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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2004
in Teaching in the 21st Century: Programs & Funding Opportunities
The Nyanza Project: An international
interdisciplinary research training program on Lake Tanganyika
C.M. O’Reilly1 and A.S. Cohen2. 1Dept of Biology, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie , NY, 2University of Arizona
The Nyanza Project serves as a successful model for interdisciplinary research
for a variety of students. We run a 7 week REU program on tropical limnology
on Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. This NSF-funded program brings together American
undergraduate and graduate students and a high school teacher with African
students for an intensive summer research experience. The program begins with
a series of short courses and field practicals in geology, paleoclimatology,
limnology, and evolutionary biology to provide an interdisciplinary
understanding of the lake's ecology. Students then conduct research projects
either independently or part of a team. Students are exposed to all aspects of
conducting research, from hypothesis developement to statistical analysis and
scientific writing. A high proportion of students continue their research for
graduate or senior theses and present at national meetings. Additionally, the
high intellectual merit of the program has allowed us to expand our research
capabilities on Lake Tanganyika, and contributed to a publishable body of
knowledge about this system. The Nyanza Project provides studnets with both a
highly educational opportunity to experience scienctific research, as well as
the opportunity to collaborate across cultures and discplines.
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