Field Schools

UPCOMING/CONTINUING FIELD SCHOOLS

Continual: Madison County Road-Killed Small Animal Survey - Dr. Michael Starr and SIUE Geography Students

During the last decade, Madison County has again experienced increased growth due to urban sprawl from the metro St. Louis area, which has led to more subdivisions, more road construction, and more vehicle traffic. It is likely that such increased traffic causes more small animal fatalities, or road-kills, however, due to limited research, the scope of the problem is not well understood. Therefore, we have begun regular surveys along both rural roads and state highways. Our initial results suggest that road-kills are strongly correlated with increased traffic, and that common national estimates vastly underestimate the seriousness of the problem.

Spring 2008: Silverton, Colorado - Dr. Mark Hildebrandt

The Spring 2008 Geography Field Program in Silverton will occur sometime in late February to early March. Please contact Dr. Hildebrandt for more information.

For the past few years, Dr. Hildebrandt, has helped to develop and direct the Geography Field Program in Silverton, Colorado. This program is a joint research and educational venture with six universities designed to teach advanced undergraduate students and graduate students the basics of mountain geography. In particular, we have previously emphasized the climatology of snow and avalanches, snow hydrology, avalanche mechanics and hazards, and the relationships between human activities and the physical behavior of the alpine environment. The idea for the program originated more than twenty years ago at Arizona State University, when Melvin Marcus (former president of the Association of American Geographers) brought his snow and ice students to the San Juan Mountains to conduct experiments on snow mechanics and climatology. Since that time, the program has grown significantly, and now includes two separate weeks of field training and research by both faculty and student researchers from Arizona State University, Minnesota State University, Northern Arizona University, SIUE, Texas State University, the Air Force Academy, and the University of Texas.

Since 1999, approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate students from SIUE have traveled to Silverton to participate in the field school. Each annual trip has been highly successful, and fieldwork conducted by SIUE students has resulted in five completed Senior Assignments. Among these students are Kathleen McBride and Olivia Markham who are now graduate students at Northern Arizona University.

Summer 2008: Mojave Field Research - Dr. Michael Starr

Dr. Starr has submitted grant proposals to a number of Federal and State agencies in California in order to continue his research in the Mojave Desert. Should these grants get funded, he will be conducting trips focused on his desert research, which will present an invaluable opportunity to a very limited number of highly motivated students. (See "Past Feild Schools" below for notes on the Summer 2006 and Summer 2001 field schools.)

PAST FIELD SCHOOLS

June 17 - July 19, 2007: SIUE Travel Study to South Africa - Dr. Susan Hume

SIUE undergraduate students have the opportunity to spend five weeks exploring South Africa's Western Cape Province. The program enables students to earn up to 12 credit hours of 300 & 400 level coursework in Geography, History, Political Science, and English. During the first four weeks, students are based at the University of Stellenbosch, just outside of Cape Town. Coursework consists of lectures, discussions, and numerous fieldtrips to places such as Cape Town, Robben Island, Table Mountain, and Cape Point. A three-day weekend at a guest farm in the semi-desert Karoo breaks up the time in Stellenbosch. During the final week of the program, students travel along the Garden Route to experience a diverse range of the Western Cape's natural beauty and wildlife. Students who participated in the 2006 travel study had the chance to climb Table Mountain, explore Cango Caves, ride an ostrich, pet cheetahs, go shark cage diving, and bungee jump from the highest bungee jump in the world (216 meters)! For more detailed information, click here.

Other Travel Study / Study Abroad opportunities through other departments of the university are posted at the Study Abroad website.

Summer 2007: Beijing and Xi'an, China - Drs. Bin Zhou and Tom Lavallee

China Field School Objectives: To introduce SIUE students to Chinese culture through lectures and field trip observation; to understand the Chinese view of living space and urban space, both ancient and contemporary; to understand living conditions in China through interacting with Chinese students and interviewing rural Chinese families.

Courses and Credits: SIUE participating in the Field School must enroll in the following courses for the Summer 2006 term to earn a total of 6 SIUE credit hours: GEOG 426 - Field School and IS 400 - History, Culture and Language of China.

Eligibility: Open to SIUE undergraduate students in good academic standing from any major. The field school is of particular relevance to students in the following departments: Foreign Languages, Geography, Anthropology, Sociology, and History. Students who have not yet declared a major may also apply. Knowledge of the Chinese language is NOT necessary.

Visits Include: Terracotta Armies, Greater and Lesser Wild Goose Pagodas, Great Wall & Ming Tombs, Forbidden City, The Royal Summer Palace & Yuanming Garden, Martial Arts Demonstration, Beijing Opera Performance, Tiananmen Square, and many other sites of cultural and historical significance.

