9322199 Anderson This proposal offers undergraduate research experiences in a ten-week program integrating the research activities of ten investigators from Black Hills State University, the University of Wyoming, the City of Spearfish, South Dakota, and the United States Forest Service. The specific research projects focus on the impact of urban and rural activities within the City of Spearfish on the quality of surface and groundwater, and on possible remediation techniques. All projects will utilize Black Hills State University's newly purchased microcomputing facilities, including a Macintosh Quadra computer laboratory and a IBM-compatible 486 lab equipped with GIS and AutoCAD software. The goals of our proposed program are to give undergraduate students an opportunity to 1) participate in environmental research projects that utilize high-end microcomputing facilities, 2) become acquainted with a variety of related scientific subdisciplines, 3) improve their scientific writing, 4) present research to their peers at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and 5) disseminate the research to the scientific community through publication. The overlying theme of the program is to expose students who are in the early stages of a research career to environmental projects that involve application of field, lab, and microcomputing skills. We believe that exposing students to a variety of related environmental research topics will convince them to develop a strong, interdisciplinary science and math background, and enhance their research abilities.
