• • Application deadline is Friday, March 7, 2025 (by midnight MST).
  • Applicants must be U.S. Citizens and currently enrolled in an undergraduate program.
  • Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Required Materials to Attach to your Application:

• • Up to three coursework transcripts
  • Resume or Curriculum Vitae
  • Letter of Recommendation

Acceptance notifications will be sent by Monday, March 24, 2025.

OVERVIEW

This project is funded in part by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate. It has broader scientific and societal impacts in addition to integrating undergraduate research and education. This REU Sites award to the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center supports authentic archaeological research for 10 undergraduate students from underrepresented populations over the course of seven weeks spanning three years (30 total students).

Students actively engage in research alongside professional mentors within the framework of a long-term research project, the Northern Chaco Outliers Project. Students receive extensive preparation in STEM-based learning objectives that are necessary for future success within the discipline. This program provides students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to secure future employment within archaeology and to pursue advanced degrees, emerging as the next generation of professionals, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, educators, and leaders within the sciences. Inferences generated about past human behavior are utilized to create a better understanding of the principles that govern culture change worldwide and to address issues relevant to today’s societies, providing critical information to guide future policy making.

The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center initiated the Northern Chaco Outliers Project in 2017 with the goals of addressing important regional questions surrounding the expansion of ancient communities in the Mesa Verde region, as well as broader anthropological research questions concerning human-environment interactions, the development of inequality/equality, the political role of community centers, and identity formation/dissolution. Although this project has a regional focus, its results have national and global impacts. By engaging in scientific research focused on broader anthropological questions, REU students advance and share knowledge of the human past and contribute to cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research surrounding human actions in the past, present, and future.

This award (#2348945) reflects NSF’s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Under the direction of Dr. Susan C. Ryan, the Center’s Executive Vice President of the Research Institute, undergraduate students may, but are not required to, enroll for 6 credit hours in Anthropology 379, through Adams State University in Colorado that can be transferred to their home institution.
This field school is certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Crow Canyon’s College Field School is certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Anonymous Testimonials from former College Field School Students:

“Working with Native Scholars and hearing their perspectives on our work was extremely valuable to me. It’s something I will carry with me forever, personally and academically.”

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“Working in teams and learning how to cooperate on a research project will pay dividends for future collaboration.”

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“I didn’t know much about graduate school things before going into this program. Nor did I know too much about the professional world of archaeology, but now I have a clearer picture of both.”

Stipends
Accepted students will receive a stipend to support their attendance through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program (NSF REU 1851763).

Accommodations
Housing costs are included with this program. Accommodations are in modern, shared cabins on Crow Canyon’s campus. Students must provide their own sleeping kits (see gear list).

• • Cabins include shower and toilet facilities.
  • Crow Canyon provides Wi-Fi Internet service in campus buildings.
  • Laundry facilities are available to students.

Meals
Meal costs are included with this program.

• • All meals included, seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On-campus meals are served cafeteria-style in the lodge.
  • If you are working at the Haynie site or on survey, snacks, water, and a picnic lunch (sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, and cookies) are provided. 

Campus
Crow Canyon’s 170-acre campus, located just outside the town of Cortez, features a large meadow, pinyon- and juniper-covered hillsides, and spectacular views of Mesa Verde and the La Plata Mountains. A short nature trail winds through the woods. Buildings on campus include the Lodge, cabins, 10 Diné-style hogans, two outdoor learning centers, and the Gates Archaeology Laboratory (the Gates Building), which houses classrooms, libraries, offices, and a material culture laboratory. A lounge area is also available in the Gates Building.

All facilities are smoke-free. Wildfires are a real danger in our area; if you smoke, please do so only in the designated smoking area, at the picnic table behind the lodge. Smoking by minors (under age 18) is prohibited. In addition to hosting human participants in Crow Canyon programs, our rural campus is also visited by a variety of wildlife, including deer, rabbits, marmots, birds, snakes, lizards, foxes, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion.

Learn more about campus life.

Indigenous Scholars in Residence Program

Indigenous Scholars in Residence track with the Center’s College Field School and facilitate the development of a more holistic understanding of modern and past Indigenous cultures, trust relations, Indigenous perspectives and interpretations in the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, education, and American Indian studies.

Learn More