Undergrads Report from the Field
by Matt Ball on July 8, 2008
This is the time of year when undergraduate and graduate students disperse to far corners of the globe to apply what they’ve learned to hands-on work in the field. There’s no replacement for the insight gained from access to places and processes, for direct observation or in the case of remediation efforts, to see what actions have impact.
I read two interesting undergraduate reports this morning:
Megan McCaghey is a Hendrix College undergrad that has been working on restoration efforts on New Zealand’s north island. This post on habitat restoration tells an encouraging story of great progress being made to eliminate invasive wildlife in order to restore native species.
Max Schneider, a UCLA undergraduate, provides a more intimate view in a blog post about his research work at Summit Camp, Greenland. Most of his days are spent babysitting a temperamental Long Path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy instrument for atmospheric observation.
There’s no escaping the often monotonous tasks of field observation, data collection and reporting. But the opportunity to see for oneself hopefully makes a life-long impression on these and other students who learn that they can make a difference.
Read more related Spatial Sustain posts:
Tagged as:
fieldwork,
greenland,
new zealand,
observation
