A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR GLOBALIZED SCIENCE VIA ON-SITE, SERVICE LEARNING AND GEOLOGY STUDENTS
Challenges to increasing the number of globally informed and globally motivated geoscientists come from the lure of industry (mostly financial) and academia (mostly prestige). Opportunities directly involving geology for the improvement of lives among the global poor are few and typically un(der) funded. Volunteerism is required and quite difficult for those already employed. Increasing global involvement among well-educated geology students however, offers many benefits. There is the strong sense of altruism among the young, such that they can be recruited in efforts to help fix the world’s problems. They are also less encumbered by family and existing career commitments. Perhaps their only limitation is need for mentoring/supervision requiring professional geoscientists. Once given sufficient training, the younger workforce is very capable of learning in the service context of global outreach. This assertion is supported by various cases of partnership networking for global projects. As examples, Wheaton College undergrad geology majors have served as the heart of research in South Africa (community waste-management), in Tanzania (water and mineral resource studies), in Kosova (holistic community development, including the analysis of fold-fracturing that control groundwater resources), in Senegal (coastal land-use analysis for construction materials) and in Haiti (geophysical search for aquifers). In each instance, a local organization hosts the research and provides trainees to gain expertise unavailable in their own schools. The only factor restricting the effective growth of this service-research-training paradigm is relatively modest funding support.