REU: Engaging Undergraduate Students in an Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Project

9820605 sargent本项目将为地质、生物和化学等10个专业的学生提供一个跨学科的暑期研究经历。参与者将是即将毕业的大三和大四学生，其中约一半来自弗曼大学，约一半来自其他机构。这项研究将集中在南卡罗来纳埃诺里河流域水质的跨学科研究上。学生将被分成跨学科小组，研究埃诺雷河支流的分水岭。学生团队将研究土地利用模式、水文学、水化学、微生物学和鱼类种群，以确定流域的水质。学生小组将自行诠释水质参数之间的关系。该项目的目标是向学生介绍解决科学问题的过程，以及解决环境问题所需的跨学科团队合作。随着暑期的进行，学生团队将被鼓励变得越来越独立于教师团队。

9820605SargentThis project will provide an interdisciplinary summer research experience for a total of ten majors in geology, biology, and chemistry. The participants will be rising juniors and seniors with about half coming from Furman University and about half from other institutions. The research will focus on an interdisciplinary study of water quality in the Enoree River Basin of South Carolina. Students will be divided into interdisciplinary teams and study the watershed of an Enoree River tributary. The student teams will study land use patterns, hydrology, water chemistry, microbiology, and fish populations in order to determine water quality of the watershed. Student teams will interpret the relationships between the water quality parameters themselves. The goal of the project is to introduce students to the process of scientific problem solving and the interdisciplinary teamwork needed to solve environmental problems. As the summer progresses, student teams will be encouraged to become increasingly independent from the faculty team.