Environmental Programs Please contact the program administrator before sending any money to make sure spaces are available. The Maya culture module explores current archaeological excavations and evaluates several major reconstructed sites. Additionally, students experience modern rural and urban culture from the Maya perspective. Tropical deciduous ecology is studied on the grounds of the historic Rancho Kiuic, home to one of the oldest forests in the Puuc Region of Yucatan and an excellently preserved, as yet unstudied, major Maya city. The final module examines the impact of tourism on the shallow marine environment and sea turtle habitat from Cozumel and Cancun to the coast of Belize.
Students collect field data on the reefs and retrieve sediments for chemical analyses.
Throughout the summer program students will read and discuss material in seminar fashion and work on group projects, as well as receive lectures from the ACS team and visiting experts. They will have the opportunity to meet and discuss sustainable development issues with Costa Rican policy makers, academics, professionals, peasants, entrepreneurs, and many others. Student scholarships are available. Student participants may be rising juniors or rising seniors majoring in biology, chemistry, geology, earth and environmental science, economics, political science, or sociology. Students will work with faculty mentors as part of an interdisciplinary research team over a ten-week period.