Abstract Institution Department Program Courses Resources Reports

ESSE I (1991 - 1995)

Stanford University

Gary Ernst

Joan Roughgarden
W. Gary Ernst and Joan Roughgarden
Geological/Environmental Science
Green 209 - Mail Code 2115
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2115
650-723-0185
650-725-0979 (fax)
ernst@pangea.stanford.edu
650-723-3648
rough@pangea.stanford.edu


Courses

ESYS 10. Introduction to Earth Systems—For non-majors and prospective Earth Systems majors. Multidisciplinary approach to how the Earth works as a system, utilizing the tools of geology, biology, and economics to understand global change on all time scales. Topics: origin of the solar system and earth, paleoclimate and climate modeling, ocean-atmosphere circulation, extinction and speciation, energy and mineral resources, economic attitudes and the environment. Case studies: acid rain, hunger and food, policy and the environment.

ESYS 110. Geosphere—(Same as Geological and Environmental Sciences 120.) Geological processes, from local to global, affect people and civilization. The reverse is also true; civilization is beginning to influence the geosphere. The processes experienced at the earth’s surface (catastrophic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and longer term atmospheric and climate changes) are linked to what goes on in the earth’s deep interior. How geochemical, geophysical, and biological processes interact over time scales ranging from 4.5 billion years to the nearly instantaneous.  Topics: the origin and evolution of the atmosphere and oceans, heat flow and global tectonics and how they have changed over time, geochemical cycles, climate change, catastrophic impacts, and the roles played by organisms. Prerequisite: Geological and Environmental Sciences 1 or 2.

ESYS 111. Biosphere—(Same as Biological Sciences 117.) The biological causes and consequences of anthropogenic and natural changes in the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Topics: glacial cycles and marine circulation, greenhouse gases and climate change, tropical deforestation and species extinctions, and human population growth and resource use. Prerequisites: Biological Sciences or Human Biology core or graduate standing in any department.

ESYS 112. Anthrosphere: Human Interactions with the Earth and Environment

—(Same as Economics 155.) The economic sources of environmental problems and the alternative policies for dealing with them (technology standards, emissions taxes, and marketable pollution permits).  An evaluation of the policies addressing regional air pollution, global climate change, water allocation in the western U.S., and the use of renewable resources. The connections between population growth, economic output, environmental quality, and human welfare. Prerequisite: Economics 50.

ESYS 189. Field Studies in Earth Systems—(Same as Biological Sciences

206, Geological and Environmental Sciences 189.) For advanced upper division undergraduates and graduate students in Earth Systems, Biological Sciences, or Geological and Environmental Sciences. Field-based, focusing on the components and processes by which terrestrial ecosystems function. Topics from biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, and soil science. Lecture, field, and lab studies emphasize standard field techniques, experimental design, analysis of data, and written and oral presentation. Small team projects test the original questions in the functioning of natural ecosystems. Admission by application, see Time Schedule. Prerequisites: Biological Sciences 141 or Geological and Environmental Sciences 160, or equivalent.

ESYS 210. Senior Seminar in Earth Systems—Focus is on communication skills, oral and written. Each student presents results of the Earth Systems internship in an oral presentation and leads a follow-up round table discussion subsequent to talk. Group project analyzing local environmental problems requires an Earth Systems approach. Peer reviews of internship papers as required. (WIM)

The Earth Systems Program is Stanford's interdisciplinary major focused on environmental subjects, and offers a B.S. degree and a coterminal M.S. degree. Since its origin 8 years ago, the Program has matriculated 158 undergrads and 50 masters students. Over 30 of Stanford's best faculty contribute as teachers or advisors in the Program. The Earth Systems Program was created to bind the expertise around the campus into a unified, coherent, and demanding curriculum on environmental subjects. The concept of the "Earth as a System" views Earth as a dynamic integrated system with physical and biological processes linking the ocean, atmosphere, and solid earth together with Earth's biological components, including people, and especially their economic and political institutions. The Earth Systems Program is a major that emphasizes the intergration between the earth sciences, ecology and evolution, economics, and environmental technology. As a science degree, the major also consists of required cognate courses in mathematics, computer science, physics, and chemistry. Today, the Program serves as a model for a number of institutions around the country. The educational philosophy of Earth Systems is to provide breadth in the freshman and sophomore years, and depth during junior and senior years in a track that corresponds to a traditional discipline. The tracks are set up to ensure that a student is competitively positioned to enter a graduate program in traditional departments as well as in environmentally oriented departments, should they choose to pursue an advanced degree. Although each student elects a disciplinary track, opportunity to synthesize material from different disciplines and to exchange ideas with students from other track is provided in the senior seminar and through the internship program. Students in Earth Systems who wish an honor's option participate in the Goldman Honors Program sponsored by the Institute for International Studies. The Earth Systems Program at Stanford is the first to bring the earth systems science perspective to the undergraduate level and to unite earth sciences with the social sciences, particularly economics.

Earth Systems Program at Stanford

http://pangea.stanford.edu/ESYS/

Stanford is an example of a large institution with an ongoing successful ESS program that leveraged its ESSE program involvement with its own resources.  Stanford’s program produced several second generation ESSE participants – Susan Alexander now at CSU Monterey Bay, and Mark Johnsson formerly with Bryn Mawr, now with the California Coastal Commission.  Both are examples of individuals whose careers were impacted by the ESSE program and their involvement in it while in graduate school at Stanford.


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