Each year the environmental studies department offers one or more research seminars. Focusing on significant regional environmental issues, these courses provide opportunities for upper class students to gain research experience, render tangible service to local communities, and, in some cases, environmental journals.
Past seminars have dealt with such topics as Amish farming as ecological agriculture, nitrate pollution in area groundwater, a history of the St. Lawrence Seaway development project and a history of impacts of fluoride pollution from aluminum industries.
The Adirondack-Appalachia program, offered alternate summers with the department of sociology, is an intensive course examining comparative regional issues. Students travel to sites in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, conducting an extended field investigation of land use and pollution issues. Students meet extensively with community grassrootsactivists to discuss strategies for local environmental protection and community health.
By comparing newly acquired insight with similar investigations in the Adirondacks, the program hopes to provide students with a more comprehensive regional perspective.
Examples of recent research projects: