**PENDING: New Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Opportunity at the University of Memphis!**
**Summer 2021**
Confronting the Biodiversity Crisis through Research & Education
Biodiversity (from "biological diversity") is the variety of life on Earth at all levels of organization, from genes to ecosystems and encompasses the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life (adapted from www.amnh.org; UNEP 2019). Biodiversity is declining rapidly as the human population and human consumption of natural resources increase, and climate and habitats are modified.
The accelerating loss of biodiversity is arguably the leading environmental issue facing 21st-century humankind. Global responses to the Biodiversity Crisis suffer from insufficient information about biodiversity and inadequate policies for its sustainable management. A principal underlying cause of the Biodiversity Crisis is the inadequate infrastructure supporting biodiversity research and education.
This ten-week summer REU program will engage ten undergraduate researchers each summer in biodiversity research. Our objective is to train undergraduates to engage in research that will expand our knowledge of biodiversity and contribute data to the sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity.
We hope to admit the first cohort next spring (2022) for the REU running from May 24-July 30.
Please check back in February 2021 for more information, or request to join our email list for updates (biodiversityREU@memphis.edu).
REU New Student Orientation Schedule (draft, subject to change)
REU Research & Social Events Schedule (draft, subject to change)
Application for Undergraduates seeking to attend (check back in February, 2021)
