Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release                                      August 25, 1999

Partners in Science:  Lawrence University Adds Two Leading Research
Facilities to Its Off-Campus Study Destinations


     APPLETON, WIS. -- As a geology major, Jenee Rowe relished the
opportunity to serve as a "groundbreaker."   
     Last year, Rowe became the first of three Lawrence University students
to participate in an innovative off-campus science program conducted at the
famed Biosphere 2 Center in Oracle, Ariz.  
     "t was so unlike anything else I've ever encountered educationally,"
said Rowe, a senior from Traverse City, Mich., of her experience at
Biosphere 2.  "I went on the program looking to find answers in hard
science, but I found something I wasn't prepared for -- a lot more
questions.  But that was exciting, too.  I was challenged every single day."
     Thanks in part to Rowe's trailblazing, Lawrence students will have two
new off-campus destinations this fall in which to pursue studies in
environmental science.
     Lawrence has become a partner school with two separate consortia in a
pair of interdisciplinary environmental science programs offered by the
Biosphere 2 Center, the world's largest controlled environmental facility,
and the internationally renowned Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole,
Mass.
     The Biosphere 2's 16-week long "Earth Semester" is run under the
direction of Columbia University, which assumed management responsibility
for the distinctive facility in 1996.  
     The program immerses students in interdisciplinary studies focusing on
the Earth as a single, complex, interactive system.  Highlighting the
program is access to the unique $150 million, 7,200,000 cubic-foot sealed
glass and spaceframe structure and its distinct enclosed miniature
ecosystems -- including a rain forest, desert and 900,000-gallon ocean
-- that together form one of the world's largest research laboratories.  
     In addition to coursework, students will participate in extended field
trips tied to the latest developments in global change science ranging from
marine management issues in the Gulf of California to biodiversity issues in
Organ Pipe National Monument.
     "The Biosphere 2 Earth Semester will provide a unique, top-down view of
the planet at the beginning of the new millennium," said Marcia Bjornerud,
associate professor of geology and coordinator of the program for Lawrence.
"Students will learn not only how natural biological and geological systems
work on a global scale but also how economic and social systems can be
redesigned to mitigate human effects on the Earth system."
     The 15-week long "Semester in Environmental Science," which was
launched in the fall of 1997, will be conducted through the Ecosystems
Center at Woods Hole.  The Marine Biological Laboratory, the long-time base
of operations of famed Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard, established the
Ecosystems Center in 1975 as an ecological research arm of the facility.
     Students in the program will work closely with leading scientists in
linking terrestrial and aquatic systems on local, regional and global scales
while examining such basic questions as how do human activities change basic
ecological processes and how do these changes affect the ability of
ecosystems to support life?  The program includes extensive fieldwork with
an emphasis on a capstone small group research project.
     "Our students will be well prepared for the kind of curriculum offered
in the Semester in Environmental Science program because they already have
experience implementing their own research projects right here," said Bart
De Stasio, assistant professor of biology, who will oversee Lawrence's
involvement in the program.  "That approach mirrors what weÕve been doing in
the Lawrence biology department for years.
     "While the Biosphere 2 program will examine the broad picture of
environmental studies, the program at the Marine Biological Laboratory will
enable students to focus on advanced scientific issues related specifically
to environmental problems," De Stasio added.  "Lawrence's association with
these two outstanding laboratories and faculties provides unique
opportunities for our students to work hand-in-hand with leading scientists
and in the process gain invaluable experience in environmental studies
topics."