Courses Taught
Geog/NIES 120 Introduction to the Earth System
SYLLABUS
Geog120 introduces students to how the Earth system works, what makes Earth livable, and the diverse processes linking the atmosphere, oceans, and earth’s surface. Many students take this course to fulfill their physical science requirement. Others use it as a gateway to majors and careers in Geography, Environmental Studies, and Environmental Science.
Geog/NIES/AOS/Geosci 335 Climatic Environments of the Past
SYLLABUS
Geog331 focuses on climatic changes during the Quaternary Period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years, includes the rise of human civilizations, and extends to the present day. Climatically, the defining characteristics of the Quaternary are 1) regular cycles between glacial and interglacial periods and 2) abrupt shifts in the state of the climate system. Understanding the sources and causes of past climatic variability is a necessary precondition to understanding why climates are changing today and making informed projections for the future.
Geog/NIES/AOS 332 Global Warming: Science and Impacts
SYLLABUS
Geog332 offers a fundamental understanding of how and why global warming is happening, and what to expect in the future. We investigate and discuss the evidence for climate change, the interplay among human and physical drivers, and the science that explains these observations, predicted impacts on humans and ecosystems, and proposed solutions.
Geog/Geol 523 Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics
SYLLABUS
Geog523 explores the responses of plant species and ecosystems to the climate changes of the Quaternary, at timescales of decades to millennia. The Quaternary offers a series of model systems that allow us to ask general questions about the mechanisms driving vegetation change, and apply the answers to refine our projections of vegetational responses to 21st-century change.
Geog9XX: Graduate Seminars
Prior seminar topics include: Abrupt Changes in Ecological Systems (ACES), Conservation Paleoecology, and the Earth System Seminar.