Course Details

Coastal Resiliency and Sustainability

Understanding resiliency/sustainability from ecological, social, economic, organizational, planning, and built-environment perspectives.  Specific topics will include ecological disturbance, adaptive learning, sustainable enterprise, social vulnerability, natural hazards, climate change, development management, and ecological footprint analysis.  The approach of the course is problem-based, where students apply the principles of sustainability and resiliency to realistic problems, settings, and solutions.  The content of the course prepares students to address the interdisciplinary, complex problems associated with coastal sustainability and resiliency in their work and everyday lives.

​

Environmental Policy and Management

Introduces environmental policy, policymaking, and management in the United States. It discusses the role of human and governmental institutions, political processes and behavior, public policies, and political history in environmental policy and policymaking in the United States. It covers how ecosystem planning and management principles can be applied in creating environmental policies at local scales and developing environmental management plans. The course covers a variety of environmental policy areas (e.g. air, water, waste, public land use, sustainable development etc.) and addresses planning for entire natural systems as an emerging focus for environmental decision making in the United States, especially in dealing with environmental threats and natural hazards.

 

Environmental Planning and Administration

Cover a broad range of topics associated with coastal environmental planning from both a social and natural science perspective and planning for entire natural systems as an emerging focus for environmental decision making in the United States.  It is intended for graduate students with an interest in solving the practical problems associated with planning for coastal ecological systems and is open to students in all departments, including Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Wildlife and Fisheries, Public Policy, Renewable Resources, Coastal and Marine Resource Management, and Ecosystem Science.  Specific topics include: ecosystem science and landscape ecology; multi-party collaboration; plan quality and analysis, GIS and other information support systems, and land use planning tools and policies.

​

Introduction to Geography

The course presents a broad, introductory overview of geographic concepts, themes, and elements designed to help students better understand and analyze the world from a geographic perspective. It provides a background to Earth's physical and human elements and systems. It also emphasizes the unique quality of world regions, and the spatial interaction of people, elements, and regions, as well as major global and regional problems and prospects.

 

Physical Geography- Weather and Climate

The Geography 131-132 series is designed to provide you with a better understanding of the natural environment. The course has three major components: (1) a review of the basic meteorological factors that influence climate (such as temperature, humidity, pressure, precipitation, winds, and radiation), (2) an introduction to climate classification (deserts, rainforests), climate cycles (cold front, jet stream), and weather hazards (tornados, hurricanes), and (3) the science of climate change (greenhouse effect, climate models). The interlocking systems of climate, vegetation, soils, and landforms are examined in turn. You’ll learn why clouds form, and why thunderstorms occur here mostly during the summer.

​

Environmental Disasters and Human Hazards

A general survey of scientific principles that explain various natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods) and human-influenced events (dam failures and nuclear accidents). It also includes the study of human perceptions of and reactions to natural hazards.

​

Human Geography

A systematic study of world culture from the perspective of five integrating themes: cultural region, cultural diffusion, cultural ecology, cultural integration, and cultural landscape. Topics include population, agriculture, political and economic systems, religion and language, folk and popular culture, and ethnicity.

​

GIS Applications in Emergency Management

A review of geospatial methodologies used in the context of emergency management. Several geospatial tools in the different phases of emergency management such as mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. We explore the use of geospatial methods to conduct risk and vulnerability assessment, volunteered GIS during a disaster, and emerging technology for GIS and emergency management.