Saint Louis University (SLU), a Catholic-Jesuit university, is located in the central corridor of the midtown area of the city of St. Louis, MO. Many students choose to attend SLU because of the active social justice component in our curriculum. The long legacy of segregation in St. Louis has resulted in tremendous inequities, economic and environmental. The north side of the city is characterized by large numbers of vacant lots, abandoned infrastructure, and polluted sites. The economic disinvestment has also resulted in what is known as food deserts. In order to combat these food deserts, several non-governmental, non-for-profit organizations have partnered with local residents to establish community gardens. One of the main questions that work in my lab is addressing is the spatial distribution of bee diversity in urban agricultural sites in relation to social and economic inequities in St. Louis city. Students interested in working in my lab must submit a short essay indicating their interests and motivations. I used this instrument to abstract data.
Results/Conclusions
A total of 34 undergraduate students have been involved in research in my lab over the last five years. Of those, eleven have continued into graduate or professional schools; four are employed in the private sector; and seven in the public or non-governmental agencies. The rest are still enrolled at SLU. These students have been authors or co-authors of a minimum of 24 poster or oral presentations. For the years 2016 and 2017, five out of seven, and seven out of nine students, respectively, indicated that the research question associated with social justice was the main motivation for working in my lab. All students indicated that working in disadvantaged areas and perceiving inequalities were important components of their education. In conclusion, incorporating a social justice component into my urban ecology research has resulted in attracting not just a large number of undergraduates into my lab, but also highly motivated. The experience may be providing students’ a competitive edge when applying to graduate schools or work.