Nantucket Island, MA B 08

At A Glance

Term – B 2008

Project opportunities – IQP

Housing – Shared student dormitories

Director – Professor Elmes

Preparation – 1/2 unit preparation activity

Application deadline – September 27, 2007 (before 1:00 pm)

LOCATION

The Nantucket Island project site is a residential program with resident faculty advisors. This historic island is 14 miles long with an average width of about 3.5 miles and has about 10,000 year round residents. It was once a booming whaling center but is now primarily a tourist destination, particularly during the summer months. It is a National Historic District and has changed little since the 17^th century (with cobblestone streets, old shops and lamps, seaside cottages, and historical museums). It has excellent public beaches that extend around the island, and 40% of the island is protected conservation land.

PROJECTS

The Nantucket Island Project Center will start in B’08, and students who are accepted will be pioneers in this exciting new venture. Nantucket is unique for a number of reasons: it is a high-end, tourist destination in the summer when approximately 40,000 tourists visit the island and draw on the island’s limited resources; it is a historic site deeply committed to historic preservation and museum studies; and it is also an environmentally-sensitive site where much of the land is protected and where problems such as beach erosion and invasive species (such as white-tail deer) have created new challenges (such as overgrazing and Lyme disease). As such, projects will tend to focus on environmental challenges (e.g., waste management, tourism impacts, sustainability) and on museum studies (e.g., providing information and maps to tourists; making museum information more accessible to the public). Titles of potential projects include the following: Exploring Nantucket's Flora, Fauna and Features (Maria Mitchell Association), Recommending Updates to The Natural Science Museum and the Museum at the Vestal Street Observatory (Maria Mitchell Association), Creating an Interpretively-effective Audio Tour of the Town of Nantucket (Nantucket Historical Association), and Exploring the Feasibility of a Bus/Trolley System for Tourists on the Island (Egan Maritime Foundation).

ESTIMATED EXPENSES:

Estimated Out-of-Pocket Expenses	$ 200 $ 600 $ 350 $ 250 $1,400	Local transportation Groceries Dining out (7 x term) Weekend tourist activities & incidentals Estimated total out-of-pocket expenses
Expenses Included on your WPI Bill	$ 350	Housing and program expenses (housing costs are currently being negotiated - final costs may be less)
Estimated Total Expenses	$1,750	Tuition and WPI On-Campus Housing NOT INCLUDED

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