GEO 102B / ENV 102 / STC 102

Climate: Past, Present, and Future

Professor/Instructor

Daniel Mikhail Sigman

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of former and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering. Two 80-minute lectures per week and one three-hour laboratory per week.

GEO 102A / ENV 102 / STC 102

Climate: Past, Present, and Future

Professor/Instructor

Daniel Mikhail Sigman

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of former and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering. Two 80-minute lectures per week.

ENV 201A / STC 201

Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Population, Land Use, Biodiversity, and Energy

Professor/Instructor

Kelly K. Caylor, David S. Wilcove

This course explores how human activities have affected land use, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, and the use of energy in the USA and around the world. Students examine the fundamental principles underlying contemporary environmental issues, and use case studies to illustrate the scientific, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental problems. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

ENV 201B / STC 201

Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Population, Land Use, Biodiversity, and Energy

Professor/Instructor

Kelly K. Caylor, David S. Wilcove, Catherine Anne Riihimaki

This course explores how human activities have affected land use, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, and the use of energy in the USA and around the world. Students examine the fundamental principles underlying contemporary environmental issues, and use case studies to illustrate the scientific, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental problems. Two lectures, one preceptorial, one three-hour laboratory.

ENV 202A

Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Climate, Air Pollution, Toxics, and Water

Professor/Instructor

Bess Ward

This course will focus on the environmental consequences of human activities and their interactions with natural systems on global scales, focusing on four main areas of current environmental concern: climate and global change; the atmosphere and air pollution; toxics in the environment; and water resources exploitation and pollution. Underlying principles will be explored for each topic, with examples and case studies used to highlight interconnections between the scientific, technological, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental issues. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

ENV 202B

Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Climate, Air Pollution, Toxics, and Water

Professor/Instructor

Bess Ward, Eileen Zerba

This course will focus on the environmental consequences of human activities and their interactions with natural systems on global scales, focusing on four main areas of current environmental concern: climate and global change; the atmosphere and air pollution; toxics in the environment; and water resources exploitation and pollution. Underlying principles will be explored for each topic, with examples and case studies used to highlight interconnections between the scientific, technological, political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental issues. Two lectures, one preceptorial, one three-hour laboratory.

ENE 202 / ARC 208 / EGR 208 / ENV 206

Designing Sustainable Systems

Professor/Instructor

Forrest Michael Meggers

The course presents anthropogenic global changes and their impact on sustainable design. The course focuses on understanding the underlying principles from natural and applied sciences, and how new basic Internet of Things digital technology enables alternative system analysis and design. Material is presented in 2 parts: 1) Global Change and Environmental Impacts: studying our influences on basic natural systems and cycles and how we can evaluate them, and 2) Designing Sustainable Systems: synthesizing the environmental science with new IoT in an applied design project.

CEE 207 / ENV 207

Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Professor/Instructor

Ian Charles Bourg

The course introduces the students to the basic chemical and physical processes of relevance in environmental engineering. Mass and energy balance and transport concepts are introduced and the chemical principles governing reaction kinetics and phase partitioning are presented. We then turn our focus to the application of these principles in environmental engineering problems related to water and air pollution. Two 80-minute lectures. Prerequisite: CHM 201 and MAT 104 (can be taken concurrently) or instructor's permission.

CEE 304 / ENE 304 / ENV 300

Environmental Engineering and Energy

Professor/Instructor

Catherine Anne Peters

The course covers the environmental and geological engineering principles relevant to the entire energy supply chain from mining and extraction of fuels, to power production, to disposal of wastes and sequestration of greenhouse gases. Both conventional and renewable energy are considered. Students will learn the engineering principles and practices to address environmental challenges and to find the best ways to utilize earth systems to our advantage. This course is a requirement for the Geological Engineering certificate program. Two lectures. Prerequisites: CHM201 and MAT104 or permission of the instructor.

ENV 304 / ECO 328 / EEB 304 / SPI 455

Disease Ecology, Economics, and Policy

Professor/Instructor

C. Jessica E. Metcalf, Bryan T. Grenfell

The dynamics of the emergence and spread of disease arise from a complex interplay among disease ecology, economics, and human behavior. Lectures will provide an introduction to complementarities between economic and epidemiological approaches to understanding the emergence, spread, and control of infectious diseases. The course will cover topics such as drug-resistance in bacterial and parasitic infections, individual incentives to vaccinate, the role of information in the transmission of infectious diseases, and the evolution of social norms in healthcare practices. One three-hour lecture, one preceptorial.

ENV 305

Topics in Environmental Studies

Professor/Instructor

Frank J. Popper, Deborah E. Popper

Special topics courses related to the broad field of environmental studies.

ENV 306

Topics in Environmental Studies

Professor/Instructor

Frank J. Popper, Deborah E. Popper

Special topics courses related to the broad field of environmental studies. Seminar.

GLS 312 / VIS 310 / ENV 308 / AFS 312

Documentary Filmmaking in Kenya

Professor/Instructor

Su Friedrich

This seminar will address two essential questions: How can the art of film advance the causes of science? How do communities use media to support their environmental activism? Based in Kenya, students will be trained in digital video production, screenwriting, and editing, and will produce a series of short and long documentaries. Filming will entail numerous trips into the field, interviewing, and recording. The seminar will help students begin to understand crucial international development issues, e.g., water, wildlife, and land use, and how to communicate memorably about them through video.

