REC at 40

From left, Roberts Environmental Center advisor Liz Thomas ’07 joins students Elizabeth Palomares ’25; Anna Huff, Scripps College; Alyssa Wong ’26; and Fiona Herbold, Pomona College on a research venture in Mono County, Calif.

Photos by Anibal Ortiz

The Roberts Environmental Center marks four decades of engaging with real-world issues and cultivating student leadership opportunities.

Thousands of feet up into the eastern Sierra Nevada, amidst a large grove of aspens near Mono Lake, Alyssa Wong ’26 discovered the value of fieldwork thanks to a prime opportunity to spend one month at the Roberts Environmental Center’s Research Station.

Among the four Roberts Environmental Center (REC) Summer Fellows selected to conduct research at the remote, rugged “outdoor lab” located along Tioga Pass, Wong dug into her project, “Aphids, Aspens, Ants: Investigating the Relationship Between the Presence of Aphid Excretion (Honeydew) and Signs of Insect Damage on Quaking Aspen Leaves.”

“Fieldwork is just as challenging and important as data analysis,” said the CMC Environment, Economics and Politics major, noting how the REC Fellowship program, “really helped me tie all of the parts of my major together, and see how interconnected these interdisciplinary subjects are.”

This experiential learning experience vividly illustrates the importance of getting students out of their classrooms and into the field, according to REC Director Branwen Williams. “Thinking about how we do science—and how we get our data—are concepts that are going to stick with our students, as well as having that shared experience of being in a place that’s beautiful, but also challenging,” she said.

In addition, Williams said “place-based learning,” such as recent REC ventures to a Santa Barbara coastal reserve and a seaweed aquaculture farm, develop “skills that our students will use in the workplace … connecting what they learn in the classroom with tangible applications to gain experiences that will translate to their post-CMC careers.”

As the REC celebrates its 40th anniversary this fall, Williams reflected on how the Center has prepared students “to address and analyze the issues from as wide a perspective as possible, taking science, economics, and policy into consideration, honing their analytical skills through data analysis, enabling the publication of scholarly works, and training them in public speaking to a broad audience.”

Alyssa Wong ’26 checking on Quaking Aspen leaves.

Alyssa Wong ’26 researched the relationship between the presence of aphid excretion and signs of insect damage on Quaking Aspen leaves.

And, the REC’s engagement with real-world environmental issues in real time cultivates student leadership on CMC’s campus. “The REC is the cornerstone of environmental initiatives at CMC,” said Williams, highlighting CMC EcoReps, the REC’s peer education program that promotes campus-wide sustainability through water and energy conservation, low-waste living, sustainable eating, and alternative transportation.

More than a year after taking the helm at the REC, Williams, who is also the George R. Roberts Professor of Integrated Sciences: Environmental Science in CMC’s new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences (KDIS), sees a convergence between the REC and the KDIS curriculum.

“One of the three foci of the KDIS curriculum centers around our planet Earth, with themes of Climate, Energy, and the Environment. Our integrated approach will guide students to master systems science to address the climate crisis facing humanity today,” she said.

This fall, Williams is teaching a KDIS course that will incorporate her own ocean research and explore “the role of the oceans in providing oxygen and food, and regulating climate” using a “systems-thinking and problem-solving approach, where students learn that science is not a collection of facts, but rather a way of learning about the natural world around us,” she said.

Her work on the front lines of climate progress at CMC, with both the REC and KDIS, provide Williams with a sense of optimism.

“I am hopeful for the future because of how much climate action is now happening. I have had more conversations about climate change in the past year than I had seen in the decade. People are realizing that climate change will impact them, and collectively, we are starting to take action to minimize that harm. These actions occur due to people’s personal choices to reduce their carbon footprint … but also at different levels of government and in the business sector.

“Through CMC’s strengths in business and government, and with the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, we are uniquely poised to develop leaders to solve these environmental crises,” she said.

On Nov. 1, 2024, REC alumni and board members will come together to celebrate four decades of work in environmental leadership and the role of the REC in student leadership development.