The Western Consortium Watershed Analysis, Visualization and Exploration (WC-WAVE) project is a collaborative effort of the Idaho, New Mexico and Nevada NSF EPSCoR Programs. Its overarching goal is to advance watershed science, workforce development, and education with cyberinfrastructure (CI)-enabled discovery and innovation. The Undergraduate Visualization and Modeling Network (UVMN) provides professional development for instructors (faculty) and students from Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI) in the three consortium states by providing an opportunity to engage diverse students in undergraduate research and CI-enabled education. Faculty and student teams from each state participate in workshops focusing on modeling and visualization and work collaboratively to develop and implement educational models at their home institutions.
The project team is Jenni Light (faculty), Amanda Van Lanen (faculty), and Angel Barnett (student) of Lewis Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho.
Hells Canyon is the deepest gorge in North America, but few people have the opportunity to experience the canyon first-hand due to its remoteness and limited access. Hells Canyon Institute give students the opportunity to not only visit the canyon, but to contribute to ongoing research about its unique ecosystem and history.
Hells Canyon Institute is an interdisciplinary capstone course for Lewis Clark State College's general education program. The course incorporates visualization and modeling exercises, allowing participants to explore the varied dimensions of Hells Canyon through multiple lenses including botany, chemistry, geology, anthropology, history, and literature.
Most students have no prior experience with mapping or visualization tools. Students are introduced to these tools as methods to convey their research findings to a broader public.