From Fysics to Phorestry: How do I engage diverse audiences in land-air interaction?

The educational component of the CAREER award "A New Direction into Near-Surface Transport for Weak-Wind Conditions in Plant Canopies" (AGS #0955444) calls for an integration of in-classroom teaching and a new field class to provide students from across the disciplines with an opportunity to explore and learn mechanisms of land-air interactions. The charge is clear, but how do I best do this? This contribution presents a concept of how to address the diverse interests and needs with backgrounds ranging from atmospheric science & engineering to botany & forestry by emphasizing the underlying physical principles of light, heat, and water exchange that are of common interest to many scientific disciplines. The idea behind the teaching technique is to let the students escape from their rather passive role in the classroom by providing opportunities for active participation and discovery through a) developing an online syllabus created by the students for the students, b) offering field excursions to expose students to the research activities funded through this award, c) helping small student teams formulate their own research questions, develop their own experimental design, and collect and evaluate measurements in the field class. In addition to discussing the concept and giving some concrete topical examples, a summary of the student feedback received to date will also be included. However, since the award is just about to enter its second year at the time of writing, a major part of this concept still awaits implementation. Seeking input from other awardees and experienced teachers and educators is therefore intended. A secondary objective of this contribution is to describe the many positive impacts on my career that are evident even after the first year by exposing my research and teaching activities to a much broader audience including the Long-Term Ecological Research community at the HJ Andrews experimental forest in Oregon.