Please distribute to any undergraduates who might be interested: Unique (and Low-Cost) Opportunity for Ten Undergraduates 2013 Ecological Genetics Field Study Abroad in China
FINAL YEAR OF PROGRAM *Learn Chinese and Ecological Genetics at the University of Georgia* With funding from NSF's Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program, we are offering 10 undergraduates (U.S. citizens or permanent residents only) the opportunity to participate in a unique research abroad opportunity in China during the spring and summer of 2013. This is the 5th year of the program and students have found it to be enormously rewarding. This will likely to be the last offering of this opportunity. The research focus of our PIRE grant is a forensic biogeographic study of species that are native to China and invasive in the southeastern U.S. as well as a growing number of species native to the southeastern U.S. and invasive in China. Each summer, we run a 6 week field course where we visit biological communities throughout China. After the field course, students continue in short-term research internships in our partner labs in China. Students will need to be prepared to take full advantage of this experience. Therefore, during the spring semester, students must enroll at the University of Georgia (UGA) and take 3 courses; two in intensive elementary Mandarin Chinese and a laboratory course in genetics. No prior experience with Chinese language is required, although students should have had at least a course in introductory biology and preferably courses in ecology and evolutionary biology. After 1 semester of Chinese, most of our students can operate quite well in China. The cost to the student of the summer program is minimal: the grant covers travel to and within China, lodging and most meals. The student is responsible for health insurance, visa costs and personal expenses. However, all students are responsible for the costs of enrolling at the University of Georgia for all required courses (12 credit hours per semester) (all students are charged at the in-state tuition rate plus fees). The deadline for applications is October 15, 2012. Applications for the 2013 program are available on our website: http://www.genetics.uga.edu/pire/undergrad.html. We encourage any interested students tocontact Dr. Mauricio for more information (mauri...@uga.edu). Rodney Mauricio Program Director, UGA-China PIRE _____________________________________ Rodney Mauricio, Ph.D. Department of Genetics University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-7223 Lab Web Page: http://www.genetics.uga.edu/mauriciolab PIRE Grant Web Page: http://www.genetics.uga.edu/pire
