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| Semester Program Structure and Content
Semester programs run for approximately 95 days, including a five-day midterm break (an opportunity to travel on your own). We compress a 16-week semester into 14 weeks, so be prepared for a very intensive but rewarding learning experience.
Five Year Research Plans
SFS staff, working with local community leaders, establish a multi-year research plan that drives the direction and timing of student Directed Research projects and all course-related field exercises and excursions.
Elements of the Semester Academic Program
SFS semesters are designed to teach students about critical local environmental problems and train them to do field research that will help address these problems. We identify the Directed Research projects for each student and then train them to carry out the projects using a case study approach.
Courses and Field Exercises
Faculty provide the core lectures needed to understand the content areas pertinent to the case study and research questions (ecology, natural resource management, and socio-economics and policy). Students are enrolled in four courses of four credits each, including the Directed Research course.
Semester Schedule
Daily schedules vary. The first three quarters of the semester includes approximately 2-3 academic activities per day, which may include field exercises, field labs, lectures, presentations and guest lecturers. Academic activities occur six days a week with at least part of one weekday devoted to a community service activity. Extended field trips, weather conditions and schedules of guest lecturers may impact the daily schedule.
There are fewer lectures and classes toward the end of the semester as more time is allocated for work on the Directed Research projects. Our Centers are run as cooperative field stations, so we ask for your help with daily chores and weekly site clean up.
Field Skills you will learn
Depending on which program you choose, you may learn to conduct animal behavior observations; population censusing; mark and recapture studies; radio tracking; habitat assessment; species (plant and animal) identification; geology and soil identification; water sampling methods; research mapping; timber estimation; transect and patch sampling; reef monitoring; data recording; Global Positioning System and Geographic Information System data gathering, entry and analysis; and other field research skills.
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