Purpose
Part of the degree requirement for the Bachelor of Science degree in the School of Oceanography is the successful completion of a research project in the senior year. This two-quarter course serves as the capstone course for the curriculum. The purpose of this research program is to allow the students to put into practice what they have learned in the classroom by undertaking research in the field and laboratory, working with their peers and with the faculty, studying scientific problems of interest to other people in the community, and presenting their results orally in a symposium and in a written report. Research is undertaken in biological, chemical, and physical oceanography and in marine geology and geophysics.
Although the course has been offered for over a decade, it has evolved on its own into a learning environment that is aligned with the recommendations for undergraduate science education presented in the National Research Council publication "From Analysis to Action" and the National Science Foundation publication "Shaping the Future": It is expected of all students, it integrates research with teaching, it is driven by the needs of organizations outside the university, it is student centered in that the students define their research problems, it stresses students working as groups, it encourages collaboration of students with people outside the university, and it develops the students ability to communicate with others.
Schedule
During the fall of each year, requests for proposals are made to municipal, county, state, and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and environmental consultants in the Puget Sound Region. These proposals are reviewed by the five faculty members scheduled to supervise the projects. A preliminary evaluation of the projects is made, considering their requirements for platforms and instrumentation, the logistics of operating at the proposed sites, and the compatibility of the proposed projects, and one or more of them is accepted for presentation to the students.
Consultation with the external sponsor of the accepted proposal is undertaken to agree on the extent of interaction between the sponsor and the students. The sponsor's interaction may range from interest in the results to participation in a joint research effort.
In winter quarter the accepted proposal is presented to the students. With the faculty's advice and additional information from speakers invited from the sponsoring organization, the students determine their own particular research problems within the scope of the proposal. They not only plan the research but undertake the project management as well: requirements for the field operations, requirements for laboratory apparatus, and scheduling for the platforms, equipment, supplies, and personnel. They also prepare a budget for the program. The winter quarter ends with each student having written a research proposal, the abstract of which is posted on the home page for that year. E-mail comments on the research proposals are invited.
In the second week of spring quarter the field work begins. Depending upon the existing schedules of the vessels and the type of projects selected, the students may use any of the School's vessels: the 274-foot Thomas G. Thompson (117k gif image), the 65-foot Clifford A. Barnes (97k gif image), a 21-foot center-console Beachmaster work boat (103k gif image), and a 16-foot Boston Whaler (109k gif image).
After the field work is completed, the students have eight or nine weeks to run analyses, reduce data, interpret the results, and write drafts of more and more of their reports. During this time, the students post announcements of their research progress on their home pages with opportunity for e-mail comments. A symposium is scheduled at the end of the term for the students to present their results orally; the symposium is open to the public. Scientists from the sponsoring organization are present. The written reports are available for reading at the School of Oceanography. Copies of the reports and the data are supplied to the sponsoring organization.
Assessment
The Senior Research Projects form part of the undergraduate end-of-program assessment by the School of Oceanography. Comparison of student performance in the sophomore field course and the Senior Research Projects is taken as a measure of a student's knowledge of scientific content and of his or her skill in the problem solving that is scientific research.
Awards
Although these projects are primarily a learning exercise, every attempt is made to produce research results of high quality. Each year at least one student has received an award for his or her presentation at a scientific meeting. The most recent such student is:- Julie Holbrook
- "Are growth rates of Pseudonitzschia pungens and Heterosigma carterae affected by virus concentrations in Budd Inlet, Washington?" Best paper by an undergraduate student at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Pacific Estuarine Research Society in Tillamook, Oregon, May 1997.
Comments
The School welcomes comments about its Senior Research Projects.
mcmanus@ocean.washington.edu. Revised: 1 July 1997. The background on this page is copyrighted by Jacqueline Hamilton (kira@metronet.com).