Through classroom and research integration, Department of Earth Sciences faculty members contribute directly to UALR’s sustainability initiatives.

Each day, faculty work to enhance students’ understanding of natural resources on campus and in the surrounding region. These activities promote awareness of key resources and will ultimately lead to more sustainable resource utilization and management practices. Some examples of sustainability incorporation include:

• Dr. Beth McMillan, an associate professor in the department, is an active participant in the Coleman Creek Greenbelt Project and is using geospatial technology to catalog and evaluate trees along the proposed greenbelt. She has involved students from at least two of her classes in efforts to map the location of trees using high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) instrumentation and describe various aspects of the trees including type, size, health, and height.
• Dr. Amelia Robinson, an assistant professor in the department, has incorporated a water sampling survey into her Environmental Geochemistry course that is focused on Coleman Creek on campus. Students collected water samples from various locations and are analyzing them to assess water quality and to evaluate potential impacts of campus construction projects and storm events on water quality.
• Dawn Johnson, an undergraduate geology major, recently received NSF-EPSCoR funding for a research project focused on characterizing water quality in Lake Maumelle, the primary source of drinking water for metropolitan Little Rock. Her work will help in deciding what types of land use around Lake Maumelle are compatible with using its water for Little Rock public consumption. Robinson serves as her research adviser.
• The department has partnered with a local environmental consulting and engineering firm to drill two shallow water wells on campus. These wells are going to be used by multiple classes to learn techniques for groundwater sampling and monitoring and to evaluate the characteristics and movement of groundwater in shallow aquifers on campus.