Since its inception more than a century ago as the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women (PSHW), Temple University Ambler has focused on unique, hands-on learning opportunities for students designed to help them succeed and make a lasting impact on their communities.

Nearly unique at the time in its mission to train women in a specialized trade, student-centered learning remains a core principle at Temple Ambler to this day. As PSHW founder Jane Bowne Haines said “One principle above all others we will keep before us and would particularly enforce — the trained hand with the trained mind, which means mastery and success.”

An innovative partnership between Temple University Ambler and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) will provide new opportunities for students, researchers and the community as a whole to learn about, study and positively impact the world around them.

The USGS’ Pennsylvania Water Science Center, Philadelphia Field Office has found a new home at the Ambler Campus. The field office works in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies to collect scientific data and conduct studies toward the protection of life and property and the effective management of Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s water resources.

“There is a great deal of synergy between the mission of Pennsylvania Water Science Center and Temple University Ambler. The Center is charged with monitoring water quality, which connects very closely with much of the research taking place on campus,” said Dr. Vicki Lewis McGarvey, Vice Provost for University College and Director of Temple University Ambler. “Temple Ambler is an environmental campus; we care deeply about sustainability. I think there is a lot of potential for collaborations between the USGS and the Temple Ambler Field Station, the Ambler Arboretum, the College of Science and Technology and other University programs and departments.”

According to Brian Banks, Hydrologic Technician with the USGS, the mission of the Philadelphia Field Office is focused on southeast Pennsylvania, particularly Philadelphia and its surrounding communities, “and our primary focus is water — groundwater, water quality monitoring, water use, flood monitoring, stream sampling — predominantly in the Delaware River Basin.” A team of about 15 hydrologists, physical scientists and technicians have moved to the Ambler Campus from the Center’s former offices in Downingtown, he said.

“We saw this opportunity to partner with a university as a chance to relocate to a more centralized location in our coverage area as well as refocus and realize new connections,” he said. “Temple Ambler has been exceedingly welcoming to us. Our science focus is a great match with the goals of the campus; we felt it was a perfect fit.”

The mission of the Pennsylvania Water Science Center is “to produce unbiased scientific data and publications serving the public and water-resource management agencies,” Banks said.

“Everything we record, everything we collect, is publicly available and consumable, so we need it to be the best quality data possible,” he said. “It is essential that our data be impartial so that everyone, from fishermen on the river to policy and decisionmakers have data that they can stand behind. It’s also about protecting life and property because flood and drought analysis is an important aspect of the data we provide — it is a big part of what our data is used for to support economic wellbeing and protect resources for the future.” 

Being a smaller agency within the federal government, Banks said, “many people might not be aware of what we do, but the USGS serves the entire United States population.”

“In Pennsylvania alone, we have more than 500 stream-gaging stations,” he said. “The majority of our funding is used in cooperation with state agencies, River Basin Commission, and local municipalities and government agencies who rely on the quality of the data we collect and scientific studies that we publish. The USGS is a Department of Interior Bureau with deep roots in the community.”

According to McGarvey, Temple Ambler’s connection to the USGS and the Pennsylvania Water Science Center in particular has roots right in the classroom.

“It’s fascinating how things connect. (USGS Hydrologic Technician) Jeremy Eland was a student of Dr. Laura Toran, Program Director for Temple’s Environmental Studies program, and took some classes at the Ambler Campus. He also represented USGS at the Temple Ambler Campout back in September this year,” she said. “Having USGS here as a campus partner will open up new opportunities for current and future Temple students through the Field Station, through internships and field research — it’s exposing our students directly to careers in environmental science. For the Water Science Center, they are now part of Temple’s community, connected to an incredible resource pool of students who want to work with them, who want to gain this real-world experience while they’re still in college. They’re essentially recruiting the next generation of water scientists.”

According to Banks, the USGS would like to get students from Temple “and possibly other universities involved in conducting scientific monitoring and research in southeastern Pennsylvania.”

“USGS hires students for internships and even seasonal jobs, such as field assistants. It gets them practical experience and gets us possible full-time workers and researchers for the future when they graduate — we are absolutely looking forward to connecting with the university community,” he said. “As far as our location on campus now, geographically I think it gives us greater capacity to respond to the community, particularly getting to Philadelphia where things can happen very quickly. The campus is also gorgeous; it’s a great atmosphere to work in a be a part of.”  

Banks said the USGS is looking forward to being involved in future opportunities for public outreach as well.

“Any time we have a chance to put our science out there, we’re going to take it. We see things like the Temple Ambler Campout or the Arboretum and Field Station Bioblitz as an opportunity to introduce ourselves and our data to the community,” he said. “I want to see this office grow. I think we’re positioned well to expand our scientific activities to continue monitoring, to find new partners to work with — I think this move helps us with all of those things. It’s such a rich area for data collection — big rivers, small streams, agriculture; there’s so much in this one little corner of Pennsylvania.”

According to Banks, the USGS’ Water Mission Area’s Next General Water Observation System (https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/next-generation-water-observing-system-ngwos) (NGWOS) has provided the Water Science Center with new technologies to conduct enhanced and state-of-the-science observations.

“The Delaware River Basin was the first basin in the country to receive this technology. There has been a lot of emphasis on growing our science and technology in the basin,” he said. “We want to find those partners within the university and expand our monitoring footprint and conduct more interpretive work. I think we’re just scratching the surface of what can be monitored and what we can research here.”