December
5 , 2003
Mount
Holyoke Students Study Environmental Science at World-Renowned
Center in Woods Hole
|
Claire Treat '05 and
Gareth Crosby '05 |
Gareth Crosby '05 and Claire
Treat '05 are spending the fall semester studying environmental
science at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods
Hole, Massachusetts. Crosby and Treat, both environmental studies
majors, are two of the 18 students in the laboratory's
Semester
in Environmental Science (SES)
program.
The SES program is sponsored by the Ecosystems Center, the MBL's ecological
research arm. Under the instruction of the center's scientists, Crosby
and Treat and their classmates are studying aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
science with some of the world's experts on the subject, and attending
lectures on topics such as biogeochemistry,
ecosystems modeling, and global change. They are also participating in a science
writing workshop taught by professional science journalists and a seminar series
that features prominent research scientists from around the nation.
Virtually all of the Ecosystems Center's principal investigators and many
of the support staff participate in the SES program. Among the key environmental
issues studied at the Ecosystems Center are the ecological consequences of global
climate change; tropical deforestation and its effects on greenhouse gas fluxes;
nitrogen saturation of midlatitude forests; effects of acid rain on North American
lakes; and pollution and habitat destruction in coastal ecosystems of the United
States.
Because the SES program is designed to immerse serious science students in an
intensive semester of hands-on ecological science, students spend a significant
amount of time in the laboratory and field—20 hours each week investigating
forests, ponds, and estuaries on Cape Cod. They then apply what they've
learned in the classroom by conducting their own independent research projects
at local field sites. Crosby and Treat will present their findings to the Woods
Hole scientific community on December 15.
The MBL 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.
For more information on the SES program, call 508-289-7777 or visit http://courses.mbl.edu/SES/.
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