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Biosphere 2 provides unique study program for UA science student

Robb Hannawacker, a UA environmental sciences junior, spent almost a semester living next to the Biosphere 2 in a unique Columbia University study program.

Studying abroad for a semester at Columbia University's Biosphere 2 Center, a replica of the Earth's environment, enhances world knowledge in both senses - environmentally and working with others, Hannawacker said.

The center is Columbia University's west coast branch, which has about 100 students, including 80 undergraduates participating in the Earth Semester program.

"I consider this education here very important to me and something I'll be able to value the rest of my life - even though it is one semester," Hannawacker said.

The course load is mostly based on the geology curriculum at Columbia, while some studies relate to the Biosphere 2, he said.

Hannawacker added that the program focuses on teamwork and helping each other.

"It's really interactive because we do a lot of things where you have to work with other people," he said. "Things are a hell of a lot more hands on."

He is receiving 16 credits from Columbia that will go toward his undergraduate degree.

The campus includes a mini student union, as well as health and recreation centers. Co-ed apartments house 11 students per apartment, furnished with a kitchen and a living room.

"We're always faced with occasions we have to interact with each other," he said.

Hannawacker is the only student from Arizona in a program that has mostly attracted Ivy League and small college liberal arts students.

"His enthusiasm is astonishing," said Rick Brusca, the director of Columbia University's undergraduate education at the Biosphere 2. "One of the most enthusiastic college students I've ever met."

The student-faculty relationship is more casual than traditional college students and professors. Hannawacker said he calls the faculty members by their first names and considers them his friends.

"We develop an interpersonal relationship with our faculty - it's really great," he said.

Hannawacker discovered the program by accident. He was cruising on the Internet when he met a girl who living next to the center at the time.

"It was awesome," he said. "I met someone on-line who invited me to chicken and rice who lived here."

"It's very innovative, they're talking about increasing the student body and development in a masters program," Hannawacker said.

Biosphere 2 is a glass structure that tries to reproduce the earth's elements.

"I personally do not consider the Biosphere 2 anything close to Biosphere 1 (Earth)," he said. "In future scenarios, I would say it's very necessary to have this kind of information."

The future is uncertain in areas such as carbon dioxide levels and how plants and animals respond to its different amounts in the atmosphere, he said.

Hannawacker said his favorite part of the semester is going on the field trips.

The program has taken students to the Grand Canyon, Mount Lemmon and the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. There have been experts accompanying them on each trip.

"I really dig that a lot," he said. "I hate going to new places with flora and fauna and not knowing about them."

Entomology, the study of bugs, is Hannawacker's specialty.

"He's an amazing young lad," Brusca said. "He knows entomology inside and out."

Hannawacker is currently leading a group of students on a research project to build a arthropod - an insect and crustacean collection.

Hannawacker is unsure about his future career plans, but he said entomology research is a possibility.

"It's definitely involving education (for) the public," he said.

Brusca speaks highly of Hannawacker.

"He's a remarkable young scholar," he said. "I'm hoping he comes back to work with us."