What I did on summer vacation:
water research

by Maridith Walker Geuder
photos by Fred Faulk

On a day when the thermometer edges toward 100, Walter Parker, a towel wrapped around his head, is busy collecting scientific data in a six-acre field near Greenwood. Over five hours, he'll measure ring infiltrometer data-or saturation rates for water in the soil of this cultivated field.

While most folks are seeking air-conditioned comfort, Parker is working to help researchers understand the ways best-management farming practices are affecting several nearby lakes.

Parker isn't a scientist or a university professor. He's a student at Leflore County Elementary School.

He and about 20 other middle and elementary students, all from Sunflower, Leflore, and Bolivar counties, are voluntarily braving the heat and the insects during what would normally be their summer vacation. Along with eight of their teachers, they're spending a month learning lessons that will last a lifetime.

All are participants in the Student-Teacher Research Institute-the Delta Experience, funded by the National Science Foundation and coordinated by Mississippi State's Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology. The project is a cooperative venture with the United States Department of Agriculture's Management Systems Evaluation Project. STRIDE involves students with MSEA's mission of researching and improving water quality throughout the Mississippi River Delta.

This past summer marked the second anniversary of the program, which provides highly motivated students with a series of scientific field experiences, as well as a week-long immersion in research techniques. During the school year, they continue their work and share their research experiences with their classmates, said Sandra Harpole, one of the program's principal investigators.

"STRIDE students work with scientists and engineers from MSU, the University of Mississippi, and a variety of state agencies to learn more about the detailed research that assures adequate water supplies for the future," Harpole explained. More than 49 scientists and 15 agencies cooperate on the project.

After spending a week on the Mississippi State campus learning research methodologies, students now are putting some techniques into practice in their own home counties.

In the Greenwood field, where water runoff feeds into Deep Hollow Lake, private landowners are in their fourth year of working with MSEA to monitor water quality that can be affected by pesticides, tilling methods, and other farming practices.

"The students are collecting data for a bigger project," explained Frank Gwin, MSEA coordinator. "The entire area drains into the lake. There is conventional tillage on one side of the road, and no-till cultivation on the other. Students are evaluating the differences between the two."

In two different sections of the field, several student groups are measuring absorption rates under the supervision of MSU biological sciences professor Giselle Thibaudeau, a STRIDE principal investigator.

They're also learning to take readings using a small, portable global positioning system. Research agronomist Seth Dabney, of the National Sedimentation Laboratory at the University of Mississippi, explains in detail such concepts as azimuth-the angle relative to the north. Students peer into the sky, imagining the location of the satellites that can help farmers plan pesticide use and analyze yields.

Ouick facts about STRIDE: Faculty members from several Mississippi State departments and units direct the project: Jonathan Pote, associate vice president for research Sandra Harpole, director, Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Giselle Thibaudeau, associate professor, biological sciences Taha Mzoughi, assistant professor, physics and astronomy Lynn Prewitt, senior research assistant, Forest Product Laboratory Participating agencies include: USDA Agricultural Research Service U.S. Geological Survey Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute Cooperating agencies include: Mississippi State University Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Control USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Mississippi Soil and Water Commission Delta Council Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Delta Wildlife Foundation Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District USDA-Wildlife Services University of Mississippi USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks USDA-Farm Service Agency USDA Agricultural Research Service, Baton Rouge, La. Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station

To learn more about concepts ranging from GPS technology and computer modeling to weed and soil science, the students and their teachers will work side-by-side with researchers whose careers are devoted to their subjects. They'll see first-hand how direct runoff can affect water supplies and how management practices can make a difference.

"With Deep Hollow Lake, they're seeing a true experimental design," Gwin said. "In the fourth year of MSEA, the fish in Deep Hollow Lake are doing well," he says, noting the effect of best-management practices on the 22-acre watershed.

"So much soil used to run into the lake, but it has been clear for two years," he noted. "You'll see bream, catfish, bass, and other fish doing well."

At nearby Beasley Lake, STRIDE students are finding a different story. There, Ole Miss researcher Scott Knight has students doing an assessment of fish that stock the lake.

In nearby fields, the project is using only limited best-management practices, and the less positive results can clearly be seen in the muddy waters where the students are catching fish to evaluate. In a lake originally stocked with bass, bream and other fish, students are finding no examples of those species.

"Most of the lake is sediment damaged," Knight explained. "The fact that we're finding fish such as shad and gar tell us that we're not doing well in this lake," he said.

In the hot Delta sun, students are seeing first-hand that they can't take water quality for granted.

"My students love this program," said Helen Beamon, Moorhead Middle School science teacher and a two-year STRIDE participant. "They learn research, computing, and communication skills.

"Many who participated last year went on to earn top prizes in science fair competition," she added. "They all want to study science now."

Encouraging students to consider research careers is one of the program's main goals, Thibaudeau said.

"Through STRIDE, students learn about lab techniques and opportunities for research-based careers," she said. "Their work also gives them increased opportunities to value the Delta and its resources."