{"id":225575,"date":"2025-02-18T13:50:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T18:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=225575"},"modified":"2025-02-18T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T18:50:39","slug":"students-gain-fieldwork-experience-studying-geohazards-in-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/02\/students-gain-fieldwork-experience-studying-geohazards-in-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Gain Fieldwork Experience Studying Geohazards in Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"

This winter, 10 UConn students traveled to Taiwan for a three-week Earth science field course, learning alongside local students and experiencing the country\u2019s unique geology, geography and culture firsthand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The course <\/span>Winter Geoscience and Geohazards in Taiwan<\/span>,<\/span><\/a> led by Tim Byrne, professor of Earth sciences, gives students across multiple disciplines the chance to conduct fieldwork\u2014learning everything from field mapping to data collection and synthesis\u2014while gaining a new cultural perspective.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Byrne, who has led the course every other year for the past decade, says Taiwan\u2019s unique geological features, including its tectonic activity and susceptibility to geohazards, make it an ideal destination to explore the course’s concepts<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly active with erosion and climate,\u201d Byrne says. \u201cThe Taiwanese people are all sensitive to this. It’s great to have students go from Connecticut, where there is very little risk of natural disasters, to a country that lives with them every day.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Byrne describes the trip as an immersive learning experience, mixing informal lectures, field trips to active volcanos and recent earthquake sites, museum tours, conversations with experts, and visits to picturesque beaches surrounded by palm trees and uplifted coral reefs. In one activity, students measured structural and stratigraphic sections of varying types of sedimentary rocks <\/span><\/span>to better understand the natural setting of oil and gas production.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Students
The students went fossil hunting in Sigou Village in Hengchun Township, on Jan. 8, 2025. (Contributed by Violet Andrews).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UConn cohort was joined by students from National Taiwan University throughout the trip.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dezani Fields \u201925 (CLAS), a geographic information science major, says he learned a lot about topics he was previously curious about, including sustainable mining practices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the first time Fields had traveled alone, and he says exchanging knowledge and perspectives with local Taiwanese students gave him new insight into topics he might pursue after graduation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my own experience,\u201d Fields says. \u201cIt helps to try new things and understand that there\u2019s a lot I don’t know and want to learn.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Violet Andrews \u201926 (ED), an Earth sciences education major, first learned about the education abroad opportunity in one of Byrne\u2019s classes last year. Initially unsure due to her limited experience in Earth sciences, she says Byrne encouraged her to apply\u2014a decision she now appreciates as she considers adding a second major in the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Violet
Violet Andrews ’26 (ED) picks through rocks at Qixingtan Beach in Xincheng Township, on Jan. 14, 2025. (Contributed by Violet Andrews).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As an aspiring teacher, she says the trip not only allowed her to learn about the way education is approached in Taiwan but also highlighted the value of cultural exchange in the learning process\u2014a concept she hopes to incorporate into her lesson plans moving forward.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNeag’s biggest thing is expanding your global perspective and bringing a global perspective into your classroom,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of hard to do if you’ve only ever been in the U.S.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She says while college does a good job of expanding a student\u2019s humanity and global understanding, they could only get those experiences by going out and exploring for themselves.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrews says she found it fascinating to see what interested different students the most. She says the group\u2019s diverse academic interests helped them learn about things they might not have typically considered. As a future educator, she found the experience especially important.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Fields and Andrews agree that fieldwork was much different than simply learning in a classroom. For Fields, it provided a clearer picture of what it might be like to work in a research role.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrews, who still plans to become a teacher, says the trip sparked a new interest in pursuing Earth science internships to gain more hands-on experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe more knowledge I gain, the more it will benefit me and my students in the future,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn students explored the country\u2019s rich geological landscape and worked alongside students from National Taiwan University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":225576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2467,1855,99,2235,2458],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2618],"class_list":["post-225575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-global-cultures-perspectives","category-neag","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-undergraduates"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 13:12:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225848,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225575\/revisions\/225848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/225576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225575"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=225575"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=225575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}