Research & Education Programs

An Invitation to UMB Faculty

The Field Station is an extension of the UMass Boston main campus' urban mission and environmental focus. The educational, research and outreach activities of the Field Station cannot be carried out in isolation from the activities and mission of the main campus, but must be fully integrated with campus-wide activities.

Therefore, we invite campus researchers to use the facilities of the Nantucket Field Station in their research and education programs. Specific programs can be collaboratively developed with Nantucket stakeholders and efforts to strengthen research and education initiatives by forging additional collaborations with campus and external groups are encouraged.

Outreach efforts are an integral part of the University's mission. Outreach activities that have been tested and prove to be popular with the main campus could be "exported" to Nantucket (e.g. workshops, special lectures, activities with local schools). In addition, programs that are specific to the nantucket community are being developed.

Research Programs

Opportunities also exist for faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to participate in current research activities on the Island, both with scientists at the Field Station and also as part of ongoing town projects. There are numerous additional examples of research projects conducted either in total or in part at the NFS.

Examples of our users include: UMass Boston Department of Africana Studies (Desegregation in 19th century Nantucket and Boston), Harvard School of Public Health (Lyme disease research), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (water quality investigations), and the Williams College/Mystic Seaport Program in Maritime Studies (interdisciplinary education).

A short list (very short) of equipment available at the Field Station includes: Spectrophotometers, balances, drying ovens, muffle furnaces, dissecting, compound, and phase contrast microscopes, centrifuges, incubators, microbiological culture equipment, both fresh and salt water aquaria, surveying equipment, pH meters, salinometers, oxygen meters, and a wide range of field gear. Support materials for these instruments are provided including standard laboratory glassware. The Station maintains a 3,000 sheet herbarium emphasizing plants of Nantucket and related areas. Six boats ranging from 8 to 17 feet long are available, with five being outboard motor powered.

The UMass Boston's James Bradford Ames Fellowship

The James Bradford Ames fellowship was established by Mrs. Adele Ames to honor the memory of her husband, one of the first African-Americans to graduate from MIT with a degree in chemistry. Ames was a descendant of Paul Cuffe, a successful African-American businessman of the 19th century. The broad purpose of the Ames Fellowship is to support, on a long-term basis, research and publication on all aspects of black and Cape Verdean social life and history in Nantucket. Awards are intended to encourage detailed studies of influential families from the island, people's professions and major occupational activities, the history of slavery and the Cape Verdean presence on Nantucket.

Fellowship research projects may be approached from any discipline or comparative perspective that helps to place the Nantucket and New England experience in broader perspective. Robert Johnson of the Africana studies program (robert.johnson@umb.edu) directs the project, which has a distinguished track record of scholarly research and publication.

To visit the new Field Station self-guided Nature Trail, contact the Field Station Office and arrange a time to come, or take a virtual tour of the Nature Trail.

• Download the Nantucket Field Station users guide.

Educational Programs

The primary means of substantially increasing the use of the facility will be to increase our educational offerings at the site, particularly during the current "off seasons". New courses and certificate programs are currently being developed. The Field Station will be a major resource for the University to offer environmental learning experiences for urban students in a dramatic and stimulating setting.

While some courses are "stand alone" Nantucket courses (e.g. courses on Nantucket), others are currently being developed in concert with existing programs of study and course offerings from the main campus (e.g. a Nantucket component of an existing course).

Four computers are available, including a laptop model, all of which are equipped with modems allowing Internet and e-mail access. These computers also allow use of slide presentation software. For presentations, a portable overhead projector and slide projectors are present.

View a list of some of our educational users.

A number of ideas for course development have been proposed:

• New field-based undergraduate and graduate courses in the Natural Sciences
• New multidisciplinary programs and workshops in the Social Sciences and the Humanities
• Weekend non-credit bearing educational programs
• Distance-Learning Courses through facilities at UMass Boston to the residents of Nantucket