6 weeks · 0 milestones
Collect real environmental monitoring data from a specific named location using a documented methodology: air quality (PM2.5, NO₂, CO₂), water quality (pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, conductivity), biodiversity count, temperature, or equivalent environmental parameter. Document location coordinates, measurement dates and times, equipment or method used, and any data quality flags. For students without field access or equipment, monitoring data from named open government or citizen science networks is accepted: NOAA monitoring stations, EPA Air Quality System (free), OpenAQ (free), iNaturalist (for biodiversity), or Copernicus atmospheric data — but the provenance (station name, coordinates, data version) must be fully documented. The proof is a real documented dataset with full provenance — not a description of what you would measure, but actual data from an actual named location. Reviewed by an environmental scientist who examines the methodology for sampling bias and asks how the monitoring protocol would need to change to answer a specific environmental question.