramural or intramural support. The objective is to reduce the cost of services and analyses by CESE laboratories (nutrients, metals, organics, emerging contaminants) for UConn faculty members to:

1. support development of new environmental proposals to state, federal, or private sector funding agencies,
2. enhance environmental scholarship or outreach,
3. enhance graduate student research, or
4. strengthen authentic collaboration by faculty members with personnel in CESE Environmental Chemistry Laboratories.

In addition:

• Proposals with a 50% match from sources other than accounts managed by CESE will be most competitive.
• Only the costs of analyses at CESE should be included in proposals (both requested and matched funds), and total budgets, including match for analytical services, should not exceed $25,000, without strong justification.
• All costs, including defined matches, must reflect CESE published rates and must be developed in collaboration with the Director of CESE Environmental Chemistry Laboratories. Only costs for executing analyses of samples at CESE can be included in the project.

MiSER proposal solicitation occurs during fall semesters.