Ecological research is a traditional strength within many departments and colleges at Colorado State University. Nearby state and federal agencies also interact with
CSU faculty to monitor and model ecological resources. Much of this research activity is interdisciplinary and uses advanced mathematical and statistical tools. But, due to disciplinary boundaries in our graduate programs, neither ecology students with interests in quantitative methods, nor mathematics/statistics students with interests in ecology, are receiving the education they need to work on such interdisciplinary research. The vision of
PRIMES is to break down these boundaries through early and uninterrupted exposure to interdisciplinary research projects, via a course called Team Research in Ecology (
TREE). Students will obtain the tools they need to work effectively in
TREE through reciprocal course offerings among the graduate programs, through modular courses on Advanced Quantitative Methods in Ecology (
AQME), and through colloquia, workshops, and conferences. Teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and internships with nearby state and federal agencies will reinforce the interdisciplinary training of
PRIMES and leverage
IGERT fellowships. Existing projects in quantitative ecology at
CSU will shape the curriculum of
PRIMES, drive the interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty members and students, and lead to topics for Ph.D. theses. Projects will be organized into five Research Focus Groups to allow sharing of resources and ideas on related problems: Ecology of Managed Ecosystems, Ecology of Global Change, Dynamics of Introduced Disease, Aquatic Resources Modeling, and Evolution in Structured Populations. The
PRIMES Council, with representatives from Biology, Mathematics, Statistics, and other participating departments, as well as an external agency, will guide the program toward the goal of making
PRIMES a permanent fixture in graduate education at
CSU.
IGERT is an
NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by
NSF.
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