The Field Science Fellowship funds University of California undergraduates to conduct their own field research at the Natural Reserve System. The fellowship encourages mentoring relationships between students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the sciences and faculty.
UC Santa Cruz undergraduate Raymond Hunter surveyed the aquatic invertebrates of the UC Natural Reserve System’s Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve for his 2020 NRS Field Science Fellowship. The fellowship provides financial support enabling undergraduates to conduct full time field research for a summer at a UC Natural Reserve System reserve with mentoring from a UC faculty member. Hunter was mentored by UC Santa Cruz professor Eric Palkovacs.
UC Los Angeles undergraduate Cynthia Frausto researched how personality and cortisol levels affect learning in ground squirrels at the UC Natural Reserve System’s James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve for her 2020 NRS Field Science Fellowship. The fellowship provides financial support enabling undergraduates to conduct full time field research for a summer at a UC Natural Reserve System reserve with mentoring from a UC faculty member. Frausto was mentored by UC Los Angeles professor Peter Nonacs.
UC Davis undergraduate Madeline Frey surveyed ribbon worms at the UC Natural Reserve System’s Bodega Marine Reserve for her 2020 NRS Field Science Fellowship. The fellowship provides financial support enabling undergraduates to conduct full time field research for a summer at a UC Natural Reserve System reserve with mentoring from a UC faculty member. Frey was mentored by UC Davis professor Eric Sanford.
UC Natural Reserve System lands are home to dozens of vulnerable animal and plant species. These range from some of the state’s rarest amphibians to endemic plants to icons of the West such as bighorn sheep. Studies conducted at the 39 reserves of the NRS informs how these species are managed, which helps preserve the Golden State’s extraordinary biological diversity.
The UC Natural Reserve system is a network of protected natural landscapes across California. These living laboratories protect biodiversity, serve as training grounds for students, and connect the people of California to nature.
California Ecology and Conservation, UC Natural Reserve System
California Ecology and Conservation transforms University of California undergraduates into field scientists. Over seven weeks of visiting UC Natural Reserves, students learn to detect natural patterns, frame questions into feasible study topics, and practice field techniques while conducting increasingly independent research studies. Students hone their public speaking, statistics, and scientific writing skills while gaining an overview of California’s diverse ecosystems.
The UC Natural Reserve System, UC Natural Reserve System
Join two of the founders of the NRS, Kenneth S. Norris and Mildred Mathias for an overview of the NRS circa 1989. Filmed at more than a half-dozen reserves , this movie includes views of classes hiking into Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve, researchers observing acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Natural History Reservation, entomologists capturing insects at Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, and more.