Environmental Enthusiast Lauds Woods Hole Semester Program

Author: Venessa Wong

Biology majors Carmody McCalley '03 and Kyle Whittinghill '03 spent their fall semester with 11 other students from outside Middlebury College in the renowned Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass. as part of the Semester in Environmental Science (SES) program.

The program is designed to immerse students through classes, labs, science writing seminars and independent research, in an intensive hands-on semester focused on ecology. Students then produce and present their independent projects to the Woods Hole scientific community. "This place is incredible," said McCalley, "I love it here."

The laboratory is the oldest private center for marine studies in North America and has welcomed researchers and students for over 110 years. It cites its mission as "providing undergraduates with an opportunity to learn about ecosystems and conduct environmental research with some of the top scientists in the field." The main focus of the SES program is biogeochemistry, specifically the study of how nutrients affect ecosystem processes.

The first 10 weeks of the program are a combination of classes and labs that includes a core lecture and field lab in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, an elective class (this year the choices were math modeling and microbial ecology), a science writing seminar and a weekly "distinguished scientist" seminar which features a discussion section with a prominent research scientist. Students take advantage of the nearby Falmouth sewage treatment plant and the various lakes and estuaries on Cape Cod to do their fieldwork. The last five weeks are dedicated to independent work, which entails a self-designed research project with both lab and field components. The semester concludes with final presentations.

McCalley said, "I found out about SES through the Middlebury course catalog. I wanted to do a semester off campus and I wanted to spend that semester doing science. SES was a perfect fit … I came to Woods Hole because I am passionate about science and the Marine Biological Laboratory is an excellent place to learn about and do science. I particularly enjoy doing fieldwork, and this program involves a lot of time out in the field. As for environmentalism, I am very concerned about what humans are doing to the environment, and I wanted to know how I as a scientist could help fix these problems."

McCalley's project focuses on the effects of heath restoration on Nantucket Island. The Massachusetts Audobon Society is using two methods, burning and mowing, to restore heathland on Nantucket. McCalley is studying soil chemistry to determine the effectiveness of these techniques. "I took soil samples from burned, mowed and control plots on the island. I am now analyzing the samples in the laboratory to determine the chemical characteristics of the soil including nitrate concentrations, ammonium concentrations, forms of phosphorous, and cation concentrations."

McCalley hopes her new knowledge and research will contribute to environmentalism at Middlebury. "I will share the knowledge I have gained about how humans are affecting the environment and encourage students to think about the environmental impact of their activities. Middlebury is already a very environmentally conscious community and I hope that what I have learned can contribute to continuing this tradition of environmental awareness."

In comparing her experience with the program at MLB and at Middlebury, McCalley pointed out the benefits of being able to focus on one discipline. "One of the big differences between here and Middlebury is that [at Woods Hole] all our classes are related. We are studying science all the time, and all our lectures and labs are interconnected. Another big difference is that there are only 13 of us … the student to faculty ratio is great; there are almost as many teachers as students. The academic experience is incredible, the science we are doing is amazing and the techniques we are learning and equipment we are using are state of the art. I have learned an incredible amount both about designing and carrying out real research that I could never have learned simply sitting through lectures. I also discovered that I want to study biogeochemistry in graduate school. It is the perfect combination of my biology major, chemistry minor and love of the outdoors."

Nevertheless, McCalley admits that she is excited to return to Middlebury next semester and looks forward to "seeing all my friends and going skiing." She recommends the program to other motivated students who are interested in science. "This program is a ton of fun, but don't expect to have a lot of free time."