Service learning is a High Impact Educational Practice demonstrated to have a positive impact on student engagement and success. In this project, service learning will be directed toward research that informs policy makers in their efforts to rejuvenate Utah Lake, a major geological feature at the heart of the community. Through this project, we strive to have students study geo science issues and their effects on society, draw on the knowledge and skills learned in geo sciences to address real-world issues of genuine importance to their community, collaborate with others to better understand and/or devise solutions to problems, and reflect on the successes and challenges they encountered and what they learned from the experience.

Service learning and community-based research related to the UP-Utah Lake project will also be integrated into several courses taught during the academic year by participating faculty in their respective disciplines to facilitate geoscience learning as well as recruitment into the summer program.