Earth & Environment

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  • CAS EE 516: Multivariate Analysis for Geographers
    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 EE 519: Energy, Society, and the Environment
    Focus on applied political economy and the intersection of policy, energy systems, and environmental systems. Project based learning,with an emphasis on energy technology and obstacles to deployment.
  • CAS EE 521: Law for Sustainability
    Survey of the major features of environmental law and relevant procedural and constitutional issues. Comparison of practical realities (political, economic, social, geographic, biological) with the ideal context for what should be. Projects include legal research and mock advocacy.
  • CAS EE 522: The Development of Sustainable Environmental Responsibility
    In-depth look at environmental policy and decision-making: how society addresses environmental problems. Includes discussion of the environmental movement, law, science, technology, economics, and international relations. Examines new issues facing environmental professionals and approaches to creating a sustainable world. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Historical Consciousness
    • The Individual in Community
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • CAS EE 523: Marine Urban Ecology
    Marine Urban Ecology is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that aims to understand how human and ecological processes can coexist in human-dominated systems. Topics, ecosystems, and organisms associated with urbanization in the Greater Boston area. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration.
  • CAS EE 524: Environmental Justice
    Exploration of the origins of and current trends in environmental justice activism and scholarship. Introduces empirical evidence of environmental (in)justice, links contemporary environmental problems to historical and broader political-economic processes, and explores a range of responses to environmental injustice. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Social Inquiry II.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS EE 525: Plant Physiological Ecology
    In-depth treatment of eco-physiological responses of plants and communities to environmental factors and climate change, as well as plant and community level impacts on the environment as manifested primarily in hydrologic, energy, and carbon cycles.
  • CAS EE 529: Modeling and Monitoring Terrestrial Ecosystems Processes
    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 EE 530: Forest Ecology
    The major biotic and abiotic factors influencing forest ecosystem composition, structure and function. Role of solar radiation, hydrology, soils, succession, and management of forest ecosystems. Includes New England case study. Three hours lecture plus discussion. Also meets with BI 530.
  • CAS EE 531: Risk Assessment
    Topics vary from year to year and may include the policy aspects of environmental regulation, risk assessment and environmental decision-making, international environmental policy, natural resource policy, and energy policy.
  • CAS EE 533: Quantitative Geomorphology
    Quantitative analyses of surface processes that lead to landform evolution and landscape change. Emphasizes study of analytical techniques in understanding specific depositional and erosional processes; models of global landscape change; tectonic and climatic geomorphology. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • CAS EE 535: Global Land Conservation: Theory and Practice
    In-depth treatment of the theory and practice of global land conservation. Global drivers of ecosystem degradation. Scale and effectiveness of public and private responses. Implementation of instruments, including regulatory, market- based, community-driven, and supply-chain approaches. International and domestic case studies. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
    • Research and Information Literacy
  • CAS EE 538: Research for Environmental Agencies and Organizations 2
    Students gain professional experience by working in teams on research projects that assist environmental and public health officials in achieving the missions of their agencies. Research areas may include solar energy, environmental justice, toxics, water quality, and lead poisoning. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Teamwork/Collaboration, The Individual in Community.
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS EE 539: Coral Reef Dynamics: Shallow Waters, Deep Time
    Tropical reefs-- diverse, complex, and ancient-- exhibit lawful cycles of growth, degradation, and regeneration. Explore these through observations on the Belize Barrier Reef in fossil reef environments and through laboratory experiments. Insights are applied to reef conservation in today's changing world. Also offered as BI 539. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Scientific Inquiry II
    • Creativity/Innovation
  • CAS EE 540: Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change
    An introduction to the chemistry and physics of atmospheric pollution, and the impacts of air pollution on human welfare and the environment. Highlights the interactions between air quality, the biosphere, climate, and sustainable development. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Scientific Inquiry II.
    • Scientific Inquiry II
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • CAS EE 543: Estuaries and Nearshore Systems
    Physical and ecological processes interacting in estuarine and nearshore environments, including salt marshes, beaches, lagoons, deltas, and in wave- and tide-dominated regimes. Lectures complemented by extensive field work oriented toward individual and group research projects. Effective Fall 2019, this course is part of a Hub sequence.
    • Part of a Hub sequence
  • CAS EE 555: World Oil Markets
    Cover the supply chains in international oil markets. For each stage of the supply chain, Kaufmann will describe the relevant theory from geology, economics, and politics and how they interact to generate real-world behavior.
  • CAS EE 557: Oceanography of Stellwagen Bank and Surrounding Waters
    Nutrient distribution and physical oceanography of Stellwagen Bank and adjacent waters. Bathymetric influences and effects of ocean currents of biogeochemical parameters. Includes day-long cruises on NOAA research vessel. Previosuly offered as CAS ES 557. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS EE 560: Energy Transitions
    An energy transition is a change in a society's dominant energy system. Major energy transitions are accompanied by transformative cultural, economic, demographic, technological, and environmental changes. This course provides the student with the methods, tools and perspectives to understand the important historical, current and future energy transitions. This course is a highly interdisciplinary experience, combining analytic tools and concepts from economics, environmental science, engineering, ecology, history, and political science.
  • CAS EE 576: Aquatic Geochemistry
    Fundamentals of water chemistry as applied to the evolution of surface, soil, and ground waters. Emphasis is on chemical equilibrium and kinetics, pH as a master variable, carbonate chemistry, mineral solubility, aqueous complexes, ion exchange, redox, and weathering reactions.

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