Program Fee: Participating students will be responsible for a program fee of approximately $1,460. Fee includes roundtrip airfare from St. Louis to China, visa fee, 14 group meals during field trips, and administrative fees. Cost of housing is covered by SIUE grant funds. Additional costs include: 6 hours SIUE tuition (GEOG 426 and IS 400), international health insurance, Passport fee, meals not covered by program fee (students can eat modestly for $5 per day in China), incidental expenses and spending money.

For additional details or to obtain an application form, contact:

Professor Bin Zhou, bzhou@siue.edu, Department of Geography, Office: 1406 Alumni Hall, Tel: 650-5763

or

Professor Tom Lavalle, tlavale@siue.edu, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Office: 2334 Peck Hall, Tel: 650-3301

May 10/12 - June 16, 2006: Mojave Field Research - Dr. Michael Starr

Notes from the 2006 Mojave Field School: We left SIUE in early May to begin our trip, which focused on 3 weeks of field work in the Mojave Desert, California. While we were camped in the desert, much of our time was spent learning about the desert environment. We hiked through Joshua Tree woodlands, over lava flows and observed numerous native animals, including the endangered desert tortoise. (One student set a record for number of lizards caught!) We also spent much of our time learning field survey techniques associated with an on-going research project. This project included setting up live-trapping grids to monitor ground squirrel abundance, surveying plant richness (natives vs exotics) and measuring various types of human impact. This portion of the trip was highly successful as we caught and released more than 200 squirrels! After completing this portion of the class, we began the travel study portion of the course for our trip home. We first drove to the Pacific Ocean to camp and swim at a few state parks along the beach. We then began driving home, with stops for camping and hiking in numerous National Parks along the way, including Sequoia (with the largest living tree), Yosemite (where some floated the Merced River while others hiked up Half Dome) , Grand Canyon, Zion & Bryce Canyons. On many levels, this was one of the most amazing months in the participants lives!

Notes from the 2001 Mojave Field School:We left SIUE in late May to begin our trip, which focused on 3 weeks of field work in the Mojave Desert, California. While we were camped in the desert, much of our time was spent learning about the desert environment. We hiked through Joshua Tree woodlands, over lava flows and observed numerous native animals, including the endangered desert tortoise. We also spent much of our time learning field survey techniques associated with an on-going research project. This project included setting up live-trapping grids to monitor ground squirrel abundance, surveying plant richness (natives vs exotics) and measuring various types of human impact. After completing this portion of the class, we began the travel study portion of the course for our trip home. We first drove to the Pacific Ocean to camp and swim at a few state parks along the beach. We then began driving home, with stops for camping and hiking in numerous National Parks along the way, including Yosemite (where some floated the Merced River while others hiked up Half Dome) , Grand Canyon, Zion & Bryce Canyons, Arches and Rocky Mountain Park. We were gone for more than a month, yet by all accounts, it was the best combined 5 weeks of our lives!

Deadline for signing up with Dr. Starr: Early February - Sign up soon as 9-10 spots of the 12 available have already been filled.

Cost estimates are approximately $1200 (not including tuition).

Summer 2003: The Physical Geography of Yellowstone National Park - Drs. Mark Hildebrandt and Michael Starr

Though we were gone for much of July, most of our time was spent camping in and exploring Yellowstone National Park. This trip focused on the geology and hydrology, as we hiked around hot pools, up river canyons and watched Old Faithful and Yellowstone Falls. We also had plenty of first hand experience with the biodiversity, from wolves howling to moose foraging, to sharing the trails with bison. In addition to such explorations, we conducted field surveys to measure differences in the forests that were and were not burned in 1988, and we also compared the biodiversity of grasslands grazed by cattle to those grazed by bison. In addition, our travels included stops at Badlands and Grand Tetons National Parks as well as historical sites like Mt Rushmore and Flaming Gorge. While we didn't see as many places this year, we came to know the Yellowstone area so well, that this trip would not soon be forgotten.

Summer 2003: Digging a Castle in Belgium - Dr. William Woods

Summer 2002: The Physical Geography of the Colorado River Plateau - Drs. Mark Hildebrandt and Michael Starr

This combined field course was designed to broaden student knowledge about many of the National Parks in the western United States. We left in early June stopping in the Great Sand Dunes & Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then we spent about 2 weeks camping and exploring the Colorado River Plateau, focusing on the Grand Canyon, then stopping at Zion & Bryce Canyons, Canyonlands & Arches National Park, before heading across the Rockies and home. During our trip, we balanced our time between simply exploring the unique geology with hikes into the Grand Canyon and around the fossilized sand dunes of Zion. These arid environments ranged from desert shrubs to pine trees and we saw many endangered species there such as condors and mountain goats. Finally, we also observed many of the ways that human activities are negatively affecting these parks and what is being done to protect their resources. Afterwards, everyone realized that one needs to spend much more time at each of these parks to get a full sense of their value and wonder - but these 3 weeks was still a very good start indeed.

URL: http://www.siue.edu/GEOGRAPHY/FieldSchools.htm
Published by: SIUE Department of Geography
Last update: August 31, 2007 by webmaster