New UC hands-on experience class modeled after UC Santa Cruz 'supercourse'

A uniquely UC Santa Cruz course that offers undergraduates hands-on research experience has been adopted by the UC Natural Reserve System and is now open to students from all nine UC undergraduate campuses.

The NRS course is modeled after UC Santa Cruz’s Ecology and Conservation in Practice, also known as the “supercourse” because it’s the only class students enroll in for the quarter.

The first NRS class will be taught next fall by two UC Santa Cruz supercourse instructors, Don Croll, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Gage Dayton, director of UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves. The course will be offered through the UC Office of the President but will be headquartered at UC Santa Cruz.

Twenty-seven students will be selected from more than 60 applicants from the nine UCs for the class, California Ecology and Conservation.  Students will live and study for seven weeks at several of the 39 reserves of the UC Natural Reserve System. They will attend lectures, participate in discussions, design and implement research projects, write reports, and present their work to the group while immersed in California ecosystems.

A UC Natural Reserve System article on the new course provides more details.