Envirnmntl Sci & Policy (ESP)

This course is designed to train students on scientific degree tracks in becoming valuable employees in the environmental consulting industry by introducing students to the technical skills, project planning, and business management skills in demand by environmental consulting firms. The course focuses on the technical aspects in areas such as brownfield redevelopment, natural resources and environmental permitting, environmental compliance, sustainable development planning, etc. Course elements stress the use of industry standard procedures and state regulations, data and information management, report preparation, development of findings and opinions, and verbal presentations.

Managing natural resources for multiple objectives, in a sustainable manner, is a challenge that both practitioners and researchers face in today's highly complex socio-political environment. Decision analysis skills are highly valued in the field of environmental science. This course will present current theories and applications related to decision making for natural resource management. Students will have the chance to work through local and regional decision making scenarios and compare different tools and theories on the ground.

Conserving land is a common technique for protecting natural resources and critical habitats, providing recreational opportunities and maintaining forested and open land. This course explores diverse reasons for land conservation and various techniques and methods for land conservation and management of conserved areas. Field trips to conserved sites, meetings with land managers, and case studies provide first hand examples. Additional course fee is required.

This course provides new GIS users with hands-on experience creating maps in ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS online to communicate spatial information. The course emphasizes effective map layout, data classification, and effective symbology. The course consists of a series of in-class demonstrations and tutorials designed to provide hands-on mapping in GIS and culminates with a self-led mapping experience.

This course provides hands-on experience for GIS users to build spatial analysis skills through a series of in-class tutorials and outside of class problem sets. We focus on the skills, techniques and tools most commonly used by environmental professionals to analyse and solve problems. These include watershed and stream network delineations, topographic and land cover assessments, and spatial pattern analysis.

Prerequisite(s): ESP 5215 or permission of the instructor.

This is a project-based course designed for students with GIS mapping and spatial analysis experience. The course will develop project management skills in order to answer a spatially-related environmental question that they pursue independently. Students will engage in all phases of project development, execution, documentation, and dissemination using ArcGIS Desktop, and/or ArcGIS online or QGIS. This course is repeatable up to 2 credits.

Prerequisite(s): ESP 5225 or permission of the instructor.

This course will provide a qualitative and quantitative understanding of concepts and physical principles governing the occurrence, distribution, and circulation of water near the Earth's surface. Emphasis will be on the physical understanding and parameterization of hydrologic processes such as how rainfall and snowmelt become streamflow, evapotranspiration, and groundwater. This course is expected to serve as prerequisite to Watershed Management and Snow Hydrology, and co- or pre-requisite to Field Methods in Water Resources.

This introductory level course will help students understand the key “human” relationships in coupled natural and human systems. This will include understanding how the environment is affected by relationships among legal, political, and management players – including legislatures, administrative agencies, courts, federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit, private, and public stakeholders. We will explore key events and issues in the history of U.S. environmental law and policy and then analyze how those have impacted management practices. With historical perspective in context, we will explore current issues and project what the future landscape of environmental law, policy, and management might look like. Frequent case studies of varying scale (local, regional, international) will be used to examine the major theme and questions.

This course is dedicated to integrated environmental analysis of watersheds, but it is not the study of water, per se, but rather the spatial unit defined by the flow of water, and the dynamics within these environmental systems. Watersheds are a microcosm of global ecosystems, containing the same dynamic relationships between land, water, and air but on a scale more accessible to study. This course provides students with a detailed overview combined with specific, high-impact examples of complex earth systems. It uses the watershed concept as a tool for analyzing water, energy, element, and sediment budgets, including biogeochemical cycles with important feedbacks to larger systems. It includes human impacts and reliance on these budgets and prepares students to see how global-scale ecosystems are integrated with each other and with society. Students should be prepared to read, comprehend and analyze several scientific papers each week, and to discuss them in class.

Communicating about environmental science is an important skill and helps in linking environmental science and policy. This course will provide an introduction to environmental science communication concepts, explore historical and theoretical aspects of environmental communication, and develop communication and outreach skills through a variety of activities and projects. Connections will be made to students’ research interests and projects to assist them in conveying their work to multiple audiences.

An in-depth study of a particular topic, contemporary issue or concern. The course will be taught by a specialist within the field being studied or, as an alternative methodology, a faculty member will coordinate a series of guest speakers who will meaningfully address the topic. Since topics vary, the course may be repeated with permission of the instructor.

This course will examine the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems. Topics to be covered will include the geology, chemistry, physics and biology of such systems. Special emphasis will be given to biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and productivity, and relationships of freshwater systems to human existence. Lab work will include studies of both lotic and lentic systems.

This course will focus on data analysis techniques in environmental science. Topics will include exploratory analysis, research design, univariate and multivariate statistical approaches, a few basic machine learning algorithms, and Monte Carlo propagation of uncertainty. The course is project based, so students will work with a large data set of their choice throughout the semester.

This combined lecture and discussion course examines Earth's climate system and the feedbacks that affect it over annual to millennial (thousands of years) timescales. It is a highly interdisciplinary course that integrates information on climate from atmospheric, oceanographic and geologic sciences, and broadens overall comprehension of natural and human-invoked changes in earth's critical zone systems. Students from meteorology, environmental science and policy, and ecology should find this course highly informative and useful. Topics include past and present records of climate change, the various fields of study that contribute to climate knowledge, the effects of scale and frequency on the quality and reliability of climate records, and the state-of-the-art in climate assessment and prediction. Lecture sessions will provide fundamental information, especially with regard to the scientific basis for our current understanding of climate, and will introduce "hot" topics for discussion. Discussion sessions will focus on the most-recent status of these "hot" topics using recently published scientific papers and also online professional-level discussion forums. The role of science in politics and society will be an integral part of many of these discussions, including the obstacles created by declining public proficiencies in science and math and varying perceptions of risk.

This graduate seminar focuses on how ecological concepts and studies inform scientists, managers, and decision makers about the nature of and solutions to environmental problems. Specific topics, each will clearly demonstrate the central role of ecology in understanding ecosystem function and how ecosystems respond to disturbances at multiple scales. Through readings and discussion, students become knowledgeable and critical of ecological theory and practice. The concepts are fleshed out through case studies taken directly from peer-reviewed literature.

Prerequisite(s): Demonstrated competency in the principles of ecology, including ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology and/or community ecology; or permission of the instructor.

Students select a topic in consultation with their advisor and committee. A timeline, proposal, and defense are outlined. A final thesis is prepared in accordance with program thesis guidelines. Pass/No Pass.

Independent study provides enrichment of the background of students through the pursuit of a special topic pertinent to their interests and abilities. It is an opportunity for an in-depth study of a problem in environmental science or policy. Consent of a faculty supervisor and the student's advisor is required.

Students select a topic and project in consultation with their advisor and committee. Collaboration with external organizations and partners is encouraged. A timeline, goals, deliverables, credits and expected outcomes are outlined for each project. Pass/No Pass.