LEO, the Lehigh Earth Observatory, is a distributed, multidisciplinary program that focuses study on the environment with particular emphasis on understanding the science of environmental systems and the relationship between these systems and society. As we move into the 21^st century, we face significant challenges gauging the human impact on our environment and balancing the finite resources of our planet with growing populations and increasing standards of living. These challenges play out on local, regional, national, and global scales. The environment is an increasingly important factor in determining human health and quality of life.

While LEO has a focus on environmental systems, it reaches beyond the traditional bounds of science, drawing students from a variety of disciplines, including policy, management, economics, journalism, business, art, philosophy, science, and engineering, and attract them to participate in observatory activities. LEO uses research-based experiential learning to expose students to a wide range of content and to develop technical, analytical, and communication skills, thus bringing a new dimension to the curriculum.

The Observatory, operated largely by undergraduate students in conjunction with faculty, research and technical staff, and graduate student mentors, has core facilities in Williams Hall at Lehigh University in association with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, but its efforts and activities are distributed across departments in Lehigh’s four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science, Business and Economics, and Education.

LEO activities share several general characteristics, and LEO coordinates several activities distributed over a number of different programs and initiatives. An essential component of LEO is the dissemination of data and ideas in a variety of forms. Data from Observatory activities are made available to both internal and external constituents through the LEO Web site. While LEO’s focus is on education and research, external partnerships are an integral part of the enterprise. In addition, LEO is developing an inquiry-based K-12 learning program for using environmental data obtained and archived by the Observatory.

LEO’s mission embraces a wide range of activities and provides a range of experiential learning and research opportunities for students across the curriculum. Students can work individually, work as part of a team, or participate through regularly scheduled courses that include or focus on LEO activities or make use of LEO resources and data. Students can register as LEO interns and receive credit for participating in LEO activities during the academic year. In addition, the Observatory hires paid interns to work full time over the summer. Students can also develop individual research projects with a faculty member.