Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has developed a campus ecosystem model for teaching interdisciplinary science to both science and non-science undergraduates. The model focuses on the tracking of matter and energy through the campus' watershed from its freshwater origins, through estuaries, and into nearshore marine environments. Students participate in individual, collaborative, class-, and university-wide-active-learning through integrated research experiences. This approach: 1) provides students with hands on, real-world experience in science; 2) places undergraduate science education within a more explicit context; 3) integrates more traditional, discipline-based frameworks; and 4) encourages faulty from different disciplines to collaborate through the use of shared resources and learning outcomes. The ability to collect accurate environmental data and then efficiently and precisely analyze it is fundamental to the success of this model. This project will purchase and integrate into our program eight pieces of equipment (autoanalyzer, fluorometer, atomic absorption spectrometer, cold mercury vapor analyzer, conductivity detector for ion chromatography, physical water quality data sondes, electromagnetic flow meter, and large-format plotter) that are central to the study of our watershed's ecosystems.
