AIKEN, S.C. - With its diverse flora and fauna, the landscape of the Savannah River Site (SRS), provides both an essential and rare opportunity for undergraduate students at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) to receive training in the unique discipline of radioecology.
Since 2015, SREL has offered undergraduates a 10-week research program on the site to study the effects of radioactive elements in the environment.
The students are trained in the safe handling of radioactive contaminants prior to investigating their effects in animals, plants, soil, and wetlands. These students also can investigate the environmental impact of other contaminants such as mercury and copper.
The program’s focus on radioecology and its location on a DOE site set it apart from other National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Programs around the country. SREL has the distinction of being the only entity in the world to offer training in radioecology at the undergraduate level.
The program recruits approximately 10 students annually from colleges and universities around the country.
Although the program is still fairly new, Tracey Tuberville, associate research scientist at SREL and the program’s co-advisor, said it has netted significant results. After the first cohort completed the program in the summer of 2015, NSF invited a member of that group, Joshua King, to present his findings at its national symposium.
The program has a 100-percent completion rate. Of the 30 students who have completed the program, 14 are employed in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and nine are enrolled in graduate school in STEM fields. The remaining students continue their undergraduate studies with plans to pursue STEM careers.
Kyle Brown, an alumnus from the 2016 cohort and a current graduate student at SREL, said the significant biodiversity of snakes on the SRS and SREL’s well-known history studying amphibians and reptiles on the site attracted him to the program.
A research unit of the University of Georgia, SREL began undergraduate education on the SRS in 1967. More than 700 students completed the program prior to the NSF REU in radioecology program.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
