CAS CONNECT 2016

Arts and Sciences? Yes, please Many students working toward a science degree rarely have the opportunity to learn how to properly sketch and paint a landscape scene. But a study abroad trip to the Bahamas through the College of Arts and Sciences provides this unique opportunity. Associate professor Liz Roth and professor Todd Halihan combined arts and sciences for the study abroad course. Students researched the hydrogeol- ogy of carbonate platforms for the science part of the class. “Very few arts and sciences courses are actually both arts and science,” Halihan says. Several parents of participants wondered, why the Bahamas? Halihan says it was the perfect loca- tion for students to perform their own hydrogeology research projects. “There are very few places in the modern world where limestone actually forms, so the Bahamas is one of the few active carbonate platforms in the world,” says Halihan, a geology professor. “All on one island, you have rock being made, rock being dissolved and the water changing from salt water to freshwater, so you have all the reactions.” The research projects led the students to several interesting parts of the islands, including a blue hole that the late Jacques Cousteau — known for his research on all water life forms — dove himself. The art of the class included sketching and water- colors. The nature and landscape of the Bahamas provided a perfect background for students to learn. “I was able to teach a quick class for them on how to draw,” says Roth, associate professor in the department of art, graphic design and art history. “Some of the students did really well with the By Karolyn Bolay Both sides of OSU’s largest college blend perfectly with this study abroad course PHOTOS COURTESY TODD HALIHAN