Following the formation of the LTER Graduate Student Committee at the 1993 LTER All Scientists Meeting, students working at LTER sites are beginning to play a more active Network role. Approximately 100 students attended the Estes Park, Colorado meeting and participated in student-sponsored activities including two social mixers, topic lunch discussions, and organizational meetings. Each morning a student co-chaired the plenary session.
Goals developed by the Graduate Student Committee include:
- To facilitate networking among graduate students and researchers across LTER sites
- To create student opportunities for intersite research
- To develop strong interdisciplinary graduate student training programs.
The Committee, chaired by Joshua Greenberg (Network Office, University of Washington), is composed of one student representative from each LTER site. In addition, working groups have been formed to address issues of interest to graduate students. One has worked with the Network Office to create a group electronic mailing list for students, students@LTERnet.edu. Activities of other working groups include publicizing student activities in the LTER newsletter, providing students with information on funding opportunities and intersite research, and compiling an information packet for new students.
The next meeting of the Committee will tentatively be held in conjunction with the August 1994 Ecological Society of America Meeting in Tennessee.
Students working at LTER sites are encouraged to contact their student representatives. For more information: Anne Hartley, North Temperate Lakes, aHartley@LTERnet.edu or Josh Greenberg, in care of the Network Office, jGreenberg@LTERnet.edu.