Abstract
Students trained in the earth sciences are frequently hired with environmental management responsibilities, yet rarely are resource management and restoration science experienced within an undergraduate curriculum. We present a model for conducting a collaborative research experience that emphasizes restoration science by partnering college programs with environmental management agencies. During the summer, 1999, the Keck Geology Consortium sponsored a research experience for 10 students to work collaboratively on estuarine management issues of concern to Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in SW Florida, one of 23 NERR sites located along the coastal U. S. We are presently formalizing this model for future use by the NERR network. Student projects were self-designed under the mentorship of university researchers and Reserve professionals. All projects, however, were united under a common theme: impact of anthropogenic alteration upon watershed processes. Each student assumed the role as "principal investigator and manager" for their project, while serving as "research associate" for others. Students shared results and problems through group meetings, and they interacted with visiting scientists. Project milestones included: proposals, oral progress reports, short papers for a symposium volume, symposium talks or posters, senior theses, and, for some, professional meeting presentations and peer-reviewed publications. Student projects were diverse in scope and discipline and generated invaluable data for the Reserve. Estuaries make ideal venues for such a management and restoration science experience. Estuaries contain critical habitat that is harmfully impacted by human development. Their study requires an interdisciplinary perspective, combining an understanding of water quality (hydrology, geochemistry), coastal evolution (sedimentology, geomorphology, stratigraphy), ecosystem health (ecology, paleontology, epidemiology), and data analysis (experimental design, statistics).