Problems Without Passports: Scientific Research Diving at USC Dornsife--Getting Ready for Guam and Palau

Jim Haw -

On Saturday, the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science at the University of Southern California will send nearly 30 researchers on an expedition to Guam and Palau.

There they will study coastal and marine ecosystem management, the effects of climate change on coral reefs, the environmental impacts of a major defense buildup, and invasive and endangered species.

What makes this trip unique is that 24 of the researchers are USC Dornsife undergraduates with majors not only in the sciences, but also in the humanities and social sciences.

The students will be American Academy of Underwater Sciences scientific-divers-in-training, and yet nearly all of them made their first-ever ocean SCUBA dive in April of this year.

This exciting trip is part of USC Dornsife’s Problems Without Passports (PWP) program, an ambitious approach to international experiential learning.

When PWP started in 2007, I had the pleasure of leading one of the first courses, which studied environmental threats to the stability of societies both ancient and modern in southern Belize. Today, 20 USC Dornsife students are in Belize for the fourth edition of that course.

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