ENRICHING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION THROUGH THE KECK GEOLOGY CONSORTIUM

The Keck Geology Consortium is an 18-college collaboration focused on enriching undergraduate education through high-quality geoscience research experiences for undergraduate students and faculty participants. The Consortium projects are year-long research experiences that extend from summer project design and fieldwork, through collection of laboratory data and analysis during the academic year, to the culminating presentation of research results at the annual Keck symposium. Since 1987, 1094 students (1175 slots, 81 repeats) and over 121 faculty (410 slots, multiple repeats) have participated in 137 projects. Over 56% of the students are women, and since 1996, 34% of the project faculty are women.

From the beginning it was recognized that students would benefit from exposure to the complete research experience from the development of scientific questions, field work and sampling, sample and data analysis, to the publication and presentation of results.

Apart from a few projects that focused on topics like planetary geology or experimental petrology, all Keck projects have a significant field component. This reflects the fact that most aspects of the geosciences are firmly rooted in field observations and that field experiences are a crucial aspect of the training of a geoscientist. Consortium projects involving fieldwork are distinct from other field related experiences, such as traditional field camps, in that they emphasize original research, and not necessarily learning a full compendium of field skills. Generally, Keck faculty support the idea that a typical Keck project is complimentary to a traditional field camp but does not fully replace the broad range of skills learned through that experience. Many Keck institutions do not require field camp but most encourage students to complete a field camp before graduation. Students without prior field work usually require some field training during the Keck project.

The Keck experience incorporates all the characteristics of high quality undergraduate research: students are involved in original research, are stakeholders and retain intellectual ownership of their research, experience the excitement of working in group and independent contexts, discuss and publish their findings, and engage in the scientific process from conception to completion.