Jenna Crowe
Staff Writer
Springing up from the Geosciences department, hydrology professor Sarah Godsey was selected for a career award from the National Science Foundation, which integrates research and education, for her study on water sources.
The research portion of her proposal will take place in various locations throughout Idaho, such as Gibson Jack, the McCall Outdoor Science School and with colleagues at the University of Idaho.
“A bulk of our research is concerned with what controls where and when streams will run dry,” Godsey said. “Most years there’s only a couple of these [grants] that get awarded around the U.S., so I think it speaks highly to some of the things the Geosciences department does well.”
The education portion is complex and involves four different parts, one of which is the launching of a new course at ISU.
This will be a two-week intensive course at the end of May that focuses on field methods, with most of the field work taking place in Gibson Jack trail area.
“We’ve taught it once here experimentally but we want to make it strong and sustainable because there’s not many classes like this across the U.S.,” Godsey said. “We have people that come from all over the country and we had someone from Canada once so it’s officially international.”
The second portion seeks to increase opportunities for undergraduate research, specifically targeting the Shoshone-Bannock tribes. Godsey chose to make this part of her proposal because of the lack of tribal members that are involved in science, technology, engineering and math fields.
“There’s a hope of getting a more diverse group of people to study science and engineering,” Godsey said. “I want to make this an opportunity for them.”
A third piece of the education side of her proposal involves work with the University of Idaho and the McCall Outdoor Science School. By working with the McCall Outdoor Science School, elementary students and river guides have an opportunity to learn about her research.
“We’re going to run a summer workshop in a couple of years for river guides,” Godsey said.
Lastly, she plans to work with different watershed groups throughout Idaho to support efforts to repair streams and keep water pure.
In total, the career grant is upwards of $500,000 spread over five years. So far half has been awarded. Currently, some of the money is going towards equipment to properly test the water as well as the cost of travel to sites, but the majority of the money goes towards stipends and tuition for students participating in the program.
Research is set to begin in the summer and Godsey is still looking for students to participate.
“This project has a big part where we’re going to be outside taking measurements in the field and some of the sites are pretty remote, so I need a student that likes being outside and is in good enough shape to haul equipment and drill holes,” Godsey said. “They also need to have that curiosity of what’s going on in the world around them.”
There is funding for one student over all five years but Godsey plans to employ one to three graduate students and hopes to find funding for five to 10 undergraduates.
“One of the things that I think is so amazing about being here is that we can do really cool research and it’s right in our backyard,” Godsey said. “I think that the access and the knowledge we have about the world around us allows us to do better science that’s based in reality.”
