Research Projects and Teams
A typical FYRES research team consists of one FYRES Research Mentor and 3-5 first-year students. Before the fall semester begins, the FYRES Research Mentor starts picking a topic from a list of possibilities generated by Dr. van Dijk (with input from dune managers, other scientists, and recommendations from prior FYRES projects). After background research and thinking, the FYRES Mentor introduces the topic to the FYRES class and students are assigned to the team based on their interest. The FYRES research team works together to create a good research design, implement the field research, and analyze the collected data. The research and its results are communicated by the first-year students on the research team (oral and poster presentations at the end of the semester) and the FYRES Research Mentor (conference presentation usually during the spring semester and often a FYRES research report).
Team Research Presentations (Oral)
The first-year students on the research team present their research projects and results in a Dune Research Presentations event usually held on the first Thursday afternoon in December. All are invited to join us in person, via live-stream, or by watching the video recording later. View our Dune Research Presentations page to watch a video of a past presentation or see information about the upcoming event.
Team Poster Presentations
The first-year students on the research team present their research projects and results in a scientific poster at an on-campus poster session. Formerly known as the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Environmental Assessment Program (CEAP) Poster Session, this event has been called the Sustainability Showcase Poster session in recent years. All are invited to come to the poster session. A bibliography and pdfs of the posters will be available as part of the FYRES Research Results Database.
Conference Presentations
Most of the FYRES Research Mentors continue working on the research projects in the semester after the FYRES course is completed. The Mentors often do additional data analysis and visualization, as well as reading more scientific literature to make more connections and stronger interpretation of the results. Working with Dr. van Dijk, the Mentors write and submit an abstract to a professional conference. First-year student team members are co-authors on the conference abstracts and presentations.
To date, all of our submitted abstracts have been accepted! FYRES Research Mentors then prepare and present the poster or oral conference presentation. Conferences have included the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, regional meetings of the Geological Society of America or Association of American Geographers, and even national conferences (such as the National Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in March 2025). While most of the conferences have been at Michigan locations, Mentors have also traveled as far as Memphis, Tennessee (regional Geological Society of America conference in March 2026) and Los Angeles (national meeting of the Association of American Geographers in 2015). A bibliography and pdfs of conference abstracts and conference posters will be available as part of the FYRES Research Results Database.
Research Reports
FYRES Research Mentor work in the spring semester usually includes creating a written (technical) report on the research project. These reports can contain more detail than the first-year student team presentations or conference presentations, which makes them useful for dune managers, scientists, future FYRES teams, and others. First-year students team members are co-authors on the research reports. A bibliography and pdfs of FYRES Technical Reports will be available as part of the FYRES Research Results Database.
Research about the FYRES Project
The FYRES Project itself is the focus of research on whether this type of course/experience (learning about science by doing science on dunes) is effective according to different measures. Dr. van Dijk, faculty collaborators, and undergraduate research students have communicated about research on the FYRES project in venues including conferences, workshops, and publications. A bibliography and links or pdfs for research related to the FYRES project will be available as part of the FYRES Research Results Database.
Other Outcomes Related to the FYRES Project
Some FYRES participants (including faculty, students, and collaborators) and FYRES research sites have outcomes of interest to the FYRES audience, even though the items are not direct results of FYRES. Some examples are summer dune research projects completed by former FYRES students or FYRES Research Mentors, websites or publications about locations where FYRES research has taken place, and key research related to FYRES research topics.
