Woods Hole Semester

Lafayette is a member of a consortium of schools whose students may participate in the “Semester at Woods Hole” program at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

The 15-week program, offered each fall, is dedicated to the study of ecological systems. It provides opportunities for intensive hands-on academic inquiry under the guidance of distinguished scientists. Students work in the laboratory and field investigating forests, ponds, and estuaries on Cape Cod. During the last five weeks, they work fulltime on their own research projects. Courses taken at Woods Hole may be used to meet most of the environmental science minor requirements.

Student Perspectives

Gabriella Engelhart '05, a chemical engineering major, conducted aquatics research and collaborated with distinguished scientists from around the world at Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

Engelhart studied aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and attended lectures on such topics as biogeochemistry, ecosystems modeling, and global change.

For her independent study, Engelhart studied methods of removing nitrogen from water.

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During Timothy Gocke's '05 first five weeks of the 15-week program, the students studied a site at the Falmouth Sewage Treatment Plant, where sections of forest are sprayed with treated effluent as an alternate form of disposal. The group compared that site to an adjacent site with similar forestation where the effluent is not sprayed.

"We could compare species composition, the level of nitrogen, the amount of liquid that got into the ground, even the weight of the leaves," he says. "I have never seen another place like it."

He conducted independent research in which he compared trophic levels (those of organisms occupying the same position in a food chain) in four different water systems -- a forested river, an abandoned bog, an active bog, and a restored bog.

"It was an intensive, this-is-what-you're-going-to-get-into program," Gocke says. "What it's done is help me figure out what I'll be doing in my career and in my future."

In addition to his studies at Lafayette and Woods Hole, Gocke, a graduate of Strath Haven High School, spent last summer and the past two January interim sessions as a neuroscience intern at the University of Pennsylvania. On campus, he's a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and plays intramural flag football.

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Trustee Scholar Amie Aguiar ’04 conducted aquatics research and collaborate with distinguished scientists during an internship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

“I would like to attend graduate school for marine science or ecology,” says Aguiar, a biology major. “I’ve wanted to be a marine biologist since I was very young. I’ve always been interested in learning more about the field, and now I get to experience it first-hand.”

Aguiar is stage manager for the Marquis Players, a student group that produces and performs an annual musical to raise money for hunger and homelessness causes. She has also volunteered with the Meals for the Homeless outreach program through Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center. Aguiar lives on the Haven residence hall floor and is a member of the Haven Club, both of which promote a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle.

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Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in hydrogeology at Syracuse University, Lautz says, "My research experience at Woods Hole has continued to influence my career and academics. My current research is largely derived from that experience and my study in geology, particularly with Dru Germanoski as my thesis adviser. My current research is on biogeochemical processes, including nutrient retention, within the near-stream environment, where there is mixing between groundwater and surface water. This is closely related to my experience at Woods Hole."

At Woods Hole, Lautz carried out a completely independent research project, analyzed data she collected, and published an article in The Biological Bulletin (October 1997).

Cowinner of the James L. Dyson Award for excellence in geology at Lafayette, Lautz received a master's in education from Harvard University. She taught high school geology for two years and was education outreach coordinator for a NASA cometary mission in New York before beginning work on her doctorate.