Denice Wardrop, director of Penn State’s Sustainability Institute and professor of geography and ecology, wants to “build a different kind of capacity” in students. She worked closely with Michael Nassry, who completed his graduate research on glacial meltwater streams in southeast Alaska before joining the Department of Geography’s wetland research center — Riparia — as a research associate. They envisioned a CAUSE course that contrasted two landscapes characterized by wetlands and influenced by climate change. In May, students traveled to the high altitude mountain glaciers and wetlands of Peru to collect samples. In August they traveled to Alaska for the second leg of their journey.
Wardrop explained her life’s work as “trying to get humans and aquatic systems to bring out the best in each other.” She encourages her students to see both the mechanical and the artistic aspect of science. “I’m not giving students a list to check off," she said. "I want them to have navigation tools to read each situation and break it down into systems. I want them to ask questions such as 'Where is the water sitting? What is the primary source of water? How do you pick a representative site? And what assumptions are you making?'”
Students’ lessons included ones that could not be garnered from a book.
“I learned that you have to be mentally and physically flexible in the field,” said Andrew Angle, a geography major who is interested in the interactions of physical climate processes and business activities.
“You have to be patient because things don’t always happen exactly like they’re supposed to,” said Alyssa Menzel, a junior studying energy engineering who had taken to duct-taping her boots after discovering they weren’t as waterproof as she had hoped.
“And it’s always easy to introduce error into the collection process,” said Sara Tomko who had the experience of extricating herself from a fall into waist-deep water during an intense field session.
“Another big part is getting students to understand how to talk about classification, which is always contested in wetlands,” said Wardrop. This classification issue was illustrated when students spoke with David D’Amore, a research soil scientist working in Juneau, Alaska, for the U.S. Forest Service. Terms such as bog, fen and muskeg are common to those working in Alaska, but not used uniformly in other parts of the United States.
“I think it was an additional challenge because of different terms being used,” said Cecilia Cullen, a geosciences major. “This was a barrier to communication.”
When students speak about their CAUSE experience, a common theme is learning through personal experience.
“I feel more confident in my ability to process information. I’m so used to reading for classes, but recently when I spoke to students about joining Eco-Reps (Penn State student sustainability leaders), I used my own photos and information from my experience. I feel like this can have more impact,” said Brandon Rothrock, a dual major in meteorology and geography.
Amanda Krolczyk agreed. “We all talk about climate change, but I feel like I saw it," she said. "As a petroleum and natural gas engineering major, it’s going to be easier for me to talk about climate change to people in my industry.”
“People who are likely to be impacted the most contribute to it the least; I had heard this before, but now I’ve seen it,” said Austin Jordan, an energy business and finance major, who is interested in working with weather and climate risk, possibly in the renewable energy sector.
“I didn’t know people relied so heavily on the natural resources that they live near,” said Isabelle Gordon, a materials science and engineering major. "But seeing people in Peru and Alaska so dependent on farming, fishing and tourism helped me see the connection each of these places has to each other and also to climate change.”
Part of the Alaska experience included hiking to a Mendenhall Glacier ice cave, and speaking to U.S. Forest Service scientists to discuss land and resource management of the glacier and surrounding areas.