Course Descriptions
Undergraduate - 400 level
CAS GE 401, 402 Senior Independent Work
Prereq: Approval of Honors Committee.
CAS GE 420 Methods of Environmental Policy Analysis
Prereq: CAS EC 101 and CAS MA 121 or 123. Introduction to the analysis of environmental policy, the implications of environmental problems for public decission making, the tools available to decission-makers, and their effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages.
CAS GE 425 United States Environmental Policy
Prereq: CAS GE 309. Survey and historical overview of key environmental policies and regulations in the United States. Emphasis on policy development, including formulation and implementation of federal pollution control regulations since the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970. Considers possible future policy needs.
CAS GE 440 Digital Image Processing - Remote Sensing
Prereq: CAS GE 302 or equivalent. At least introductory statistics (and preferably multivariate
statistics) recommended. This course pursues both the algorithms involved in processing remote sensing images and their application. Topics include preprocessing, image transformations, image classification and segmentation, spectral mixture analysis, and change detection. Examples cover a wide range of environmental applications of remote sensing. Students do a project.
CAS GE 442 Radar Remote Sensing
Prereq: CAS GE 502. An introduction to radar imaging concepts, systems, and basic applications, including technical fundamentals, interpretation techniques, and aids. Applications include topographic mapping, land use, and earth science. Laboratory exercises included.
CAS GE 445 Physical Models in Remote Sensing
Prereq: CAS GE 302 or equivalent. Devoted to understanding the physical processes involved in remote sensing. Emphasis based on topics of radiative transfer in the atmosphere, at the surface, and in sensors. Reflectance modeling, advanced sensor systems, and geometric effects.
CAS GE 448 Remote Sensing of Vegetation
Prereq: CAS GE 302 or equivalent. Examines the use of remote sensing to study vegetation. Topics include resource inventory and evaluation for forests and agriculture; ecosystem processes like primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles; and spectral reflectance measurements and models.
CAS GE 460 Resource Economics and Policy
Prereq: CAS GE 309 and CAS MA 121; CAS EC 201, EC 371, MA 122 recommended. Economic analysis of environmental resources and policies for their management. Introduces dynamic optimization as a tool for understanding and analyzing both resource scarcity and the management of energy, fishery, and forestry resources for sustainability.
CAS GE 483 Geodynamics II: Fluids and Fluid Transport
Prereq: CAS MA 124, MA 127, or MA 129, and CAS PY 211 and CAS ES 360 or consent of instructor. Large-and small -scale phenomena in oceanic, atmospheric, and landsurface fluids. Properties of gases and liquids; surface and body forces; statics; flow analysis; continuity and momentum conservation. Darcy's Law; potential, open channel, and geostrophic flow; dimensional analysis; diffusion, turbulence.
CAS GE 491, 492 Directed Study
Prereq: approval of CAS Room 105. Variable cr, 1st & 2nd sem.
