Students left Jerusalem early to depart for the Dead Sea area. The first stop–after the obligatory camel photo-op–was the cable car up to the fortress of Masada. All had a good float in the lowest point on earth.

The group traveled south to the Arava Valley and Kibbutz Keturah, where they linked up with a Northeastern environmental sciences DOC group based at the Arava Institute and led by Prof. Rebeca Rosengaus.