Course Offerings, Fall 2007

For the most current listing of classes, please visit the Student Link. Click on "University Class Schedule" to search for classes. See Sayaka in room 467 if you are an undergraduate and have questions about registering.

CAS GE100 Introduction To Environmental Science

SS Divisional Studies

Cleveland, TR 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Introduction to basic physical, ecological, and environmental concepts underlying the relationship between human society and the natural environment. Evaluation of problems and options available in dealing with the areas of natural resources, pollution, environmental degradation, and population growth.

CAS GE101 Natural Environments: The Atmosphere

NS Divisional Studies

Staff, MWF 11 a.m. - noon. An introduction to weather and climate. Topics include the controls of weather and climate, day-to-day variations in weather, severe storms, climates of the world, urban climate and air pollution, past climates and climatic change, and the impact of climatic variations on society.

CAS GE 102 Cultural Landscape

Hasnath, MWF 3 - 4 p.m. Study of the human imprint on the physical world. Introduction to current world patterns of population, settlement, land use, and political organizations of space. Humanity's role in changing the face of the earth. Symbolic qualities of the cultural landscape.

CAS GE103 Economic Geography

William Anderson MWF 11 - noon. Factors influencing the spatial organization of economic activity, including the spatial structure of urban regions, principles of regional trade and interaction, transportation networks, and spatial diffusion systems. Emphasis on the location of economic activity and spatial aspects of area development.

CAS GE110 Changing Planet

NS Divisional Studies

Woodcock, TR 9:30 - 11 a.m. An integrated treatment of the various components of the earth system: the atmosphere, lithosphere, ecosphere and hydrosphere, as well as how they are changing. Extensive use of observations and measurements from space. Emphasis on global environmental change and human impact on the planet. Divisional studies credit, natural science without lab.

CAS GE201 World Regional Geography I

SS Divisional Studies

Hasnath, MWF 10 - 11 a.m. Overview of the special combination of environmental, historical, economic, and organizational qualities of the regions of the Old World, including Western and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, East and South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Emphasis on current issues of regional and global development.

CAS GE226 Geography of Boston

SS Divisional Studies

William Anderson, TR 3:30 - 5 p.m. An overview of the Boston region from a geographer's perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on themes from human geography, including spatial interaction and spatial variation within the region. Students apply what they learn in lectures through field assignments.

CAS GE250 Man and Environment in the Western World

Kaufmann, MWF 11 a.m. - noon. Environmental contribution to the rise and fall of civilizations. Focus is on how the environment influenced the ideas and organization of societies, and how those ideas and power structures allowed the society to flourish or collapse. Interdisciplinary approach that unites ideas from history, ecology, and economics.

CAS IR292 Fundamentals of International Economics

Lakshmanan, TR 9:30 - 11 a.m. Prereq:(CASEC101 & CASEC102) Basic issues of international finance. Topics include the balance of payment adjustment, theories of exchange rate determination, and case studies in international economic policy. Geared for international relations students; does not count toward economics requirements for economics concentrators.

CAS GE302 Remote Sensing of Environment

Woodcock, TR 2 - 3:30 p.m. Prereq: (CASGE100 OR CASGE101 OR CASGE104 OR CASGE110 OR CASES101 OR CASES105) or CASBI117 or CASPY105 or consent of instructor. Introduction to satellite remote sensing of the Earth environment. Examines the physical basis and methods of the remote sensing process, as well as basics of digital image processing and analysis. Applications in Earth system science and natural resource management are considered.

CAS GE/IR 304 Environmentally Sustainable Development

Gallagher, TR 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Traces the emergence of sustainable development as the defining environmental challenge of our times. Surveys and evaluates policies for balancing ecological sustainability and economic development in various parts of the world and at the global level.

CAS GE310 Climate and the Environment

Staff, MWF 1 - 2 p.m. Prereq: CASMA123 or equivalent; CASPY211 or equivalent; and either CASGE100 or CASES105. Physical principles governing the climate system and its impact on the environment. Emphasis on understanding the physical processes governing energy, mass, and momentum transfer in the ocean and atmosphere. The interaction and feedback of these processes and their impact on the climate system and its variability.

CAS GE381 Geography of Asia

Hasnath, TR 2 - 3:30 p.m. Geographic survey of the Asian Pacific Rim and South and Southeast Asian economies. Emphasis on their environmental bases, historical and cultural traditions, and economic and developmental characteristics. Current themes in population, resource adequacy, levels of development, and problems of regional organization are explored.

CAS GE/IR 382 Understanding the Middle East

Rollman, MW 6 - 7:30 p.m. Introduces the contemporary Middle East, including the Arab world, Iran, Israel, and Turkey; examines the systems of government; the roles of external powers; the origins of the state system; the sources and objectives of opposition forces; the prospects for political reform including democratization; and the prospects for future cooperation or conflict.

