My name is Ava Ward, and I am a senior studying environmental science and economics. This fall, I had the privilege of working with Professor Cooperdock and Professor Hodgin on an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award (UTRA) centered around improving the stewardship and sustainability of the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences’ (DEEPS) field and camping gear. Field trips, such as the Spring Break Field Trip (SBFT) and class field trips, are unique to the DEEPS undergraduate experience. Having taken many wonderful DEEPS courses during my time at Brown, I was so excited to learn more about all of the behind-the-scenes activities that take place to make DEEPS field trips a success. In addition, my work as a former field technician showed me how important proper gear organization is for the safety and productivity of research teams, so I wanted to bring that experience to my work with the DEEPS gear room.

I began my UTRA by meeting with various leaders throughout DEEPS to learn from their insight and expertise on field trips. DEEPS has an incredible group of students that are dedicated to supporting the Spring Break Field Trip and the department as a whole, so they were an invaluable resource in learning what the gear needs of the department were. I also had the fantastic opportunity to tag along with Professor Hodgin’s Sedimentation and Stratigraphy (EEPS 1240) class on their overnight field trips, where I experienced firsthand the gear needs of a DEEPS field trip.

With a clearer picture of the department’s gear room needs, I began taking a full inventory of all the room’s supplies. This involved unpacking and testing every piece of department gear, including the department’s 13 tents, stoves, sleeping pads, and lanterns! One area for improvement highlighted by students was accessibility to the gear; since the gear room shares space with DEEPS cold storage, there were several machines that partially blocked access to closets containing gear, which made it difficult to get a clear picture of what gear was available. I worked with DEEPS staff to remove the machines that were no longer in use and rearrange other areas of the room so that a clear pathway could be made to the gear corner. We also sent in the department’s sleeping bags for a thorough cleaning so that the SBFT participants could enjoy newly cleaned bags on their trip!

Another important change DEEPS students requested was clearer labeling and organization of gear. Sometimes gear was returned to different places after trips, which would result in new gear teams believing that some equipment was missing and then purchasing duplicate equipment that the department already owned. I rearranged the room and created labeling that made every item’s location as clear as possible. Finally, I developed a new gear check-out system that would allow gear users to clearly identify what gear they were taking from the room, as well as a system to alert DEEPS staff if gear was broken or lost so that it could be properly replaced before the next trip. It was an absolutely amazing experience to work with everyone in DEEPS and see the incredible impact the department’s field trips have on students’ learning. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to work in such a welcoming, fun, and exciting department!

“With Dr. Cooperdock’s guidance, Ava did a fantastic job reorganizing the DEEPS gear closet,” said Professor Hodgin. “My favorite thing about the amazing work that she did were all the personal touches. By giving the stoves, tents, lamps, and such individual names like Elijah, Katerina, Klaus, and Hope it not only works really well for tracking the use and state of equipment, but it’s fun and I think will help make folks better stewards of the equipment.”