Course Overview
Synthesis Skills for Early Career Researchers (SSECR; [SEE-ker]) is a course organized by the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. This course aims to address the need for more comprehensive interpersonal and data skills in ecology. You can find more information on SSECR at the LTER Network page for the course.
The course is structured around small group synthesis projects, so that lessons are immediately applied to a synthesis problem that is relevant to learners and will likely result in a publication. Applicants will propose modest or exploratory synthesis projects as part of the application process. In addition to ideas stemming from participants’ own work, the Network Office has compiled a small library of synthesis ideas in search of execution. SSECR begins with a number of activities aimed at establishing cohort cohesion and helping participants coalesce into 4-5 person project teams.
The Network Office has also recruited a corps of potential project mentors, who will be matched with participant projects and who agree to meet with students approximately five times per year. To apply to become a team mentor, go here.
Other specific course priorities include:
- Surface and test new synthesis ideas for feasibility
- Prepare more graduate students to be effective participants in/leaders of the synthesis projects
- Connect LTER graduate students across sites
- Develop intergenerational linkages around synthesis research
Citing These Materials
We hope this course is useful to you and encourage you to use these materials! If you do use these materials, please use the following citation:
Downs, M., Kappel, C., Kui, L., Elmendorf, S., Maurer, G. E., De La Rosa, G., & Lyon, N.J. (2025). Synthesis Skills for Early Career Researchers (SSECR) (v1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16969471
Course Structure
Under Construction!
Course participants meet for three hours, weekly, at the same time each week. Sessions alternate between hands-on instruction in technical and soft skills that are relevant for inclusive synthesis and team work on the chosen group projects.
Each three-hour session will include 2 components:
- Networking (~60 minutes): Presentation by one or more experienced synthesis scientists, describing why and how they conduct synthesis. This diverse group of researchers will be recruited from across the field and course participants will have ample time for discussion with each presenter.
- Instruction (~120 minutes): Each session will focus on a specific instructional topic, with technical skills, team-science skills, and communication topics interspersed throughout the year. The discussion will be limited to official course participants, but instructional materials for each topic will be available online, allowing individuals or site- or topic-based groups to follow along independently.
- Technical skills will build on earlier lessons and are not intended to be stand-alone modules. The course will include social and leadership skills required to bring a synthesis project from idea to completion (or, for larger projects to completed proposal) and will include techniques for ensuring that multiple thinking and learning styles are respected and valued.
Project groups will also meet at a time of their own choosing to work on projects. Project mentors are encouraged to participate in work sessions at least 4 times throughout the year.
Course Scheduling
Under Construction!
| Date | Module | Primary Instructor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 9/5/24 | Version Control | Nick Lyon; Angel Chen |
| 9/16-20/24 | Reproducibility Best Practices | Nick Lyon |
| 10/3/24 | Data Discovery & Management | Li Kui; Marty Downs |
| 10/17/24 | Team Sciences Practices | Marty Downs; Carrie Kappel |
| 10/31/24 | Inclusive Facilitation | Carrie Kappel |
| 11/14/24 | Data Visualization & Exploration | Sarah Elmendorf; Nick Lyon |
| 12/5/24 | Project Management | Marty Downs |
| 12/19/24 | Supporting Divergent, Emergent, and Convergent Thinking | Carrie Kappel |
| 1/16/25 | Data Wrangling | Nick Lyon |
| 1/30/25 | Authorship & Intellectual Credit | Marty Downs |
| 2/13/25 | Canceled | |
| 2/27/25 | Analysis & Modeling | Nick Lyon |
| 3/13/25 | Next Steps & Logic Models | Marty Downs |
| 3/27/25 | Communicating Findings | Gabriel de la Rosa |
| 4/10/25 | Reproducible Reports | Nick Lyon |
| 4/24/25 | Bonus Module / Optional Prep | TBD |
| 5/8/25 | Optional Prep | TBD |
| 5/22/25 | Final Project Symposium | SSECR Participants! |
| 5/28/25 | Public Presentations on LTER Community Call | SSECR Participants! |
Course Policies
Attendance
If you get sick, observe a religious holiday unaccounted for by the SSECR schedule, have to miss class for an interview, or simply don’t think you can handle class on a given day, please email the course instructors as early as possible to let us know that you won’t be in class with a (brief) explanation. This will help us to share resources we’ll cover in class with you and plan for a smaller in-class community while you are out. Our hope is that this course will be somewhere you want to attend, but we totally understand that you have many demands on your time and sometimes life happens!
Please keep in mind that your presence in and contributions to class are important both to your understanding of the material and the creation and maintenance of an in-class community.
Usability, Accessibility, and Design
We are committed to creating a course that is inclusive in its design. If you encounter barriers, please let the instructors know immediately so that we can determine if there is a design adjustment that can be made or if an accommodation might be needed to overcome the limitations of the design. We are always happy to consider creative solutions as long as they do not compromise the intent of the learning activity. We welcome feedback that will assist us in improving the usability and experience for all students.
Name, Gender Identity, and/or Gender Expression
You provided a name when you first applied to be a part of the course but we will gladly honor your request to be addressed by an alternate name. We will also use whichever pronouns you identify with. Please advise us of your pronouns and/or chosen name early in the course so that we can ensure that we treat you respectfully throughout the course.
Code of Conduct
Group work is a significant part of this course explicitly in the synthesis project facet as well as implicitly by the collaborative nature of many of the modules. We expect that you will be mutually respectful with one another both in and outside of class time. We will ask you questions during the course and during class is also an ideal time for you all to ask us questions that you have on course topics or policies. We don’t believe that “dumb questions” exist, and expect that you treat your peers’ questions with the respect you’d like your questions to be with. We will learn more together in an environment where we build one another up than we would in one where we fail to support one another.