Aloha Readers! After thinking about it for a while and several requests, I have decided to blog about my semester in Hawaii! So I will start by giving some background information about the program!
Many people have been asking me, "What are you doing in Hawaii?" (Insert joke about a surf semester/ do my parents know that I am going?) While I am eager to have a change of pace from a typical Cornell semester, I still will be working hard in Hawaii. I am participating in a Cornell program called the "Sustainability Semester". There are 15 or so Cornell students and we are taking the following classes together:
Field Study of the Earth System- an interdisciplinary field course covering fundamental concepts of the Earth system. Topics include: an introduction to the Hawaiian system; island formation and evolution; the arrival and radiation of living organisms, emphasizing endemic and endangered species; landscape development and change on short to long timescales; Earth/ocean/atmospheric controls on ecosystem processes; forest conservation. The course is project-based with students engaged in hands-on, active learning. In addition to work on Hawai'i Island we will also visit Maui and Kaua'i.
Biogeochemistry of the Hawaiian Islands- A field oriented study of biogeochemical processes and ecosystem interactions across the Hawaiian islands. Field, class, and laboratory work will focus on how landscape age and climate strongly control biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem development in Hawaii. Other topics include succession of ecosystems, evolution of nutrient cycles, and impacts of invasive species. The class will be structured around field projects, carried out both as groups and individually.
Conservation Oceanography- This field course will cover the interactions of physical and biological processes in marine ecosystems. It will start by looking at these processes on ocean basin to regional scales and work down to the smaller scales relevant to individual organisms. Students will be introduced to modern techniques of marine ecosystems research, including remote sensing, oceanographic survey methods, and experimental marine ecology. This course is field and laboratory intensive with students engaged in hands-on, active learning that takes advantage of local resources.
Internship- During the last 3.5 weeks of the semester students will carry out a service learning project with a local NGO, environmental business, government agency, research lab, or educational facility. Projects will be carefully designed with the student, sponsoring agency and faculty member.
Intro to Hawaiian Culture- This course draws from the fields of history, political science, and sociology to present an historical understanding of contemporary Hawaiian society. Direct experience with Hawaiian institutions and leaders will bring students into contact with contemporary issues, such as: current politics, including the issue of sovereignty; natural and cultural resource management; economic development; economic dependency; social change; and critical pedagogy. Classes will include field trips to historic and cultural sites around Hawai'i Island.
Unlike a typical semester, one class is taken at a time and in between classes we get 4 day breaks. The work will also be field oriented which I look forward to! Another thing that makes next semester unique is that we all live together (instructors and students) in a house and cottage on a prep school campus located on the big island (Hawaii). Most of the program we will be based out of this location, but for part of the first class we take trips to Maui and Kaua'i.
I am getting excited and starting to pack. In just over a week I will be heading to San Diego to spend some time with my friend Alex that is also participating in the program, then on January 14th we are off to Hawaii!
