General Information
Participants in the EKU/UK program will use the emerging technique of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to study biogeochemical cycles and their influence on ecosystem dynamics, carbon cycling and storage in soils and sediments in headwater streams, and the impacts of different surface coal mining methods on carbon budgets and erosion in forested and mined watersheds.
The Program will include 2 weeks of field camp centered at Lilley Cornett Woods--the oldest preserved remnant of old-growth forest in eastern Kentucky. Using the Lilley Cornett forest as a comparative control, we will then be studying other sites in and around Letcher, Perry, and Leslie Counties to examine how watersheds change in response to land use change--typically mining and forestry--and the reclamation activities associated with these extractive industries.
General Location: Students will live in dormitories on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington, Kentucky. Van transportation will be provided to the Eastern Kentucky University campus for classroom and GIS facility use (about twenty minutes from UK), and to Lilley Cornett Woods
The program will include time at:
- Classroom and GIS laboratory facilities at EKU
- Laboratory facilities (ERTL) at UK
- Lilley Cornett Woods
In addition to housing, each REU participant will receive a $450 per week stipend for the ten-week project period, and many meals will be provided. Participants will also be eligible for a travel stipend to present their work at a professional or academic conference of their choice.
