October
29, 2004
MHC
Students Study at Woods Hole
Lisa
Brunie ’06, Emily Sampson ‘06, and Rose Phillips ’05
are spending the fall semester taking part in the rigorous
Semester in Environmental Science (SES) program at the Marine
Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The
program, designed to immerse serious science students in an
intensive semester of hands-on ecological science, is sponsored
by the
MBL’s Ecosystems Center, an international center for environmental
research and home to scientists conducting leading-edge research
in freshwater, coastal, and terrestrial habitats all over the
world. Virtually all of the Ecosystems Center’s principal
investigators, and many of the support staff, participate in
the SES program.
Brunie, an environmental science major, and Sampson and Phillips, both
environmental studies majors, are investigating problems ranging from
the effects of land use change in the coastal zone, to disruption of the
global nitrogen cycle, to deforestation and overexploitation of fisheries. Each
week they spend more than 20 hours conducting hands-on lab work and field research
in the forests, ponds, and estuaries of Cape Cod. In addition to taking courses
in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems science, the students are participating
in a science-writing seminar designed to illustrate how the results of scientific
investigations can be transmitted to the public.
During the last five weeks of the semester, Brunie, Sampson, and Phillips will
conduct independent research projects and work with mentors from the Ecosystems
Center to collect and analyze data and produce final papers. They will report
their research findings to the Woods Hole scientific community at a public symposium
on December 17.
The SES program is open to students enrolled at one of the 60 colleges participating
in the MBL Consortium in Environmental Science. Students
from nonaffiliated institutions may register and receive credit through Brown
University. For more information on the program, call 508-289-7777 or visit http://courses.mbl.edu/SES.
The Marine Biological Laboratory is an internationally known, independent, nonprofit
institution dedicated to improving the human condition through creative research
and education in the biological, biomedical, and environmental sciences. Its
intensive graduate-level educational program is renowned throughout the life
sciences. Founded in 1888, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in
the Western Hemisphere.
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