The Fall 1997 course "Biology and Geomorphology of Tropical Islands" was an intensive, 15-week interdisciplinary field research program offered by the University of California, Berkeley, which provided sixteen selected undergraduates the unique opportunity to "learn science by doing science" in the extraordinary setting of Moorea, French Polynesia. Based at the Richard B. Gump South Pacific Biological Research Station, the curriculum spanned diverse disciplines including zoology, botany, ecology, geology, geography, and conservation biology. The course was structured into three distinct phases: an initial month of preparatory lectures and workshops in Berkeley, followed by an eleven-week field residency—consisting of two weeks of intensive introduction to the island's natural history and nine weeks of independent project execution—and concluding with two weeks of data analysis and formal symposium presentations back on campus. Under the guidance of faculty led by Professor Carole S. Hickman, students conducted original research on a wide array of topics, such as the behavior of freshwater eels, the spread of the invasive tree Miconia calvescens, the impact of pineapple cultivation on tropical soils, and the complex ecology of the island's fringing reefs and intertidal gastropod communities.