Jody Farnsworth, a senior in Geography from Brigham Young University, has just completed an intensive eight week program with the BSOS Summer Research Initiative (SRI). Jody undertook a research project on land use change in Zimbabwe using Landsat satellite data under the mentorship of Dr. Steve Prince.
The title of her project was
“Is the reported collapse of commercial farming in Zimbabwe reality? A satellite remote sensing study”
The Summer Research Initiative (SRI) was created in 1999 by the Office of the Dean in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) and is supported by the Office of the Provost, the Graduate School, the Office of the Vice President for Research and the College. In addition, SRI is made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation (AC-SBE AGEP). The program has a special emphasis on population groups underrepresented in the behavioral, social and economic science fields (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders).
The SRI is part of the College’s longstanding commitment to increasing the number of underrepresented minorities who pursue graduate degrees in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. According to data from the National Science Foundation, the University ranks 8th in the country in the number of Ph.D.’s and 13th in the number of B.A.’s awarded to underrepresented minority students in those fields. The Summer Research Initiative is an integral part of our efforts.
Participants work side-by-side with a faculty mentor on a guided research project, attend weekly seminars and visit local research institutions in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area (e.g. the National Institutes of Health). Finally, students will present their work at a poster session at the end of the program.