FUERTE Program featured in The Current

Written by Sonia Fernandez:

"--FUERTE (Field-based Undergraduate Engagement through Research, Teaching and Education) program, [participants get] a firsthand taste of what it’s like to be a field scientist while developing the fundamental skills necessary to get their future careers off to a good start. Funded by a National Science Foundation program to enhance STEM education for underserved communities, the FUERTE students are taught and taken into the field by world-class UCSB scientists and mentored by a cadre of graduate students in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology (EEMB). They grow their skillsets over three summers, building an impressive resume of projects, fieldwork and internships before they graduate.

For each participant, the adventure begins with a two-week intensive summer course that exposes them to a variety of ecosystems located in the rain shadow of the “granite curtain” that is the East Sierra Nevada mountain range. In this region of California, UCSB administers, as part of its system of natural reserves, the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserves (VESR), the collective name for two separate protected spaces: Valentine Camp in the town of Mammoth Lakes and SNARL, the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, a former US Fish and Wildlife research station just a short drive away."