As future scientists and citizens, it is important for students to know how to work with and evaluate quantitative data. While the speed and graphical capabilities of computers make them ideal for such tasks, few students have used them in this context. The department is equipping an undergraduate geoscience laboratory with seven portable computers that will be networked together. About the same size and weight as a microscope, these instruments are to be used in a similar fashion - as general purpose "digital" laboratory tools which will be integrated into laboratories at all levels of the geoscience curriculum, including the large introductory course that has a large proportion of non-science majors enrolled. The colleges are contributing an amount equal to the award.
