A RESEARCH AND LEARNING COLLABORATION BETWEEN ONE TWO-YEAR AND TWO FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS

Central Wyoming College (CWC) is collaborating with Syracuse University (SU), and the University of Missouri Branson Field Lab, in a hydrogeologic study in Red Canyon, south of Lander, Wyoming. This collaboration stems from a project designed to introduce Branson geology field camp students to a variety of geologic studies. The fifth week of a six-week session contains surface water and ground water exercises and students may choose to continue hydrogeology, as their advanced project, during the final week at camp. CWC is located 35 miles north of Camp Branson. Introductions between CWC staff (a solitary geoscientist at a small, rural community college) and SU staff (from a large, urban geoscience department) occurred during field sessions at the Branson camp. During the first season, it occurred to both parties that a year-long project would be beneficial to all: SU would have data for a full year rather than just one week per year and CWC students would learn how to do science by using hydrologic principles to collect samples and analyze data in the field.

What began over five years ago has become a multi-year, multi-layered project. CWC students continue to collect water data and samples throughout the year. Graduate students at SU are using the area for advanced studies, and the hat has been passed through three generations of SU students. The summer activity also gives the SU graduate students the chance to teach early undergraduate students the rudiments of surface and ground water dynamics. Several CWC students have participated in the field exercises along with the upper-division and graduate students at the camp.

Beyond experiential learning for the students, this collaboration has allowed samples from another CWC project to be chemically analyzed at SU, which also gives SU graduate students practice in using the analytical equipment. Field equipment expenses are shared among the institutions. Our current collaboration is supported by an NSF CAREER grant to Lautz. In exchange for work by the CWC students and faculty, this grant financially supports the earth science program at CWC. Without this collaboration, the students at CWC would not have the opportunity for this type of fieldwork and the faculty would not have the funding to attend pertinent events, such as GSA meetings and workshops.