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Rethinking the role of a field

station on a tropical island

Kristen Fleming (History), Alana Frew (Journalism), Megan Lamkim (Ecology), Cassie Radke (Interior Design)

Arnie Miller (Geology/ Environmental Studies)

Above: Ruins of the West Indies Lab

Project Summary

In considering field stations and marine laboratories for the 21st century, one question seems paramount: Should a 21st-century field station be based on a model that integrates a broad spectrum of scholarship focused directly and purposefully on the concept of local and regional resilience?

In our project, we address this question by first reviewing the history of the West Indies Laboratory (1972-1989), considering what made it successful initially, but, ultimately, unsustainable. We then review ongoing development efforts—and resistance—to the proposed Marine Research and Education Center at Salt River, the current proposed scope of its scientific efforts and possible alternatives to this mission and associated design that might enhance its sustainability. Finally, we explore an alternative to the Salt River model: a Caribbean Center for the Advancement of Island Resilience (C-CAIR) located in the heart of the island’s largest population center, Christiansted.

Environmental Studies 6025

(Natural Disasters)

Natural Disasters was a transdisciplinary course taught during Fall 2014 at the University of Cincinnati in partnership with UC Forward, the University of Cincinnati Graduate School, the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning. The course had five professors, each in charge of a transdisciplinary group in the class, that come from

five disciplines: Geology/Environmental Studies, History, Interior Design, Journalism and Sociology.

Undergraduate and graduate students in the course studied the impact of Hurricane Hugo on St. Croix. in the U.S. Virgin Islands, through the 25 years since the hurricane hit, in September 1989. Course participants traveled to St. Croix on October 4-11, 2014, to gather information for their projects and to learn more about St. Croix. This website presents the outcome of one transdisciplinary project.

Photos on site courtesy of Alana Frew, National Park Service (St. Croix), Farleigh Dickinson University archives and WIL Alumni Facebook page.

Trans Group members from left: Alana Frew, Kristen Fleming, Professor Arnie Miller, Megan Lamkin, Cassie Radke