CAMPUS RAVINES AS A FOCUS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS: GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY, ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN

Grand Valley State University (a comprehensive university founded in 1960) is located on a moraine bordering the Grand River in western Michigan. Deep tributary ravines cut the eastern boundary of the rural campus and provide an excellent local site for undergraduate student projects. Campus urbanization in the past 40 years has resulted in an increase in stream discharge, and this has brought about dynamic modification of the ravine environment in which changes can be observed over short time periods.

Because most GVSU students work or have family obligations many cannot participate in the traditional independent research project model. However, as one ravine is only 7 m from the science building, easy access provides abundant opportunities for group research projects. Students in courses have done ravine projects so that the students, despite outside obligations, can take part in gathering original data. For example, biennially since 1998 students in Geological Field Methods have measured profiles of the streams and compiled their data using GIS. By comparing profiles representing pre- or early-campus development with present-day profiles the students have documented average down-cutting rates of ~3 cm/year.

Other students have been involved in ravine projects outside of coursework. One such opportunity developed when engineering structures were installed to control erosion in the ravines. During the summer of 2002 an engineering firm installed 10 check dams, armored two tributary ravines with riprap, and re-established three failed slopes. In a cooperative effort between academic and service units, funding was received from GVSU's Facilities Planning Office for students to monitor the effects of the structures on the streams via photography, which will accompany the ongoing profiling done by the Geology 315 students. By paying undergraduate researchers and spreading the workload among several individuals, students became involved who might not otherwise have been able to take part in research. To date students have documented deposition upstream from some dams, the formation of plunge pools, the displacement of riprap, and erosion of one of the re-established slopes. The potential results of such student monitoring is to provide guidance to the Facilities Planning Office for future ravine management.