U of C professor, students headed to Hawaii to study volcano

While thousands are evacuating from the path of oozing lava in Hawaii, a Calgary professor and his students aren’t changing their travel plans to get up close to volcanic activity.

The University of Calgary’s Dr. Rajeev Nair developed a field study course in Hawaii three years ago, and that course starts at the end of the month, with a few itinerary adjustments.

Dr. Nair says students will still be visiting Hawaii’s active volcanoes, but they’ll be studying the Kilauea from a distance.

“Being there and serving them is a wonderful learning experience, and also when eruptions like this happen, it’s good to be there firsthand, and see how the community responds to a disaster like this, and also how the authorities manage,” he said.

Dr. Nair has studied the Kilauea volcano before and says it’s displaying very different behaviour since it erupted earlier this month, compared to the last 35 years.

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