Geology can take many forms, from the study of rocks and minerals to the living records preserved in trees. At Homer Lake Forest Preserve, graduate students from the Department of Earth Science & Environmental Change spent a November morning extracting tree-core samples from oaks and maples as part of “Tree Rings and Climate,” a graduate-level special topics course offered this past semester as Geology 593. Using increment borers, they removed narrow cylinders of wood—samples no thicker than a pencil, yet rich with annual records that allow geoscientists to study environmental and climate change over time.
Special topics courses under the Geology 593 umbrella vary by semester, allowing faculty to design focused, hands-on tracks around emerging areas of Earth science for graduate students. This iteration focused on dendrochronology—the study of tree rings—and their use in reconstructing past environmental and climate conditions.
“I think tree rings are cool,” said professor Hưng Nguyễn, “I’ve always wanted to have students explore tree rings, and it can be useful for students besides my own.”
Nguyễn designed the course to guide students through the entire scientific process, from field sampling to climate reconstruction. “Students were able to go through the whole process,” he said. The course combined fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and data-driven projects, allowing students to collect, process, and analyze their own samples, ultimately using them to reconstruct past climate conditions.