SIUE geography department goes global |
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Dear Alestle editor,
We would like to have the Alestle publish an article about the field studies program offered by the department of geography at SIUE, where students both learn about the natural environment and how to conduct field research. The department of geography is aggressively developing an active field program to complement our growing curriculum and research agenda. Our first new field course was organized and led by Dr. Mark Hildebrandt. He took ten students from the department of geography and traveled to Silverton, Colo., from Feb. 18 to 26 to perform field research in an alpine environment. The ten students, currently enrolled in GEOG 314 (Climatology) or other geography courses, studied snow and ice processes in the San Juan Mountain Range with scientists from Arizona State University and the University of Colorado-Denver. The students learned about avalanche forecasting, dug snow pits to study snow stratigraphy and morphology and built and slept in shelters (quinzhees) constructed from recently fallen snow. A return trip to Silverton is planned for next spring semester. This summer, the department will offer two field school courses, one that has been taught for a number of years by Dr. William Woods. The 14th Annual SIUE Cahokia Mounds Field School will be jointly conducted with faculty and students from the University of Goettingen and SIUC. This program is designed to introduce students to current geographical and archaeological methods involved in studying abandoned settlements. Training will include remote sensing, instrument survey, test excavation, digital imaging, soil and sediment coring and description, and laboratory processing and analysis of recovered data. Research topics to be addressed concern the rise and fall of Cahokia and include several field locations. In addition we will be offering a new course taught by Dr. Michael Starr. This course will focus on how to collect information on plants and animals, as well as more general survey techniques (including the use of map and compass and GPS). Students will learn how to identify and observe many new plants and animals and how to assess their distribution and abundance on SIUE's large and diverse campus. There will also be a number of off-campus field trips to include a larger variety of ecosystems.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact Mike Starr at 650-2492, Bill Woods at 650-3641 or call the geography department at 650-2765. | |