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Six
Barnard Students Spending the Spring Semester at the Biosphere
II Center in Arizona
Left to right: Margaret Putnam, Zephyr Johnson, Rachel
Sago, Sarah Cohen, Alexa Visco, Bronwen Konecky |
TUCSON,
AZ. – Six Barnard students are spending the spring semester
at the Biosphere II Center in Arizona for environmental science
and astronomy studies.
The Barnard students join 37 undergraduates from 15 colleges
and universities across the United States, including 11 from
Columbia University.
To date, 1,319 students have attended Biosphere 2's semester
or shorter summer field school programs since fall 1996 when
Columbia took over the Center.
Students in Earth Semester spend 16-weeks exploring the unique
laboratory of Biosphere 2, the surrounding Sonoran desert,
and global issues such as greenhouse warming and land-use
change. Universe Semester students immerse themselves in an
intensive astronomy and astrophysics program that takes advantage
of southern Arizona's dark skies for observation, utilizing
Biosphere 2 Observatory's 24-inch telescope as well as larger
telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory outside Tucson.
Classes range from Ecological Systems to Human Role in Environmental
Change to Observational Astronomy and Galactic Astronomy.
In addition, students undertake a semester-long independent
research project, and go on field trips that focus on the
region's geologic, biologic and cultural diversity. In previous
years, field exercises have included the Grand Canyon, the
California desert and the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
Located north of Tucson in Oracle, AZ., Biosphere 2 Center
is Columbia’s 250-acre Arizona campus devoted to deepening
the understanding of earth systems vital to the policies and
decisions that will affect Earth's future. The Biosphere 2
Laboratory is the world's largest controlled facility for
plant growth and integrated study of earth systems science.
Contact:
Suzanne Trimel, Public Affairs, 212-854-7583
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