BioRETS site: Urban Ecology Research and Environmental Justice

This BIORETS Site award to the University of Louisville, located in Louisville, KY, will support the training of 24 teachers for six weeks during the summer and one week during the academic year. From 2024 through 2026, teachers will be recruited from Jefferson County Public Schools, an urban school district serving high proportions of students from underrepresented and low-income groups. Historically disenfranchised students in the district often come from neighborhoods that have been negatively impacted by urbanization, which has been further compounded by climate-mediated environmental degradation. Project success will be measured via the development and integration of NGSS-aligned instructional units that engage students in relevant, context-specific phenomenon focused on urban ecology and environmental justice. High school teachers will work with experienced scientists from the Biology Department on lab and field-based urban ecology research addressing the following topics: (a) impacts of human disturbance on songbird reproduction, (b) ability of insects to respond to climate change; (c) human – wildlife interactions and tick distributions; (d) invasive plant – arthropod interactions in disturbed habitats, (e) greenhouse gas emissions in urban and rural aquatic systems; (f) impacts of urban heat island effects and light pollution on cave salamander populations in local parks. Teachers will participate in summer workshops highlighting research ethics, experimental design, and hypothesis testing. Additionally, teachers will be prepared to take on leadership roles within their schools via the creation of teacher-leader alliances. Research and mentoring experiences will be assessed using surveys and focus group interviews at different time points during the project. A project description and details about the research experience will be posted on ETAP to aid in selection of teachers and review of applications. Teacher recruitment will be led by an investigator in collaboration with district leadership and selection criteria will include current use of, or a desire to implement concepts aligned with topics presented during the lab and field-based work. More information about the program is available by contacting the PI (Dr. Linda Fuselier at linda.fuselier@louisville.edu or the co-PI Dr. Justin McFadden at justin.mcfadden@louisville.edu. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.