The School for Field Studies

This course provided an opportunity to develop methods of inquiry through producing research questions and methods, analyzing data, and communicating results effectively. Research focused on food security in the Caribbean.

• Learned methods used in measuring food security including using agricultural production, fisheries, imports/exports, healthcare, fresh water access, and geography as indicators.

• Used Excel; collected, organized, and analyzed data from the World Bank and the UN FAO.

This course explored the use and conservation of coastal natural resources, focusing on nature-society interactions in agriculture, resource extraction, fishing, tourism, and associated development, both in theory and in practice.

• Learned methods used in environmental policy including calculating Total Economic Value, critically assessing international treaties, and geospatial analysis

• Used QGIS; assessed local case studies and global issues; analyzed international and regional treaties.

This course introduced the tools required to understand and manage marine resources, focusing on: fisheries management and enforcement, marine conservation, marine protected areas, coastal zone management, and sustainable development. 

• Learned methods used in fisheries management including stock assessments, measuring population dynamics, and data management

• Used Excel, R Studio, QGIS; practiced surveying for invasive species and local stocks; created an ecotourism stakeholder-based zoning plan.

This course focused on how marine organisms interact with the biotic and abiotic environment, focusing on the tropical western Atlantic, and explored Marine Protected Areas, impacts of climate change, and field techniques

• Learned methods used in marine ecology including taxonomic identification, habitat and community assessment, and identifying diseased and/or bleaching coral

• Used Excel, R Studio; practiced swimming transects, using quadrats, and identifying organisms in the field.