Environmental Collaboration - Community & Partners @ UOW

Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours), School of Earth & Environmental Sciences – helping to solve environmental issues in collaboration with community organisations for 20 years

Fourth year students from UOW's Bachelor of Environmental Science presented a series of seminars this week on their honours research projects which saw them partnering with host organisations to gain hand-on experience with environmental issues.

The latest cohort of research projects maked 20 years of success in the program offered by the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences.

The program provides graduates with the opportunity to not only deal with environmental issues effectively, but also provides an excellent understanding of all the science disciplines, as well as an awareness of the social, political and legal implications of these issues.

The School of Earth & Environmental Sciences provides graduating students the opportunity to:

receive a broad science education along with some subjects in engineering, management, law and social sciences;
have the benefit of specialising in one scientific field (Environmental Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Land Resources or Life Sciences) and completing a research project in collaboration with a host organisation.

During the fourth year students undertake a major environmental research project in collaboration with industry or a government organisation. The project is chosen and funded by the external organisation and is jointly supervised by the University and external organisation.

For the students, this collaboration provides an important opportunity to gain practical work experience dealing with real-life environmental issues and is a valuable stepping stone to employment, or post-graduate study. Many of our graduates secure employment prior to completion of their final year and are employed in many diverse areas, such as climate change, biodiversity, water quality, resource use, land management, waste and pollution.

Over the past 20 years, collaborating partner organisations have gained a broader understanding of the range of environmental issues requiring study in the Illawarra and the wider region, as well as links between the University and a wide range of organisations with interests in environmental matters. Many long-term successful partnerships with external organisations have been fostered via the Environmental Science Program. Collaborations have been built with up to 50 organisations during the period this degree program.

The School of Earth & Environmental Sciences is most grateful to the external organisations that have collaborated and assisted with the Environmental Science program; supporting, supervising and mentoring student projects since 1992.

The table below lists this year’s student cohort, their projects, collaborating partner organisations and the University supervisors.

BEnvSc ENVI403 Research Projects 2012
Student	Project Working Title	Host Organisation	University Supervisors
Environmental Chemistry
Joshua King	Ultratrace Determination of Aluminium and Gallium in Marine Waters	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Land and Water	Dr Dianne Jolley
Charlotte Watson	Development of a chronic microalgal bioassay to assess contaminated sediment	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Land and Water	Dr Dianne Jolley
Earth Sciences
Michelle Grierson	Geodiversity: geology, geomorphology and landscape value	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), South Coast Region	Dr Sol Buckman
Madeleine Harper	Wetland inventory and management program - Tongarra Creek and Shell Cove	Shellharbour City Council	A/Prof. Brian Jones
Ronni Maciejowski	Neutralisation rates for the treatment of acid sulfate soils extracted as sediment within flood mitigation channels of the Shoalhaven River flood mitigation system	Shoalhaven City Council	A/Prof. Brian Jones
Melissa Pfenning	Upland swamp classification	BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal	Dr Sam Marx/Dr Tim Cohen
Joe Stammers	Coal seam gas (CSG) mining review: issues for consideration in the Illawarra	Wollongong City Council	Dr Sol Buckman
Land Resources
Arden Burrell	Mapping changes in estuarine vegetation extent for South Coast estuaries	Office of Environment & Heritage, Coast and Estuaries	Prof. Colin Woodroffe
Ashlee Clarke	A regulated coastal wetland – Pattimores Lagoon, Narrawallee Creek Nature Reserve: environmental history and hydrodynamics of Pattimore’s Lagoon with a view to its restoration	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Ulladulla Area	Dr Sam Marx
James Daley	The effectiveness of engineered log jams in an incising gravel-bed river	Port Macquarie-Hastings Council/Northern Rivers Catchment Managment Authority	Dr Tim Cohen
Caroline French	Concentrations of Enterococci/faecal coliforms in relation to rainfall in Sutherland Shire catchments	Sutherland Shire Council	Dr Sam Marx/Prof. John Morrison
Jessica Gaudry	El Niño-Southern Oscillation during the Little Ice Age: reconstructions from western Pacific corals	Australian National Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)	Dr Helen McGregor
Richard Lawless	Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in soils under various sequestration scenarios	NSW Department of Primary Industries, Agriculture	Prof. John Morrison
Sophie McClintock	Heavy metals in aquatic organisms in Lake Illawarra	NSW Department of Primary Industries, Lake Illawarra Authority	Dr Sam Marx/Prof. John Morrison
Benjamin Rawlinson	Reviewing effective biosolids application in NSW	Transpacific Organics	Prof. John Morrison
Ryan Skinner	Warilla Beach adaptation assessment	Shellharbour City Council	Prof. Colin Woodroffe
Jack Talbert	Understanding past and present beach morphodynamics along selected Wollongong beaches to inform coastal zone management	Wollongong City Council	Prof. Colin Woodroffe
Carrie Thompson	Century-scale erosional processes in Berrys Canal, Shoalhaven River – Comerong Island Nature Reserve	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Nowra Area	Prof. Colin Murray-Wallace/Mr Errol McLean
Xanthe Willis	Evaluation of past revegetation in the Braidwood district	Southern Rivers Catchment Managment Authority	Dr Tim Cohen/Prof. Kris French
Life Sciences
Douglas Rowland	Hawkweed and ox-eye daisy in the Kosciusko National Park	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Pest Management Unit	Prof. Kris French

For more information about the programs offered through the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences visit: http://www.uow.edu.au/science/eesc/index.html

Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours), School of Earth & Environmental Sciences – helping to solve environmental issues in collaboration with community organisations for 20 years

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