SOAR: San Francisco Bay Research Coordination Network for Student Opportunities in Avian Research to enhance STEM education and assess human impacts on avian biodiversity

SOAR: San Francisco Bay Research Coordination Network for Student Opportunities in Avian Research to enhance STEM education and assess human impacts on avian biodiversity

Rodolfo Dirzo, Kathleen LaBarbera, Brody Sandel, Lynne Trulio (Stanford, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, Santa Clara University, San Jose State University)

Photo of Julian Tattoni’s bird-banding research at Jasper Ridge by Peter E. Hart

Summary

SOAR: San Francisco Bay Research Coordination Network for Student Opportunities in Avian Research to enhance STEM education and assess human impacts on avian biodiversity

This program links Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) in a research and educational program involving four universities, two colleges, and three NGOs. It is designed to engage students, faculty, and volunteers in field- and lab-based STEM activities through the lens of ornithology. The National Science Foundation funding supported an incubator grant to plan the partnership and, in December 2022, an operating grant.

SOAR focuses on the health of bird populations in the South San Francisco Bay area, which is an important area within the Pacific Flyway. The program introduces undergraduate students, especially those from underserved communities, to STEM activities, thus promoting students’ appreciation of birds and their significance for ecological and human wellbeing, while also enhancing their career opportunities. Activities are designed to advance biological science education through opportunities for hands-on field research and follow-up lab activities for students who have limited access to such experiential learning in outdoor settings. This program will also advance fundamental knowledge, by revealing how humans are influencing natural ecological systems, and how society can respond to that challenge. Exposure of students to career paths in environmental sciences will diversify their job prospects and teach them to be effective stewards of the national and global resources upon which nations ultimately depend. The dramatic decline of biodiversity, globally, and of bird populations in the country in particular, underscores the significance of this project.

SOAR is composed of investigators from four universities (Stanford, San Jose State, Santa Clara, and UC Santa Cruz), a community college district (West Valley/Mission Community College District), and three non-governmental organizations (San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, California Academy of Sciences/iNaturalist, and eBird, which is based out of the Cornell Ornithology Lab. The program will include production of new outdoor learning modules for students and new courses aimed at attracting under-represented groups to STEM careers; cross-institutional sharing of educational resources; publications in research and education venues; new, consolidated, ornithological datasets; as well as internships and other career-advancement opportunities for participating students. The central philosophy of the program is to engage students in the process of science “learning by doing,” while enjoying and capitalizing on the opportunity of studying science in direct contact with nature.