Semester Program | Cambodia

Freshwater and Forest Ecosystems

About This Program

A Floating Village. A Floodplain. A Semester.

A fishing family's house floats on the Tonle Sap, rising with the monsoon, sinking with the dry season, and moving when the lake does. Over 300 fish species swim beneath them. Irrawaddy dolphins move through the same water. Across the Mekong basin, nearly one in five fish species is threatened, and the communities who depend on every catch are watching the river change. This semester traces those connections: freshwater ecology, forest conservation, and environmental justice across the Lower Mekong.

Students measure fish morphology at Prek Toal, survey macroinvertebrates as the water rises, and spend nights in floating villages interviewing fishing families about livelihood change. Excursions to the Elephant Valley Project in Mondulkiri bring students alongside Bunong mahouts and Asian elephants in evergreen forest, deep in Cambodia's eastern highlands, a world away from the temples of Angkor that frame their home base in Siem Reap.

A Cambodian woman winnows rice from a woven basket beneath tall palms

In the Field

What You'll Do

Person paddles a wooden canoe along a lush tropical river in Cambodia

Tonle Sap Fisheries Research

Measure fish morphology at Prek Toal, collect water quality samples, and survey aquatic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators across the flood-pulse lake.

Blue-roofed stilt houses of a Cambodian floating village at golden hour

Village Homestay

Spend one night camping on Kulen Mountain and another at the Prek Toal floating village, interviewing ecotourism workers and fishing families about changing livelihoods and surveying birdlife across the Tonle Sap.

Asian elephants in the forested landscape of Mondulkiri Province

Elephant Ecology at EVP

Observe foraging behavior and assess elephant welfare, social behavior, and their role as ecosystem engineers at the Elephant Valley Project in Mondulkiri.

Students take field notes along a forest path in Cambodia

Bunong Indigenous Communities

Visit Bousra, Loav Ka, and Putrom to study indigenous land tenure, communal title, and natural resource access in Mondulkiri's Bunong communities.

Buddhist monk in saffron robes walking through ancient Khmer temple columns

Khmer Language & Culture

Study conversational Khmer, tour the Angkor Archaeological Park with a professional guide, attend the Phare Cambodian Circus, and share traditional food during a theater performance. Interview elders in Kratie and Stung Treng, and visit Tuol Sleng for genocide remembrance.

A traditional wooden boat glides peacefully across the Mekong River at golden hour

GIS & Drone Mapping

Learn QGIS, collect GPS waypoints, and fly drones over indigenous farmland in Kratie to produce aerial land-use maps for environmental governance research.

Beyond the Center

Field Sites

From flood-pulse lake to Mondulkiri evergreen forest: fieldwork spanning the Mekong Basin's most threatened ecosystems.

Traditional boats gliding through serene Cambodian waterways

Tonle Sap Lake

Overnight homestays, fish surveys, and bird monitoring at Prek Toal, on Southeast Asia's largest lake.

A lone Asian elephant moves through dense green vegetation in Cambodia

Elephant Valley Project

Extended fieldwork in Mondulkiri on elephant ecology and welfare, alongside the Bunong community.

The stone towers of Angkor Wat rise against a dramatic cloudy sky

Angkor & Siem Reap

Your home base for the semester: Angkor Wat, bat censuses in the botanical garden, and GIS drone mapping.

Experience Cambodia

Where Water, Food, and Justice Are the Same Question

Proposed hydroelectric dams could reshape the Mekong's flood pulse, the seasonal engine that drives fisheries productivity for sixty million people. Across the basin, 19% of fish species are globally threatened. Students trace those connections from floodplain research sites: water quality testing, fish niche and morphology exercises, macroinvertebrate bioindicator surveys, and dam development debates grounded in the hydrology they've measured firsthand.

Academics

Interdisciplinary & Field-Based

Five courses weave freshwater ecology, conservation science, and environmental ethics into a field-driven curriculum. Students count bats at the Siem Reap Botanical Gardens, measure fish morphology at Prek Toal, fly drones for GIS land-use mapping, and study Bunong land tenure in Mondulkiri, all building toward Directed Research that addresses real stakeholder questions in biodiversity, governance, or livelihood transformation.

Freshwater Ecology Environmental Justice Fisheries Science Conservation

Courses

Five integrated courses totaling 18 credits

SFS 3211 Freshwater Ecosystems in Cambodia 4 Credits

Studies the Tonle Sap flood-pulse ecosystem through water quality testing, fish morphology analysis at Prek Toal, macroinvertebrate bioindicator surveys, and aquaculture field visits.

View Syllabus (PDF)

SFS 3820 Environmental Ethics and Development 4 Credits

Examines environmental ethics through seven scenario-based case studies: Mekong dam development, Bunong indigenous land rights, pollution, waste governance, and food sovereignty.

View Syllabus (PDF)

SFS 3801 Conservation Science and Practice in Cambodia 4 Credits

Evaluates conservation through bat censuses at botanical gardens, elephant ecology at EVP, bird monitoring on the Tonle Sap, and wildlife trade analysis.

View Syllabus (PDF)

SFS 2080 Language and Culture of Cambodia 2 Credits

Beginner Khmer with cultural modules: guided Angkor tours, local university workshops, floating village homestays, genocide remembrance at Tuol Sleng, and market practice.

View Syllabus (PDF)

SFS 4910 Directed Research – Cambodia 4 Credits

Faculty-led Mekong research: past projects include watersnake bycatch and trade at Kampong Khleang, participatory land-use research with Indigenous communities, and organic-farm certification through the Participatory Guarantee System.

View Syllabus (PDF)