To add to the fundamental ecological theories they have already learned, three Moscow State University professors and five fifth year biology students are participating in the Moscow Environmental Studies Exchange Program this summer at the College.
The Russian students are taking two courses, Environmental Studies 87, Resource Management and Environmental Protection in the United States with Professor Gail Fondahl and an English language class.
Taking education beyond the classroom, the class also includes field trips to the environmentally pro-active 5 percent water treatment project at the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vt. and the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station in Seabrook, N.H.
"Rather then having me lecture to them, I take them to see people who formulate and implement environmental policy in America," Fondahl said. "I hope they are getting the strengths and weaknesses of American environmental policy."
In order to improve their language as well as to help them with terms in the field of environmental science, the English class is coordinated so that the students are reading nature works and themes in American literature, Fondahl said.
Although the students are not yet sure where this new knowledge will lead them, some hope that it will be helpful in further research. "We can form contacts with different environmental organizations that we don't have in Russia," Leonid Shabad said. "Maybe it will help us with future research."
Others have come for the extensive resources available at the College. Since Professor Olga Marfenina was here last in 1991, the environmental science library has improved, she said.
Biology Professor Nicolai Marfenin of Moscow State University, who has participated in the program since its inception in 1988, has seen changes at Dartmouth in the attention paid to environmental issues. "When I was first here, recycling was just beginning and now it is widespread," Marfenin said.
Andrei Sennov, who is interested in system disturbance in Alaska, is working independently with Chair of the Environmental Studies Department Ross Virginia, who has done energy related research in the Arctic Circle.
Sennov believes this to be very important in the study of alpine communities in Russia. "I hope to learn from the consumption of natural resources in Alaska," Sennov said.
The students and professors also find the herbal ecosystem in Hanover to be of interest. While Moscow has greenery, it does not receive the kind of care that it does here, according to Igor Koltsov. "They take greenery from many different regions here while everything in Russia is similar," Koltsov said. A student from last year's exchange chose the herbal ecosystem of Hanover as an independent project.
Tatiana Bellevich is working independently with Environmental Studies Professor Andrew Friedland on the effects of air pollution on heavy metals. Bellevich hopes that this research will help her with her doctoral work in the subject at Moscow State University.
While the Russian students primarily study the ways in which theory has been applied practically in the United States, 11 Dartmouth students, led by Russian Professor Lenore Grenoble, will attend Moscow State University in the fall to concentrate on Russia's environmental problems.
The students will also have intensive coursework in Russian language and culture. "Students who are going to Moscow are interacting with the students socially and academically to get an idea of what they can expect in the fall," Virginia said.
Several Dartmouth students who have participated in the exchange have gone back to Russia after graduation to become environmental consultants." In the past, there have been many consultants coming to Russia without any knowledge of the language and culture," Marfenina said.
Professor Sergei Balandin, vice chair of the geobotany department at Moscow State University, finds himself with a lot of time to use the libraries here for research which he hopes to utilize in his courses at home.
Students have also had the opportunity to work with professors whose literature they have read. Shabad is presently working with Environmental Studies Professor Donella Meadows on a project which examines ecological predictions for mankind.
In the 1970s, Meadows wrote the "Club of Rome Report," which became world reknowned for its prediction that population is overracing resource development.
"It's not just practical or technological," Marfenin said of the Dartmouth program. "It is broader. There aren't many places in the U.S. where you can get such a broad vision of environmental problems."
