Courses related to ESS

Many courses have been offered at Rice since 1991 building on their ESSE involvement:

Spac 203 (Atmosphere, Weather and Climate)

Spac 443 (Atmospheric Science)

Spac 500 (Experimental Space Science - Remote Sensing)

Bios 322 (Global Ecosystem Dynamics)

Bios 326 (Humans in the Environment)

Bios 566 (Topics in Global Ecosystems)

Univ 200/300 (Intro. to the Environment)

Univ 303 (The Impact of CO2, Science, Society and Policy)

Love 201 (Understanding Environmental Issues) 13 instructors

Bake 302 (Understanding Environmental Systems) 12 instructors, 7 guest lecturers

Bake 303 (Field Studies in Environmental Systems) 6 inst, 2 guest lect

Foundations of Natural Science

Earth System Dynamics

Atmosphere, Weather and Climate

Special Topics in Global Biosystems

Several of these continue to be offered:

BIOS 322(S) GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS

Systems analysis of the earth from a biological perspective, with emphasis on biogeochemical cycles and global change. Prerequisites: BIOS 201–202 or permission of instructor. Offered in odd-numbered years. Instructor: Sass

BIOS 566(S) TOPICS IN GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS

Review and discussion of literature on current research in regional and global ecosystem dynamics. Prerequisite: graduate standing or permission of instructor and department chair. Instructors: Fisher, Sass

UNIV 111(F) THE SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT: A FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR

Open only to freshmen. Limit 15. Instructors: Isle, Sass

UNIV 200/300(S) INTRODUCTION TO THE ENVIRONMENT

This course is intended as an introduction to environmental studies for students from all divisions of the campus. The course focuses on attitudes and values relating to the environment as represented in environmental history and environmental literature. Instructor: Isle

UNIV 303(S) ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: RICE INTO THE FUTURE

This course addresses science, technology, and policy elements of environmental issues. Students use the campus and local community as a laboratory in which to do projects to reduce environ-mental impacts, enhance sustainability, or resolve environmental problems. Instructors: Harcombe, Ostdiek

The Understanding Environmental Issues series Love/Bake 201/302/303 offered in 1997/1998 were very interdisciplinary, taught by as many as 13 instructors. The fall Love 201 course focused on broad environmental issues such as population growth, biodiversity, global warming, and natural resources and their societal impacts. The spring Bake 302/303 course attempted to take a systems analysis approach to understanding how a relatively complex system like the Rice campus functions and how related human decision-making impacts the local environment

The course was coordinated by Bill Leeman and Arthur Few in cooperation with the following multi-disciplinary group of faculty to explore systematically selected environmental issues.

*      Marjo AveLallemant       - history of human development

*      Jim Blackburn              - environmental studies

*      Arthur Few              - atmospheric & climate sciences

*      Paul Harcombe            - ecology/evolutionary biology

*      Walter Isle             - environmental literature

*      Stephen Klineberg       - sociology

*      Bill Leeman             - geology/hazards/resources

*      Gerald McKenny             - environmental ethics/philosophy

*      Don Ostdiek             - political science, policy studies

*      Jinny Sisson             - geology/resources

*      Ron Soligo                   - economics

*      Alan Thornhill             - ecology/evolutionary biology

*      Mark Wiesner             - environmental engineering

 

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~leeman/lovebake.html and Students in LoveBake Course Examine Environment

This course series is now being taught as UNIV 200/300 by Walter Isle

Arthur Few remains active in the ESSE community, and attended the ESSE 2000 meeting.  He has also been actively pursuing another follow on ESS activity – Field Schools in Earth Systems, motivated by concern that if students’ knowledge of the environment is confined to classrooms, textbooks, and computers they will have a very artificial and limited understanding of the real-world environment and Earth systems.  This limitation could produce a generation of virtual Earth scientists whose understanding of and commitment to the environment is thin.  This outcome can be precluded by offering these students a field school experience in Earth systems. 

The Field Schools in Earth Systems is a proposed undergraduate program that promotes learning about the environment in terms of Earth systems while living immersed in the environment.  The instructors, students, and supporting equipment are in the field for an intensive three-week period of study and research on selected systems. During most of this period the field school will be moving from site to site through the landscape and camping on or near the study sites.

Ultimately Few envisions a national network of Field Schools in Earth Systems.  The environment is a complex system, and the study of the environment requires a multidisciplinary approach.  Instruction in climatology, anthropology, policy, geology, ecology, and power engineering might be required in a particular regional field school in order to fully understand the natural environment and the human uses of and modifications to it.  Another field school in another region would require a different mix of instructors. 

http://www.page.ucar.edu/fieldsch