ENV 310

Environmental Law and Moot Court

Professor/Instructor

George Sherman Hawkins

Examining the relationship between law and environmental policy, this course focuses on cases that have established policy principles. The first half of the seminar will be conducted using the Socratic method. The second half will allow students to reargue either the plaintiff or defendant position in a key case, which will be decided by the classroom jury. One three-hour seminar.

SPI 306 / ECO 329 / ENV 319

Environmental Economics

Professor/Instructor

Smita Bhatnagar Brunnermeier

An introduction to the use of economics in thinking about and dealing with environmental issues. Stress on economic externalities and the problem of dealing with them as instances of organizing gains from trade. Applications to a wide variety of problems, among them air pollution (including, importantly, global climate change), water pollution, solid waste and hazardous substances management, species preservation, and population policy.

MAE 328 / EGR 328 / ENV 328 / ENE 328

Energy for a Greenhouse-Constrained World

Professor/Instructor

Julia Mikhailova

This course addresses, in technical detail, the challenge of changing the future global energy system to accommodate constraints on the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Energy production strategies are emphasized, including renewable energy, nuclear fission and fusion, the capture and storage of fossil-fuel carbon, and hydrogen and low-carbon fuels. Efficient energy use is also considered, as well as intersections of energy with economic development, international security, local environmental quality, and human behavior and values. Two 90-minute lectures.

GEO 363 / CHM 331 / ENV 331

Environmental Chemistry: Chemistry of the Natural Systems

Professor/Instructor

Satish Chandra Babu Myneni

Covers topics including origin of elements; formation of the Earth; evolution of the atmosphere and oceans; atomic theory and chemical bonding; crystal chemistry and ionic substitution in crystals; reaction equilibria and kinetics in aqueous and biological systems; chemistry of high-temperature melts and crystallization process; and chemistry of the atmosphere, soil, marine, and riverine environments. The biogeochemistry of contaminants and their influence on the environment will also be discussed. Two 90-minute lectures. Prerequisite: one term of college chemistry or instructor's permission.

CEE 334 / SPI 452 / ENV 334 / ENE 334

Global Environmental Issues

Professor/Instructor

Denise Leonore Mauzerall

This course examines a set of global environmental issues including population growth, ozone layer depletion, climate change, air pollution, the environmental consequences of energy supply and demand decisions and sustainable development. It provides an overview of the scientific basis for these problems and examines past, present and possible future policy responses. Individual projects, presentations, and problem sets are included. Prerequisites: AP Chemistry, CHM 201, or permission of instructor.

GEO 366 / ENV 339 / SPI 451 / ENE 366

Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, Policy

Professor/Instructor

Michael Oppenheimer

An exploration of the potential consequences of human-induced climate change and their implications for policy responses, focusing on risks to people, societies, and ecosystems. As one example: we examine the risk to coastal cities from sea level rise, and measures being planned and implemented to enable adaptation. In addition, we explore local, national, and international policy initiatives to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The course assumes students have a basic background in the causes of human-induced climate change and the physical science of the climate system. Two 90-minute lectures, one preceptorial

STC 349 / ENV 349 / JRN 349

Writing about Science

Professor/Instructor

Michael Drutt Lemonick

This course will teach STEM & non-STEM majors how to write about research in STEM fields with clarity and a bit of flair. Goal will be to learn to convey technical topics to non-experts in a compelling, enjoyable way while staying true to the underlying facts, context and concepts. We'll do this through readings, class discussion, encounters with professional writers and journalists of all sorts, across several different media. Most important of all, students will practice what they learn in frequent writing assignments that will be critiqued extensively by an experienced science journalist.

SPI 350 / ENV 350

The Environment: Science and Policy

Professor/Instructor

David S. Wilcove, Michael Oppenheimer

This course examines a set of critical environmental issues including population growth, ozone layer depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and depletion of global fisheries. It provides an overview of the scientific basis for these problems and examines past, present and possible future policy responses.

SPA 350 / LAS 349 / ENV 351

Topics in Latin American Cultural Studies

Professor/Instructor

Gabriela Nouzeilles

A course focusing on elements of Latin American culture that left a strong mark on the history, literature, and arts of the region. Recent topics include the representation of Che Guevara in novels, film, and photography; the literary response to Tango in Argentina; the impact of the invention of radio in avant-garde poetry. The course will emphasize the connections between history, literature, arts, and visual culture of the region. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or instructor's permission.

GEO 361 / ENV 361 / CEE 360

Earth's Atmosphere

Professor/Instructor

Stephan Andreas Fueglistaler

This class discusses fundamental aspects of Earth's climate with a focus on the fundamental atmospheric processes that render Earth "habitable," and how they may respond to the forcing originating from natural (such as volcanoes) and anthropogenic (such as emission of carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting gases) processes.

GEO 362 / ENV 362

Earth History

Professor/Instructor

John Andrew Higgins

The chemical cycles of ocean and atmosphere and their interaction with Earth's biota. Topics include: the origin of the ocean's salt; the major and biologically active gases in the atmosphere and ocean; nutrients and ocean fertility; the global carbon cycle; the reactive chemistry of the atmosphere. Prerequisites: CHM 201/202 or higher; GEO 202 and/or GEO 361; or permission of the instructor. Three lectures.

EEB 308 / ENV 365

Conservation Biology

Professor/Instructor

David S. Wilcove

Students will use ecological principles and policy analysis to examine conflicts between human activities such as farming, forestry, and infrastructure development, and the conservation of species and ecosystem services. Two lectures, one preceptorial.