Over the summer of 2018, an interdisciplinary undergraduate student team including Jahza Klochko (Construction Management), Gabriella Villalobos and Jeanette Misuraca (Architecture), and Julia Walton (Landscape Architecture) traveled to the Dominican Republic to work alongside Fundación Grupo Puntacana as part of the Center for Undergraduate Research’s International Scholars Program. The students are all earning a Minor in Sustainability and the Built Environment, yet each contributed a unique set of skills acquired from their individual classwork and internship experience across the College of Design, Construction and Planning’s academic units.
Ongoing research partner Fundación Grupo Puntacana sought to understand community demographics, community needs, and re-imagining livelihoods so that their decision-making strategy can create programs to reshape and improve fishing practices for a better future.
During our University Scholars Program research experience, the students set out to gather data on the local fishing community of Cabeza del Toro so that the data could inform a co-management plan for a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) aimed to protect the endangered coral reefs, while providing alternate sources of livelihoods for those impacted by the conservation efforts. The students collected data by administering a survey using a mobile application and administered the survey verbally in Spanish while recording responses in the mobile application.
The major lessons the students learned included the necessity of collecting unbiased data, the challenges of conducting research in a context where they were outsiders to the community, and the political complexities of this small fishing community in the Punta Cana region. Their time in the community engaging with various stakeholders revealed to them that every action taken to regulate fishing should come with parallel actions toward environmental education and creation of alternative livelihoods.
The four DCP University Scholars Program Students were mentored by Dr. Jocelyn Widmer and conducted research with Fundación Grupo Puntacana as part of a long-standing collaboration.