The Environmental Studies (ES) program, through the Geology, Civil Engineering, Biology, and Chemistry Departments, at Union College is advocating a major new research and teaching directive entitled the Ballston Lake Initiative. The central focus of the initiative is Ballston Lake as an environmental system that has evolved through time. This broad-based initiative includes a variety of class field and research projects which are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. Our ES program is the vehicle needed to provide continuity to the initiative because the program draws a variety of expertise from many departments across the College and will foster interdepartmental collaboration and interdisciplinary teaching in a series of hands-on, field-oriented programs. The proximity of Ballston Lake to campus and the plethora of scientific opportunities that it affords make the lake the ideal link between projects and courses with an environmental focus. This initiative will generate interest from a variety of departments and, once started, will provide the field framework for the burgeoning Environmental Studies Program at Union College. The Initiative requires four major pieces of field equipment which will serve as a basis for limnological studies and will provide field classes access to the lake. This equipment includes a pontoon boat as a "floating classroom" a seismic profiler for measurement of lacustrine sediment thickness, a side scan sonar for high-resolution mapping of the lake floor, and a high-precision global positioning system. The Ballston Lake Initiative will bring focus to field-based classes that promote investigative learning in environmental studies, geology, civil engineering, biology and chemistry. We anticipate that the Ballston Lake Initiative will stimulate a diverse range of student-initiated research projects on the Lake and its watershed. The equipment proposed herein will be integral to these research projects and to teacher training in the Master of Arts in Teaching ( MAT) program. As with all equipment purchased on previous NSF-ILI grants, we will make the proposed equipment available to researchers at nearby institutions.
