Ecological Engineering in the Tropics could be called the "Restoration of Rainforests, Reefs & Ruins" because our topic is restoration, and our field visits are rainforest, coral reefs, and Mayan ruins. This course is designed for upper level undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a science or engineering major at SUNY ESF, and may serve to satisfy field and design experience requirements in EFB and ERE. Environmental restoration is the integrating theme for the course, with watersheds and rivers providing the field focus. In the field students will complete surveys of land use patterns and resulting river adjustments, and then design sustainable restoration options for the coupled watershed-river system. The 3-credit hour course is oriented around a 10-day field visit to Honduras, Central America to achieve three interconnected objectives, a) increase hands on learning for undergraduates, as recommended by the National Research Council, b) increase interdisciplinary activity between engineering and other environmental sciences, and c) extend the above learning to cultures experiencing rapid population growth and associated economic and natural resource pressures. Students completing this course will master skills applicable for successfully participating in both national and international restoration projects. This course intends to redouble student dedication to their college career, and was awarded support in 2004 from
SUNY InternationalPrograms.
Prerequisites
None. This course will mentor students in science and engineering skills.
Weisman, A., 1998. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, Chelsea Green Publishing.
Calculator, Field Journal, Tropical Field Clothes & Shoes (Snorkel optional)
Optional: Central America: A Natural and Cultural History, A.G. Coates, Yale U. Press, 1997.
Optional: A Naturalist's Guide to the Tropics, M. Lambertini, U. of Chicago Press, 1992.
Optional: Tropical Ecosystems and Ecological Concepts, P.L. Osborne, Cambridge U. Press, 2000.
Design of Activity Objectives & Strategies:
Theoretical Constructs for Cultural Integration & Academic Integrity
This course will visit a variety of watersheds, providing students training in science and engineering elements of
identifying sustainable futures, physical analysis, constraint inventory, and design of options (but no project
construction), systems analysis, feedback loops, self-organization, and energy minimization. Watershed management
issues are used to synthesize for the student the important new academic and cultural paradigms of ecological engineering
and service learning, which are described here to provide background theory. Odum et al. (1963) introduced ecological
engineering as utilizing natural energy sources as the predominant input to manipulate and control environmental systems.
Mitsch and Jorgensen (1989) wrote that ecological engineering is designing societal services such that they benefit
society and nature, and later noted the design should be systems based, self-organized, sustainable, and integrate
society with its natural environment (Mitsch, 1993; Mitsch, 1996). Course emphasis on links between nature and society
will guide class discussions on aspects of the Honduran culture, from arts to sports to sciences to engineering, and
how they inform an understanding to current ecological management and the feasibility of design options.
Pre-Departure, Arrival & Feasibility
Course pre-departure and on-site activities are designed to coordinate student travel preparedness, inform students of
cultural differences and similarities, and establish network building between students and the Director. Prior to
departure, students will be informed about the trip logistics, and be asked to review the US State Department description
of the host country, the US Passport requirement, a Centers for Disease Control description of health concerns and
optional vaccines for discussion with their doctor, and a list of appropriate types and volumes of field clothing.
Students are asked to complete parts of the SUNY International Travel application documents.
Tela, La Ceiba, Olanchito, Utila, and Copan are destinations during this field course. We will fly into San Pedro Sula,
Honduras, and obtain a rental vehicle for subsequent travel. Each urban area near our field sites provides student
services such as phone and Internet access. More importantly, each is a central location to visit the regionally unique
rainforest, reef or ruin and the mix of cultures as well as management challenges.
Activities and Learning Objectives
Restoration of Rainforests, Reefs & Ruins will utilize the classroom and field to link theory and practice, creating
learning activities that instill Ecological Engineering's fundamental concepts. Course time is split so that reading and
homework assignments occupy ESF campus time, while site visits during Spring Break will serve as a laboratory that occupy
the remaining contact time.
In Honduras, some time will be spent in travel between sites. Travel between sites will provide
students excellent chances to view and assess land use practices and hydroecological impacts in the Honduran watersheds.After field visits, students will design that day or the next sustainable alternatives that utilize ecological engineering
theory. These designs will be completed at pre-arranged times, and discussed with the class to obtain feedback that is
incorporated into the revised design. In touring the watersheds, students may visit natural reserves and museums to obtain expert
insights on critical watershed functions, what resources are extractable and manageable, and what constraints limit traditional solutions
and possibly inspire alternative designs for consideration. Visits to these Honduran sites are critical for students to understand
the social and natural context and constraints faced by scientists and engineers in tropical nations with rapidly growing populations
and abundant, but at risk, natural resources.
