Student Field Journal: FIELDGeo 2026
Jamie Jetton, M.S., Geology, Chronicles Nearly 70 Students and Faculty on an NSF-Funded Winter Field Experience Across Southern New Mexico, Exploring Billions of Years of Earth History
FIELDGeo 2026 was a week-long immersive field campaign (January 4–11) that brought together students from the University of Houston, Wharton County Junior College, the University of Kansas, and the teachHOUSTON program to explore geological sites in southern New Mexico. Supported by a four-year NSF grant, the program aims to expose early-stage students to geoscience while researching how field experiences shape scientific identity and long-term engagement in the natural sciences. The trip was designed to meet students at all levels—from those in their first geology course to advanced majors—and create a collaborative learning environment where beginners could explore concepts in practice while upper-level students strengthened their field skills and contributed to ongoing research. The journey took participants to three major sites: Elephant Butte Reservoir, where students learned sediment coring techniques and trenching methodology along the river margin; Rockhound State Park in the Little Florida Mountains, where they transitioned from loose sediments to solid bedrock, examining igneous processes, structural relationships, fossil finds and collecting samples for ongoing research; and finally Kilbourne Hole, a dramatic maar volcano formed by explosive magma-groundwater interaction. Throughout the week, students connected tectonic processes visible in the landscape to classroom concepts, gaining hands-on experience in field observation, documentation, and scientific reasoning—and discovering what geology looks like in practice.