12.000 | Fall 2003 | Undergraduate

Solving Complex Problems

Projects

Mission 2005

The Atlantis Projects

“Solving Complex Problems” is designed to provide students the opportunity to work as part of a team to design a viable solution to a complex problem that requires an interdisciplinary approach. For students participating in the Fall 2001 offering, the mission (“Mission 2005”) is to design permanent, manned, underwater research laboratories and to develop detailed research plans for the first six months of their operation.

Because the design criteria for such laboratories depend greatly on the local submarine environment, Mission 2005 students are divided into two sections. The first is charged with designing a laboratory (“Atlantis I”) situated on the Belize Barrier Reef Complex, the second longest barrier reef system in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second section is charged with designing a laboratory (“Atlantis II”) situated on the Edmond Hydrothermal Vent Field at a depth of over 3000 meters in the central Indian Ocean.