Environmental Studies


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Environmental Studies

The goal of Hamilton's Environmental Studies Program is to encourage students to explore the impact of human interaction with our environment through an interdisciplinary approach that balances broad, practical groundwork with focused, individual study.

Overview

Environmental studies as an academic field is only a few decades old, but the concept is ancient. We interact continuously with our surroundings, and we benefit deeply from understanding that interaction. But while the environment has always shaped human life and culture, we also shape the environment — and never more so than today, in an era of rapid technological change and population growth. More ...

Academic Program

Research Opportunities

At Hamilton, student research is an essential part of the academic experience. It enables you to integrate what you have learned in the classroom into a broad, authoritative understanding of your field and its applications to real-world problems and issues. Environmental studies offers a broad range of research options, including field work and laboratory work, carried out independently or in collaboration with a faculty member.

Those majors who choose the natural sciences track have opportunities to join a fascinating variety of research outings. In recent years, students and professors in the geosciences have conducted expeditions not only to Antarctica but to Hawaii, Iceland, the Florida Keys, Colorado, the Pacific Northwest and the European Alps. They also do regular field work in Central New York and the nearby Adirondack mountains.

The College also provides substantial financial support for students who are interested in pursuing summer research. Many students present the results of their work at regional, national and international conferences. Some co-author scholarly papers and journal articles in collaboration with faculty partners and mentors.


The Senior Program

The Senior Program is an integrating, culminating experience that draws on the knowledge and research skills you have developed in the first three years. At its heart is the senior project. The project is a detailed exploration of an environmental topic that culminates in a research paper and oral presentation. The Senior Project should demonstrate competent application of methods and concepts from within the student's selected discipline but may also incorporate methods and concepts of other academic fields reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues. Majors plan and pursue this independent project under the close supervision of a faculty member and the program's advisory committee. More ...


RESOURCES

As an interdisciplinary field, the environmental studies program draws on the rich and diverse resources of the many disciplines and facilities at Hamilton that contribute to it. The College maintains extensive fossil and mineral collections that include the Oren Root Mineral Collection, one of the finest in the country. The geosciences, biology and chemistry programs that provide the natural sciences curriculum are housed in Hamilton's Science Center, which offers an array of tools that rival those of top graduate-level research institutions.

Among them: a sedimentology lab with particle size analyzer (laser optics) and magnetic susceptibility system; oceanographic instrumentation including a conductivity, temperature and transmissivity recorder; geochemistry facilities including X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrumentation and total organic carbon analyzer; rock cutting and thin-section equipment; a complement of petrographic microscopes with photographic capabilities; hydrogeology equipment including a digital current meter, flow cells, groundwater sampling equipment, field chemical analysis system, well-testing equipment and a groundwater flow meter; and a computer array including Macintosh and IBM/NEC machines with a host of software and a digitizing table.