9619586 Cotter The goal of the 1997 U.M.M. REU project is to nurture the development of underrepresented individuals in the geological sciences. Ten undergraduate women will be actively involved in field and laboratory research to determine the origin and history of glacial and postglacial deposits in west-central Minnesota. These studies will employ varying geologic research techniques including, sediment analysis (characterization of till and sediment facies), provenance studies (basic field descriptions and identifications, sedimentary petrography, till magnetic properties, and till geochemistry) and paleoecology assessments (micropaleontology, palynology, sedimentology and clay chemistry.) This research can be readily accomplished by the undergraduate at relatively little expense, yet will contribute substantially to the understanding of the glacial geology of the area.