Students from the Earth and Planetary Sciences department explore rock formations in the northern Scottish Highlands during spring break. The trip, subsidized by a gift given on behalf of an alum, allowed 12 undergraduates and four faculty members to travel to Scotland to conduct field work and gather mineral samples.

“We don’t really know as much as we thought we did,” junior Chris Thom said.

Not an easy admission to make, especially for Washington University students. However, Thom, who studies geochemistry, is not afraid to acknowledge the many gaps in his knowledge still needing to be filled. One event did just that: The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences’ spring break trip to the highlands of Scotland.

The trip, which was piloted this year, lasted one week and is expected to run every year for juniors and seniors majoring in EPS. Despite the trip being cut a few days short due to weather complications, students had no complaints about being given the opportunity to study in one of the most geologically diverse regions of the world.

A typical day for the 12 geology students began with breakfast, packing a lunch for the day ahead, heading out to study various outcrops before retuning for dinner, a “surgery” in which they recapped their findings and of course a little exploring at the end of a long and informative day.

Senior Liz Mitnick, who studied in Scotland spring of her junior year, said, “It was cool to go back and visit a place that was home to me for half a year, see some awesome outcrops and have a great time with some faculty members and fellow majors.”

Senior Mike Yue echoed these sentiments: “It was amazing how many different types of terrains—rocks of a different origin—you could see. It was also interesting meeting people and seeing what their worldview was.”

Yue, who is in the Pathfinder program, has unconventionally incorporated his love of earth and planetary sciences into the more traditional pre-medicine track. He said, “[It’s a] really interesting way to study a field so different from medicine and have it feed back in a way that was constructive toward my understanding of medicine.”

The major draws to study abroad opportunities are the learning experiences obtained outside the classroom, the cultural immersion and the loss of familiarity.

“It was a much different experience than in the classroom. They would throw us out and say, ‘Come back in half an hour and tell us what you saw.’ I had no idea what I was doing. We learned a lot. And there is a lot to learn still, ” said Thom.

Even postdoctoral student Catherine Rose admitted the students were thrown into both literal and figurative uncharted territory.

“One thing I feel they don’t have is this fieldwork. We essentially let them loose and said, ‘Go tell us what you discover.’ It’s harsh, and they flounder at first, but they do make the observations. Hopefully, they have a little more confidence,” she said.

Mitnick certainly gained assurance in her identification abilities. She said, “It’s a cool thing to be able to walk up to an outcrop that you know nothing about and be able to use some basic geology knowledge and field methods to decode its formation and deformation.”

Rose, at Wash. U. under the Steve Fossett Fellowship, got her undergraduate degree from St. Andrews University in Scotland. Upon returning to her place and area of study, Rose said, “When I last looked at the [outcrops], I was the same age the students are now. Going back and knowing more—that was fun.”

As a part of the Fossett Fellowship, she is required to teach a course in her area of expertise—the geomorphology of Scotland. The course, entitled “Geology of Scotland,” lasted six weeks and earned students one credit. Many of the readings assigned throughout the course were authored by Rose’s advisor at St. Andrews, Tony Prave, who ended up accompanying the group throughout its adventures in Scotland. Rose said, “He taught me everything I know—definitely one of the best field geologists I have ever worked with.”

Among the most memorable stops included what is known to the world as the “birthplace of modern geological thought”—Siccar Point. Siccar Point gained fame through the work of geologist James Hutton, who challenged the previous, more Biblical concept of the earth’s age, thought to be only thousands years old rather than billions.

Just as Hutton forced others to approach a traditional concept through a different lens, field trips “help to build community, enhance interaction between students and faculty and provide learning and teaching experiences that are not attainable in the classroom setting,” Phil Skemer, assistant professor and director of EPS undergraduate studies, said.

“The Scotland field trip was an incredibly valuable experience for everyone involved…Continuing to offer this experience for [EPS] majors will have lasting benefits for our department and its educational mission,” he added.

With additional reporting by Leah Kucera.