The CERC Undergraduate Summer Research Program is designed for Columbia University students majoring in environmental biology. This program provides them an opportunity to gain hands-on field experience, through projects related to the conservation of biological diversity. Participation is required of all environmental-biology majors during the summer after their junior year, and it has proven to be an extremely valuable component of their undergraduate experience. Alumnae of the program have conducted field work in St. Lucia, Brazil, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Peru, Kenya, New Zealand, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Mexico to name just a few examples. The following are "reports from the field" from our Summer, 1998 participants:

Protecting Species Is Not Enough Over The Long Term; Genetic Diversity Must be Preserved As Well
Don Melnick, January 2003