Exploring human interaction with the environment through studies of the humanities and natural sciences is the goal of a new, interdisciplinary program being launched at UC Davis. The Nature and Culture program encourages students to study areas such as the scientific and metaphorical ways in which the Earth as an interactive system is understood and the place of human societies in various ecologies. Directors of the program believe it is the first in the nation to fully integrate natural sciences and humanities course work and that it may serve as a model for other universities. The hallmark of the program is the rigor with which students will have to learn the natural sciences, say program co-directors David Robertson, an English professor, and Mark Wheelis, a microbiology lecturer. A $206,867 three-year grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education received earlier this fall will help support the UC Davis program.