CONTACT: Leslie Eikleberry, Director of Public Relations, 785-827-5541 ext. 1127

August 6, 2004

There’s a whole lot of shakin’ going on in the world, and Kansas Wesleyan University has proof. Thanks to a grant from Eldon Miller Trust, the first of three seismic measuring instruments has been installed in the university’s Physics Department. The other two units funded through the grant will be placed in two rural Kansas high schools.

“The seismometers will record local quakes as small as magnitude 3.5 at a distance of 150 kilometers, and larger quakes that occur up to 10,000 kilometers away,” said Dr. Susan McDonald, Physics Department Chair. “In Kansas we should be able to record on average one to two earthquakes per week.”

McDonald noted that she worked in collaboration with two Kansas Wesleyan colleagues – Dr. David Kraemer, chair in the Department of Computer Studies, and Dr. Kathleen Barrett-Jones, chair in the Department of Education – to obtain the grant in order to further science outreach to rural schools.

“Students become excited when they are collecting real earthquake data. Ultimately, we would like to work with rural Kansas schools not only to record earthquakes in the classroom but to help students with research projects related to the seismic data collected,” McDonald said. “We would like to bring Kansas into a national organization of educational seismometers and related classroom activities.”

Apparently a larger organization agreed, because like the gentle tremors that lead to larger earthquakes, Kansas Wesleyan’s small seismic network, has become a part of a much larger effort to study earthquakes.

McDonald explained that once the funding was secured for the initial three-unit seismic network, she contacted a colleague at the University of Indiana to discuss the project. That conversation led to McDonald being invited to take part last fall in the United States Educational Seismology Network (USESN) planning workshop, which included approximately 40 participants from research, education, and science outreach communities.

According to McDonald, the USESN is a newly formed educational coalition that brings together under one organization a variety of seismology outreach programs. Among the USESN efforts are the promotion of the installation and effective use of educational seismographs and seismic data, the dissemination of high-quality curricular materials and educational services that promote the use of seismology in science education, and the provision for an organizational framework for coordination and advocacy of educational seismology across the country. During the workshop, participants discussed the future of educational seismology in the United States and developed an educational and operational plan for the USESN project.

USESN organizers were interested in Kansas Wesleyan’s participation in the organization’s efforts because there is an educational seismic study void in the Midwest, McDonald explained. The fact that Kansas Wesleyan had already begun work to set up its own seismic network demonstrated its commitment to the promotion of seismic education, she added.

“It is a tremendous honor for Kansas Wesleyan to be invited to participate in the USESN project,” McDonald said. “A majority of the participants are from larger research institutions, with few participants from universities our size.”

For more information about the USESN program, please click here.

--KWU--