Environmental Studies

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.

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.

The course presents global anthropogenic impacts on the environment and their relationship to sustainable design. It focuses on understanding principles of applied sciences, and how IoT and Digital Fabrication facilitates rapid and deployable sensors and systems to make and analyze designs. Part 1) Global Change and Environmental Impacts: studying influences on basic natural systems and cycles and how we can evaluate them to rethink building design. Part 2) Designing Sustainable Systems: address learned synergies between making buildings more efficient and less prone to disease transmission through alternative heating cooling and ventilation.

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 applications in environmental engineering problems related to water and air pollution. Two 80-minute lectures, one precept. Prerequisite: CHM 201 and MAT 104 (can be taken concurrently) or instructor's permission.

What is the relationship between "catastrophe" and human beings, and how has "catastrophe" influenced the way we live in the world now? This course investigates various types of catastrophes/disasters around the world by mobilizing a variety of theoretical frameworks and case studies in the social sciences. The course uses an anthropological perspective as its principal lens to comparatively observe often forgotten historical calamities throughout the world. The course is designed to explore the intersection between catastrophe and culture and how catastrophic events can be a window through which to critically analyze society and vice versa.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Analysis of fundamental processes in the hydrologic cycle, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, streamflow and groundwater flow. Course is required for concentrators. Prerequisite: MAT 201. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

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.

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.

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.

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. Two lectures, one precept.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A treatment of the physical and chemical processes that shape Earth's surface, such as solar radiation, i.e., deformation of the solid Earth, and the flow of water (vapor, liquid, and solid) under the influence of gravity. In particular, the generation, transport, and preservation of sediment in response to these processes are studied in order to better read stories of Earth history in the geologic record and to better understand processes involved in modern and ancient environmental change. Prerequisites: MAT 104, PHY 103, CHM 201, or equivalents.Two lectures, required spring break field trip, students do lab work as groups on their own time

How do wild organisms interact with each other, their physical environments, and human societies? Lectures will examine a series of fundamental topics in ecology -- herbivory, predation, competition, mutualism, species invasions, biogeographic patterns, extinction, climate change, and conservation, among others--through the lens of case studies drawn from all over the world. Readings will provide background information necessary to contextualize these case studies and clarify the linkages between them. Precepts and fieldwork will explore the process of translating observations and data into an understanding of how the natural world works.

Introduction to concepts of energy utilization and conservation in building. Course presents the physics of building thermal performance, including quantitative methods, and discusses conservation strategies in building design and source energy. Passive design and alternative energy sources, including wind and solar-thermal, will be covered. One three-hour seminar.