In December we will begin accepting applications for the Summer 2016 NSF
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program based at Colby College
and in South Gondar, Ethiopia. This REU provides eight American
undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds an opportunity to
conduct path-breaking interdisciplinary research on the ecological, economic
and cultural roles of church forests. Church forests are patches of
Afromontane forest surrounding Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Preserved for
centuries by church leaders and communities as religious sanctuaries, church
forests are, in many parts of Ethiopia, the only indigenous forests left.
Under the eight-week summer REU program students will receive training at
Colby College in ecological field methods, spatial analysis using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), social survey research, and written and oral
communication. They will then travel to South Gondar, Ethiopia to conduct
hands-on fieldwork with mentors from Colby College, the California Academy
of Sciences, and local academic and government institutions. Applications
will be accepted beginning December 1, 2015. The application deadline is
February 15, 2016 via the REU-in-Ethiopia webite:
http://www.colby.edu/reu-in-ethiopia.
