9451723 Stephenson-Hawk The comprehensive academic, research, and outreach program in Earth System Science (ESS) is continuing to be strengthened through the enhancement of the ESS laboratory. Earth System Science is the interdisciplinary study of the earth, as a system, and its component parts, which include the atmosphere, maritime regions, biological and hydraulic cycles, and geographic features, their interaction and evolution. The overall motivation for a program of study in Earth System Science is to expose a large segment of the University's faculty and students to the multidisciplinary nature of the subject while simultaneously increasing the numbers of minority students pursuing careers in this and related areas. A laboratory that is used to accompany a recently developed course entitled "Introduction to Earth System Sciences" is being further developed and equipped. This course targets (1) first and second year students that are interested in pursuing ESS careers or are interested in learning more about the environment in which they live, (2) elementary and secondary education majors that will eventually teach in our nation's classrooms, and (3) students that need a laboratory science course to fulfill their requirements for a bachelor's degree. The requested equipment, coined, educational development workstations, allows the inclusion of interactive, multimedia based teaching modules in our developing Earth System Science program.
