The National Science Foundation recently awarded a three-year grant to the Center for the Environment to sponsor a student research program at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, a 3,160-hectare reserve in the White Mountain National Forest. The program, offered during the summer, emphasizes the societal relevance of ecology and ecosystem science through both a research mentorship and an outreach partnership with an organization engaged in communicating ecosystem information to broad audiences.

According to Assistant Professor of Hydrology Kevin McGuire, the communication aspect of the program provides a unique opportunity to students. “Communicating science … is typically not an explicit objective in most undergraduate or graduate science programs,” he says. “These students will be better equipped to bridge the gap between science and public policy and increase science literacy on issues related to environmental change and sustainability.”