CAS GE420/620 Methods of Environmental Policy Analysis

Sue Wing, TR 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Prereq.: CAS EC101 and CAS MA121 OR CAS MA123. Introduction to the analysis of environmental policy, the implications of environmental problems for public decision making, the tools available to decision-makers, and their effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages.

CAS GE502 Advanced Topics in Remote Sensing

Strahler, TR 3:30 - 5 p.m.; W 3 - 4 p.m. Prereq: CAS GE302. Examines advanced concepts in radiative transfer and information extraction relevant to remote sensing. Emphasis on applications of digital image processing to remote sensing problems.

CAS GE505 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Gopal, MWF 11 a.m. - noon. Prereq.: CAS GE365 and CAS MA213. Provides a theoretical and practical introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Introduces the essentials in GIS, methods of data capture and sources of data, nature and characteristics of spatial data and objects, data structures, modeling surfaces, volumes and time, and data uncertainty. Emphasis is on applications. Laboratory exercises included.

CAS GE510 Physical Principles of the Environment

Staff, MWF 9 - 10 a.m. Prereq.: CAS BI306 and CAS GE304 or consent of the instructor. Principles and concepts underlying the physical and ecological forces that cause environmental change. Topics include soil erosion, acid rain, thermal pollution, greenhouse effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, and loss of biodiversity.

CAS GE/ES 514 Dynamic Land Surface Hydrology

Salvucci, MWF 10 - 11 a.m. Prereq:( (CASMA121 OR CASMA123 OR CASMA127) & (CASCH101 OR CASCH111 OR CASCH131 OR CASCH161 OR CASCH171 OR CASPY105 OR CASPY211 OR CASPY233 OR CASPY251)) Land surface hydrology with emphasis on the unsaturated zone. Development and applications of physics governing transport of water, vapor, and heat in soils and the near surface atmosphere. Effects of vegetation, topography, and water table runoff, evapotranspiration, and recharge.

CAS GE516 Multivariate Analysis for Geographers

Friedl, MWF noon - 1 p.m. Prereq.: CAS MA124 or equivalent or consent of the instructor. Applications of multivariate techniques to problems in spatial context, emphasizing interpretation. Review of regression and analysis of variance. Introduction to topics including canonical correlation, factor analysis, discriminant and clustering analyses.

CAS GE519 Energy, Society, and the Environment

Cleveland, TR 2 - 3:30 p.m. Prereq:(CASGE304) or equivalent. Overview of technical, historical, economic, social and environmental aspects of energy systems, including fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass, and energy end use efficiency and conservation.

CAS GE520 Topics in Energy & Environmental Policy: Environmental Law

Paul Anderson, M 5 - 8 p.m. Prereq: consent of the instructor. The goal of virtually all environmental regulation in this country is the protection of human health and the environment. This course investigates how these regulations are developed and evaluates their effectiveness. The first part of this course introduces students to the methods, typically referred to as regulatory health risk assessment, used to estimate the risks posed by chemicals in the environment. At the conclusion of this part of the course students will have developed a working knowledge of the risk assessment process and be able to perform simple risk assessments for chemicals in the environment. The second part of the course explores how information generated by risk assessments is used to manage the risks posed by chemicals in the environment. This part of the course lets students develop an understanding of how risk assessment results, among many other factors that we will also review, are used to develop environmental policy and an appreciation of the tradeoffs society makes when regulating chemicals in the environment.

CAS GE521 Environmental Law and Policy

Reibstein, W 5 - 8 p.m. Survey of the major features of environmental law and relevant procedural and consitutional issues. Comparison of practical realities (political, economic, social, geographic, biological) with the ideal context for what should be. Projects include legal research and mock advocay.

CAS GE529 Modeling and Monitoring Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes

Myneni, TR 9:30 - 11 a.m. Prereq:(CASGG302 & (CASBI306 OR CASBI303)) or equivalents. Grad Prereq:(CASGG302 & (CASBI306 OR CASBI303)) or equivalents. Concepts and problems at the interface of ecosystem process modeling and satellite remote sensing; current methods and challenges in modeling terrestrial primary production at regional-to-global scales; capabilities, limitations and prospects of satellite remote sensing as a tool for collecting biotic and abiotic data in ecosystem process studies.

CAS GE542 Models of Urban Transportation Systems

Joan Walker, MWF 3 - 4 p.m. Prereq: CAS GE365 Models for analyzing multi-modal transportation flows and congestion over urban road and transit networks. Applications are developed in a Geographical Information Systems environment. Models are extended to urban land use and air quality applications.

CAS GE/IR 594 Science, Politics and Climate Change

Selin, W 1 - 4 p.m. Applies a science and technology studies perspective to climate change science and policy. Examines the relationships between scientific and political systems at global, national and local levels. Taught with CAS IR594.