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Giving at UC Santa Cruz
Our current funding campaign is in support of our undergraduate field classes including our renowned capstone immersion courses in field ecology. The success of these courses relies on small class size, extensive mentorship by faculty and staff, and funds to support field research by the students. These courses provide a comprehensive research and mentorship environment for undergraduates and thoroughly prepare each student for ongoing studies in graduate school or placement in positions in the private sector, governmental institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
Why Give?
Field courses build the self-confidence and “scientific competence” of all students, but the benefits are particularly noteworthy for students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields, who are more likely to switch majors or drop out of college, according to researchers at UC Santa Cruz who have published the results of the study in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
The article, “Field Courses Narrow Demographic Achievement Gaps in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,” sheds light on the benefits field courses offer students and the role they could play in boosting the retention and success of underrepresented students.
Featured Funds
John Pearse Endowment for Field Courses
Your gift supports awards for students in Earth and marine science: one is an individual undergraduate award, and the other is for a research project by an undergraduate mentored by a graduate student.
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology General Fund
Your gift trains undergraduates and graduate students in conducting original research on plants and animals to understand behavior and physiology, conservation biology, ecology, and evolution.
More Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Funds
Academic Excellence Program (ACE) Fund
Your gift provides a community where students from culturally, ethnically, and economically varied backgrounds achieve academic success through science problem-solving sessions, study and communication skills, and networking.
Building a Better Fieldwork Future Program
Building a Better Fieldwork Future prepares students, researchers, and instructors to maintain well-being in field settings through trainings to prevent, intervene in, and respond to sexual harassment and assault, to make scientific fieldwork a safe and inclusive place.
Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-based Opportunities (CAMINO)
Your gift supports students from the first day of class to graduation and beyond by linking them with resources that prepare them for careers or graduate school in ecology and conservation. CAMINO offers diverse, well-trained mentors, connects students with funded research and field-based opportunities, and sustains a supportive, inclusive community.
Degree-Defining Experiences Program
Your gift offers transformational learning opportunities for undergraduates in the form of experiential field courses and other activities outside the classroom.
Endowment for Undergraduate Research in Science & Technology (URST)
Your gift provides grants to undergraduate students working on research projects in science and technology, covering costs associated with conducting research and a stipend.
Your gift supports rich experiential learning and research opportunities for students in the biological sciences. Our instructional greenhouses host over 5000 students each year for hands-on activities exploring an alluring botanical collection. These opportunities change lives and potentially our planet for the better by inspiring the next generation of scientists.
To continue alumnus Michael Tudor’s legacy of intellectual inquiry and exploration of the natural world, the Michael Tudor Memorial Award has been established to celebrate and realize Michael’s passion through undergraduate scholarship in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Your gift supports research and education programs for all students at UC Santa Cruz doing plant studies.
Predatory Bird Research Group Fund
Your gift supports raptor conservation that uses the example of the Peregrine Falcon recovery as an inspiration for tackling today’s environmental challenges and engages students and citizen scientists to get involved.
Field Courses Supported by Your Contributions
- Ornithology Field Studies Field trips introduce students to field identification skills and field investigation of census, foraging behavior, migration, social behavior, and communication. Examination of specimens in the laboratory will be used to highlight the diversity and taxonomy of birds.
- Field Methods in Herpetological Research Field trips introduce students to natural history, censusing techniques, physiological ecology, and behavioral analysis of reptiles and amphibians. Laboratories introduce students to techniques for analyzing behavior and physiology.
- Behavioral Ecology Field Course A field-based course introducing students to concepts and methods for studying behavioral ecology in nature. Students will conduct observations and field experiments on various local model organisms including elephant seals, hummingbirds, sparrows, lizards, ants, bees, frogs, and salamanders.
- Field Methods in Plant Ecology Hands-on exploration of the concepts and techniques of plant ecology. A combination of lab, greenhouse, and field-based exercises. Statistical analysis and scientific writing.
- Ecological Field Methods Laboratory Field-oriented course in the study of animal ecology and behavior. Combines overview of methodologies and approaches to field research with practical field studies.
- Marine Ecology Laboratory Supervised individual field research projects in experimental marine biology. Students carry out a complete research project, including (1) the formation of hypotheses; (2) the design and implementation of experiments; (3) collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; and (4) write-up of an oral presentation.
- Kelp Forest Ecology (capstone immersion course) Fieldwork using SCUBA to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the abundance and distribution of organisms in kelp forests. Culminates with a directed individual research project.
- Ecology and Conservation in Practice (capstone immersion course) An intensive, in-the-field learning experience in terrestrial field ecology and conservation, using the University of California Natural Reserves. Students study advanced concepts in ecology, conservation, and field methods for four weeks, then experience total immersion in field research. Lectures, field experiments, and computer exercises familiarize students with research methods, study design, statistical approaches, and analytical tools for ecological research.
- Marine Ecology Field Quarter (capstone immersion course) Total immersion in marine ecology for motivated students. Students develop a research project during first five weeks on campus and then spend five weeks of immersion in directed research in isolated locations off campus (past locations include the Gulf of California in Mexico, Moorea in French Polynesia, and Corsica in France). In lecture, Students review the paradigms that have shaped our understanding of marine ecology, and evaluate the designs for surveys and experiments that test these paradigms. Students then carry out a complete research project, including the formation of hypotheses, the design and implementation of experiments, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and the write-up and oral presentation of results.