CIT: Project Examples » Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

The Virtual Duke Oil Field: Using GPS to Teach Introductory Earth Science Students about Oil Exploration

anovicki — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:04:55 +0000

Alex Glass, Instructor, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

Project Description:

To engage students in a large lecture class, Alex Glass will create a hands-on exercise mapping a potential oil field indicated by stations on Duke campus. Students will use GPS units to find and mark stations consisting of models constructed from wooden boards that provide information about the three-dimensional orientation of the virtual rock layers at each locality. Students will use data collected from stations marked by GPS coordinates across campus to reconstruct the virtual local structural geology and stratigraphy.

Project start date: 7/1/2008

Funding awarded: $1950

Managing GIS datasets and tracking technology innovation

evren001 — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:43:29 +0000

Jonathan Goodall, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences

Project description

In Advanced Geospatial Analysis (ENVIRON 359), students used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to understand environmental processes and how to protect and manage environmental resources. Students were required to work with large, complex databases and satellite images.

In support of these goals, students used iPods as portable storage to complete labs and projects with datasets too large for the classroom server. They also subscribed to podcasts from commercial GIS companies (e.g. Environmental Systems Research Institute) and from GIS practitioners to add these perspectives on cutting edge GIS technologies not yet documented in their textbooks.

Project start date: August 1, 2006

Yucca Mountain (proposed nuclear waste site): Policy and technology meet geology

anovicki — Fri, 26 May 2006 13:40:28 +0000

Peter Malin, Professor, Earth & Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment & Earth Sciences

Project description

EOS223S is an open, interdisciplinary elective in Nicholas School which satisfies a seminar requirement of Trinity undergrads; it includes topics in geology, engineering, energy, environment, and policy. The course focused on the actual conditions and plans for a US national high-level nuclear waste deposit in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, through a guided field trip to the Yucca Mountain site. Pre-field trip classes included lectures on Yucca Mountain geology and student-prepared seminars/posters on specific aspects of Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste disposal. Geology requires students to visualize both scales and complex three dimensional relationships from 2 dimensional maps, which is particularly difficult for non-majors. The Duke Immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE Tank) provided three dimensional visualization of the geology and subsurface engineering, and an interactive way to explore the scale of the field site.

By the end of the course, students stated that the use of the 3-D Visualization before the field trip helped to frame the spatial relationships between sediment layers, faults, and topography. The students were asked write a position paper on the integrated geological, economic, and social aspects of the proposed site and state their position on its licensing using the graphical evidence. Their papers showed that they achieved most of the following goals: they referenced appropriate data bases of existing documents, and related these materials to the actual scales lengths, including time, space, economic, social, and political dimensions associated with the potential site and its use.

Project start date: May 26, 2006
Funding awarded: $5,000