This past summer, three TCNJ students and ten students from other institutions, including international institutions, joined Dr. Anthony Deese on a trip to learn about Australia’s sustainable energy program. The trip is part of TCNJ’s three week Maymester course called Sustainability Australia.
The course can be taken as either an engineering or IDS 400 level course and is open to all majors. Those who take it as an engineering course are tested on the lectures and sites they visit and are required to design and present their own sustainable system by the end of the course. Alternatively, those who take this as an IDS requirement will attend the same events, but will do additional research in Australia as TCNJ student Mathew Southard did. Matt was able to meet with an aboriginal tribesman who taught him about Australian culture.
The group traveled from Sydney to Canberra and finally Cairns. At each location they toured such places as a waste recycling facility, a rain-forest park, and a photovoltaic research facility. The trip was not all work though; they also went skydiving, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, and met up with TCNJ alumni among other things.
Dr. Deese who was the Co-Director of the program this past summer will be leading it next year. Those who are interested should contact him at deesea@tcnj.edu.