SAGE (SUMMER OF APPLIED GEOPHYSICAL EXPERIENCE)

SAGE, a field-based educational program in applied geophysical methods, completed its 22nd year of operation in July 2004. SAGE teaches the major geophysical exploration methods (including seismic, gravity, magnetic, and electromagnetic methods) and applies them to the solution of specific geologic problems. These include delineating buried hazardous material, mapping archaeological sites, and studying subsurface geological structures and water resources of the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico.

Nearly 600 students have attended SAGE since 1983. SAGE 2003 was a typical mix of students when 15 undergraduates, 11 graduate students, and 2 professionals attended from 21 different campuses. There were 13 women, 2 Hispanics, 1 Black, and 4 students came from foreign universities. The student to faculty ratio was ~ 4 to 1.

SAGE is an immersion environment that has continually evolved over the years to meet its challenging objectives. Successful approaches include: 1) hands-on participation by all students with all equipment; 2) using modern equipment, computers, and software (continually updated by organizing universities, industry affiliates, and leasing); 3) developing close ties to industry who provide supplemental instructors, furnish the latest equipment and software, and alert students to the current industry trends and job opportunities; 4) two-level student data analysis teams that simultaneously address specific geophysical techniques and their integration; and 5) oral and written reports patterned after professional society meetings and journals..

SAGE is open to students from any university (or organization) with backgrounds including geophysics, geology, engineering, physics, and mathematics. U.S. undergraduate students may attend SAGE as REU students (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

SAGE is sponsored by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Branch of the University of California’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. More information is available on the SAGE web site at http://www.sage.lanl.gov/.