THE FRENCH CREEK WATERSHED RESEARCH PROGRAM: INTEGRATION OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AND STUDENT-FACULTY RESEARCH

With support from the National Science Foundation, Allegheny College has adopted a regional watershed model for undergraduate teaching and research in northwestern Pennsylvania. Here I report on three major achievements from this work. The project website provides a permanent means to disseminate natural science information across the campus and to the community-at-large; it is both a teaching and research resource that was created largely by student effort. Currently it contains more than two dozen maps that illustrate such features as topographic relief, bedrock and surficial geology, land use/cover, wetlands, and changes in human population density over time. Datasets are posted for soils, lakes, streams, fish, and precipitation, and there is a searchable index of all student-faculty research projects (n=326) that have been conducted in the watershed. With time and effort, the website has the potential to evolve into a regional digital atlas. The second major product was an innovative, eight-week summer research project that brought 11 undergraduates together to conduct synoptic stream sampling and analyze stream chemistry, measure bedrock joint patterns, and perform lineament analysis of surface features observed on aerial photos. In addition to valuable technical skills, the student teams gained deep knowledge of how to plan and allocate their time, take careful notes and sketches in the field and lab, and independently solve problems. Students, faculty, and staff deemed the project a success; the data collected will be used over the next decade in courses and for student-faculty research projects involving structural geology, geomorphology, and hydrogeology. What is most striking about the project is the composition of the student group: the majority had just completed their freshman or sophomore year and three of the four upperclassmen were pursuing a degree in the humanities. Lastly, with additional support from the Luce Foundation, the College has applied the watershed model as a platform for education and research in the humanities and social sciences. Now students across the campus are creating place-based environmental art and writing while others conduct research on industrial economics or voting patterns in the watershed.