Undergraduate and Graduate Opportunties
EEB 3407/5407: Ecology
Come study ecology at the University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, located only 35 miles north of the Twin Cities campus. Cedar Creek is one of the most famous and influential ecological research sites on Earth. It contains an exceptional diversity of plants and animals, partly because it is at the meeting point of the northern boreal forest, the eastern deciduous forest, and the western grasslands and savannas. Here you will visit current experiments, including studies that test how biodiversity loss affects ecosystems and whether climate change will speed up or slow down, work with data from ongoing studies, and collaborate with other students to develop your own field ecology group project.
Meeting Location: Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, 2660 Fawn Lake Drive NE, East Bethel, MN 55005
Credits: 3
Instructor: Dr. Forest Isbell, Email: isbell@umn.edu, Phone: 612-301-2601
CLICK HERE for more information.
Cedar Creek Graduate Fellows Program

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve provides partial summer support for graduate students who are conducting research at Cedar Creek and who would like to mentor undergraduate student researchers. In February of each year, applications are invited from Cedar Creek graduate student researchers at any stage of a graduate program. Funding is available for up to six Fellowships each summer. Preference will be given to applicants who plan to spend a considerable amount of time on-site at Cedar Creek as this helps build our research community.
Together, the team of Graduate Fellows will:
- mentor undergraduate interns pursuing independent research projects throughout the summer;
- organize a research symposium at the beginning of the summer in which faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students present results from their ongoing studies at Cedar Creek;
- organize a weekly seminar;
- offer weekly workshops that provide formal training on research proposal writing, reading journal articles, data analysis, poster presentations, and oral presentations; and
- organize a research symposium at the end of the summer in which undergraduate student researchers present the findings of their independent research projects.
Further information and application details can be found here: https://z.umn.edu/
We welcome groups from colleges across the Midwest to come visit our research experiments and learn about ecology here at its birthplace! Our field tours are particularly valuable for courses focusing on grasslands, conservation, field biology, and general ecology. Contact Caitlin (caitlin@umn.edu or 612-301-2602) to arrange a visit that meets your needs, group size and curricular focus. Field tours and presentations range in price from $100 - $300 depending on length and program details. Self-guided tours are also available for frequent visitors and carry a $100 site use fee. Undergraduate and Graduate Field Tours