AREC Grad Students Trek the Grand Canyon
July 26, 2016
Arizona is strongly associated with the Grand Canyon so it seems natural that our graduate students, who typically come from many distant parts of the world, are curious about this natural wonder. Many would like a chance to visit this majestic resource but the demands of graduate study make it difficult to schedule such a trip.
AREC faculty member Roger Dahlgran recognized this gap as an opportunity to enrich the students’ graduate experience and organized a trip to the canyon’s South Rim for the AREC graduate students. The objective of the trip was to experience the canyon safely and inexpensively so camping was involved.
The merry party left Tucson early on Wed, May 11, the day after the students completed their last final exam of the term. Wednesday afternoon was devoted to exploring the sights on the south rim and settling on a hiking goal for Thursday. Thursday’s hike was to the Plateau Point overlook in the canyon. The hike back up to the South Rim was hot and strenuous but hanging out during the hot part of the day in the shade at Indian Gardens made the hike bearable. Friday our happy hikers returned to Tucson in time for the end of semester graduation festivities.
All would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the graduate enrichment fund. This support made the trip a bargain opportunity for all.
Pictured (left to right) are Ashutosh Kumar, Suhina Deol, Roger Dahlgran, Daniel Li, Wenjun Wu, and Asumi Saito.
Prof. Dahlgran has served as a Faculty Fellow since 2000 and was named one of the Faculty Fellows of the year in 2015.