LAKE MAGGIORE, FLORIDA, AS A NATURAL LABORATORY FOR STUDENT RESEARCH

Lake Maggiore is a 385-acre lake located three miles from the Eckerd College campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. The city and local water authority will begin a $10 million dredging project in 2003 to improve water quality and deepen the lake. The proximity to campus coupled with the dredging project provide an ideal opportunity for long-term student research. The ultimate goal is to document the lake’s recovery from its current eutrophic state. To provide baseline information, nitrogen, phosphorus, pH, dissolved oxygen, Secchi depth and other water quality parameters are measured monthly. Students conduct research as part of a hydrology class and as independent projects throughout the year.

In the summer of 2001 the first student to study Lake Maggiore planned to collect background information and measure various physical and chemical properties. These efforts met with limited success. The student used a boat, GPS unit, and surveying staff to measure the lake depth at 321 locations. He then created a bathymetric map with GIS software and calculated the lake's surface area, average depth, and volume. Determining the lake’s physical dimensions, however, were only a few of many tasks planned for the summer.

Unfortunately, incomplete undergraduate research projects are common. While many students fulfill expectations with little supervision, others require substantial assistance and monitoring. A Research Evaluation Program may help solve this problem. The program’s core is a Research Contract establishing goals for the project besides standard employee issues such as attendance, performance, attitude, and initiative. The faculty supervisor discusses the contract with students before hiring and periodically evaluates progress to praise success and correct shortcomings. While a Research Evaluation Program may seem excessive, a formal contract reduces misunderstandings and emphasizes the significance of research. To provide motivation, the Research Contract outlines benefits for students. In particular, students should realize that recommendations from faculty supervisors will be important when applying for employment or graduate school.

This presentation describes past undergraduate research and illustrates how future projects at Lake Maggiore might improve with a Research Evaluation Program.