Broadening Perspectives and Building Expertise Through the Interdisciplinary Research Experiences and Mentorship in Urban Systems (REMUS) Program

Over half (56%) of the global population currently lives in urban areas, with that proportion expected to increase up to 68% by 2050. In the United States, an even larger share of the population lives in cities (83%), which is also expected to grow to 89% by 2050. This growth in urban populations, combined with the multisystem and multiscale effects of climate change, is anticipated to significantly stress urban areas through pressures on resources such as food, energy, housing, and water. Interdisciplinary groups of researchers are needed to advance our understanding of urban science, provide solutions to the many complex and interacting problems, as well as to develop and maintain sustainable cities of the future. Undergraduate students in the geosciences and environmentally related disciplines are particularly well-positioned to contribute to the growth of urban science and develop innovative solutions.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Research Experiences and Mentorship in Urban Systems (REMUS) program, a new National Science Foundation-funded REU site at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The REMUS program immerses students in the study of urban systems in a major metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S. through structured, mentor-driven research projects that explore urban science from a diversity of perspectives; faculty mentors have backgrounds in urban ecology, environmental engineering, earth sciences, atmospheric sciences, Geographic Information Science, and environmental justice. Through REMUS, the program: 1) enables students to better comprehend interdisciplinary interactions in a dynamic social-ecological-technological system; 2) immerses students in complex, real-world sustainability and environmental justice issues; 3) allows students to gain proficiency in data collection, management, and analysis; and 4) facilitates a peer mentoring and networking community within and across participant cohorts. A summary of program activities and projects from the first cohort in Summer 2024 will be described, along with future plans.