Professor Dave Bice and Sara Decherd '01 discuss a rock unit in a quarry in Tuscany. We require that each senior geology major undertake and complete an independent project of their own devising. They must write a formal proposal for the project which is reviewed by the department faculty and staff. Each student completes the project and reports the results in written, oral and poster form.
Many students choose lab and field-based research for their comps projects.
Geoff wrote and tested a chapter on soils for a high school textbook. The department faculty welcomes student work in all of these categories. In fact, some of the field research projects each year include education and outreach components and many are related to environmental problems. We are able to nominate many geology majors to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, because by midway through their senior year, they have demonstrated a high potential for independent research through their work on comps. We've found that spring terms, when students present their projects orally, is a most exciting celebration for the department.