In reading, students will examine applications of ecological engineering. The course will instruct students on how
ecological engineering design should:
utilize ecological science and theory;
apply to ecosystem restoration and pollution treatment;
utilize engineering design methods such as predictive models; and
acknowledge a guiding value system.
Students will study the interconnections between watershed zoning and construction, wastewater treatment and disposal,
stormwater collection and management, forest and grazing management, soil and groundwater recharge, and river ecological
and social functions. Ecological and engineering networks often connect each of these environmental media, but
traditionally planning has not coordinated a sustainable and mutually beneficial connection and feedback loop.
Students will examine these systems in dry and wet watersheds that vary in land slopes, cover, use, and impacts.
Students will use a standard field of tools to gather data for river impact analysis, such as clinometer or level and
rod to survey the pattern, profile, and dimension of rivers, pebble sieves to measure substrate, and appropriate flow
meters to estimate discharge rates in rivers.
Learning outcomes are intended to measure student learning and program academic integrity. The outcome based learning
objectives include:
Generated designs for visited watersheds that illustrate the governing principles of ecological engineering [Note design is defined as: addressing an open ended problem, identifying the goal and constraints, creating and analyzing broad design alternatives, using ecological engineering theory to complete optimal design option, and evaluating how design satisfies goal and constraints.];
Presented designs to the class using appropriate communicate skills, responding to pertinent questions, and in at least 1 design incorporating group supported suggestions;
Investigated sites through exploration and appropriate questions of authorities to identify and rank development and design constraints for creating a sustainable future in the visited sites;
Written a short final report that addresses the science, engineering, and cultural features of the watershed management opportunities for visited sites; and
Summarized growth of your cultural awareness as it relates to professional opportunities in tropical countries, based on regularly recorded journal entries from the field trip.
Course Evaluation Plan:
Course evaluation, both formative and summative, will be outcome based. Formative assessments planned for the course include
a) regular end-of-day freeform, short, written evaluations of the field completed lesson and activity that will be used for
next day or next year course adjustments, and b) an end-of-course evaluation of content, self, instructors, and facilities that
will be used for course adjustments.
Field learning is emphasized in this course, and opportunities exist for students to return to Honduras and work on
Engineers without Borders development projects. Field exposure is used to present learning as a natural outcome of
the problem solving process. Course tasks will direct students toward tackling a combined set of community and
research problems, which is fundamental to service learning (O'Grady, 2000). Active community engagement will be
facilitated by local-led tours and problem assessments of each watershed site. Students will receive training in
problem solving methods, and participate in scheduled reflection and discussion, which are key components of service
learning (Bringle and Hatcher, 1996). Incorporating aspects of the Honduran and local community culture will be central
to problem evaluation and restoration design suggestions. The course addresses student interest in actively advancing
sustainable development through programs such as service learning (Mansfield, 1998).
Benefit to Campus & Sustainability:
The SUNY ESF mission statement is "to advance knowledge and skills and to promote the leadership necessary for the stewardship
of both natural and designed environments". The proposed course offers mission-relevant instruction and exposure to students,
creating leaders that can specifically link culture with the science and engineering of sustainability.
Instructor Experience
Endreny is the Director associated with this course, yet advisors have been assembled to bring additional expertise to the
course development and implementation. ESF students have traveled to Honduras with this course since 2004. Field Instructor
Fito Steiner has served as Director of the Pico Bonito Foundation along with many other Honduran and Central American natural
conservation agencies. Formal and informal advisors in the course formulation include ESF faculty Dr. A. Drew, Dr. B.
Shields, and Dr. C. Hall as well as tropical reserve manager K. Forte of La Ceiba, Honduras. Drew leads a 1-week course
on Tropical Ecology to Dominica for graduate students and seniors.
Endreny participated in 1989 as an undergraduate in a Cornell University led International Agricultural & Forestry
course to Costa Rica (The course has since used Honduras). He later spent 27 months in Honduras, working as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in watershed management, with 1-month formal training in Costa Rica in ecological watershed management. Endreny
earned graduate degrees in the fields of environmental and water resources engineering, and is licensed as a professional
engineer and professional hydrologist. Endreny assists an ESF Landscape Architecture student exchange course with universities
in Brazil, teaches an array of hydrology and engineering courses, and serves as an ESF academic advisor for Habitat for
Humanity, American Water Resources Association, and Engineers without Borders (EWB). Endreny was a science advisor to the
UNESCO Hydrology for Environment Life & Policy Initiative to disseminate appropriate water resource technologies.
Endreny has had formal training in designing engineering courses as part of the National Science Foundation Engineering
Education Scholars Workshop held at Carnegie Melon during the summer of 2000, as well as participated in four ESF
sponsored course development workshops
