YBRA-TRADITION AND LEADERSHIP ROLE IN FIELD COURSE EDUCATION FOR 79 YEARS

For nearly 80 years the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association (YBRA) has been the site of summer field course offerings by Princeton, Penn, Franklin and Marshall, Amherst, Penn State, Southern Illinois, Harvard and Yale, among others. These courses have ranged from traditional field methods, to innovative educational programs. From an International Field Congress to an AGI Writing Conference, these programs have provided opportunities to thousands of undergraduate and graduate geology students, pre-college and college teachers, professional geoscientists, and lay-persons to pursue their specific interests in a setting that participants claim has no rival.

The "Red Lodge Project" as it was known in 1930, was the brainchild of W. Taylor Thom, who interested other institutions in joining with Princeton to form the YBRA in 1936. Prior to that year programs were held at Piney Dell and Camp Senia, not far from Red Lodge. Several dozen doctoral dissertations, masters' theses, and Senior Theses have been completed using YBRA as their base. During the past few decades, many Alumni Colleges have been conducted for graduates and friends of Princeton, Amherst, Franklin and Marshall, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, Southern Illinois University and others.

Though modern computerized equipment and innovative teaching methods and subjects, including environmental science and dinosaur "digs", have long since supplanted plane table and alidade surveying, YBRA has maintained its traditional approach to providing field-based experiences for students of all ages and interests.