Enviornmental Science Class Takes Trip to UAlbany’s Whiteface Mountain Field Station
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 22, 2024) — While Whiteface Mountain is known as an Adirondack tourist attraction, a group of University at Albany students recently hiked to the summit for more than just the view of Lake Placid and fall foliage.
Undergraduate students in the “Adirondack Environment” class, taught by Justin Minder, associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, visited UAlbany Atmospheric Sciences Research Center’s Whiteface Mountain Field Station earlier this month.
The upper-level, interdisciplinary course covers a range of topics in the Adirondack region, including ecology, geology, weather, climate and human history. The field trip was supported by the Perry J. Samson Student Experience Fund.
Located at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, the Whiteface Mountain Field Station's summit observatory has collected cloud water samples for chemical monitoring for nearly 50 years. It was built to gain a deeper understanding of the interaction of chemical and physical processes that impact our environment.
Following a short — but steep — climb to the fifth-highest peak in New York, students got an inside look into the field station, a round observatory that sits atop the summit. The research lab collects cloud water samples daily with reports sent to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and to the lab of Sara Lance, a research associate at ASRC, who studies cloud chemistry at Whiteface Mountain.
During the trip, students collected their own data, using tools to measure pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind speed as they traveled down the mountain.
“It’s amazing to get a hands-on learning experience using equipment on-site," said DAES senior Mason Schultz. “Lots of students will be doing exactly this in their day-to-day lives when entering the field of environmental science.”
After eating lunch at the top of the summit, the class made pitstops along the drive back down to observe changes in vegetation, geology and weather conditions.
While many cars slowed to stop at scenic outlooks, the class excitedly examined the mountain itself. Minder, joined by DAES assistant professor Aubrey Hillman, led impromptu lessons on glacier till, or rocks and sediments that are unsorted, brought to the region through the movement of glaciers that sculpted the mountain range. They also pointed out landmarks during the drive that the class had focused on, like the Ausable River, which flooded catastrophically during Hurricane Irene in 2011.
“Part of the reason I teach this class is because I grew up with an affinity for the area,” said Minder, an Adirondack native. “It’s been very rewarding to me to learn more about this special place and share it with our students.”
Minder’s Adirondack Environment students represent both upstate and downstate New York. One thing they all agreed on? The Adirondack landscape was incredible, and only two and a half hours from campus.
“It’s especially nice to be an environmental science major at UAlbany because we’re sandwiched between the Adirondacks and the Catskills, a skip away from Thatcher Park, all while having access to accurate and copious data from the Capital Region and our access to the New York State Mesonet weather observation network, right here on campus,” said DAES senior Jake Montgomery.