IES Academic Programs

Department of Earth and Environmental Science

Institute for Environmental Studies

Academic Programs; Environmental Courses at Penn

NURSING (NURS)
department website
environmental courses

OPERATIONS & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (OPIM)
department website
environmental courses

PHILOSPHY (PHIL)
department website
environmental courses

POLICTICAL SCIENCE (PSCI)
department website
environmental courses

PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC)
department website
environmental courses

REAL ESTATE (REAL)
department website
environmental courses

RELIGIOUS STUDIES (RELS)
department website
environmental courses

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING (SYS)
department website
environmental courses

URBAN STUDIES (URBS)
department website
environmental courses

Back to Top

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

AFRICAN STUDIES (AFST)

AFST 467. (AMES467) Introduction to Egyptian Culture and Archaeology
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Distribution II: May be counted as a Distributional Course in History & Tradition.
Wegner.
Covers principal aspects of ancient Egyptian culture (environment, urbanism, religion, technology, etc.) with special focus on archaeological data; includes study of University Museum artifacts.

Back to Top

ANTHROPOLOGY (ANTH)

ANTH 032. (LTAM032) Rise and Fall of Ancient Maya Civilization. Freshman Seminar.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Sabloff, J.
The civilization of the ancient Maya, which flourished between approximately 300 B.C. and the Spanish Conquest of the sixteenth century A.D. in what is now southern Mexico and northern Central America, has long been of wide public interest. The soaring temples of Tikal, the beautiful palaces of Palenque, the sophisticated carved monuments and sculpture, and the complex writing, astronomical, and mathematical systems have been widely photographed and written about. For much of the twentieth century, scholarly knowledge about the ancient Maya was greater than knowledge of many other pre-industrial civilizations. But revolutionary advances in archaeological research and the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing over the past two decades have led to completely new understandings of the development of Lowland Maya civilization, the rise of urban states, and the successful adaptation to a difficult tropical environment. This seminar will examine the studies that have led to these new insights and will evaluate the exciting new models of Maya civilization and its achievements that have emerged in recent years.

ANTH 133. (LTAM133) Native Peoples and the Environment.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Distribution II: May be counted as a Distributional course in History & Tradition.
Erickson.
Freshman Seminar.
The relationship between the activities of native peoples and the environment is a complex and contentious issue. One perspective argues that native peoples had little impact on the environments because of their low population densities, limited technology, and conservation ethic and worldview. At other extreme, biodiversity, and Nature itself, is considered the product of a long history of human activities. This seminar will examine the Myth of the Ecologically Noble Savage, the Myth of the Pristine Environment, the alliance between native peoples and Green Politics, and the contribution of native peoples to appropriate technology, sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity.

ANTH 224. Archaeology of the Neotropics.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences
Erickson.
The early cultures of the moist tropical regions of the Americas have played an important seminal role in the development of precolumbian civilizations of the Andean and Mesoamerican culture areas. This course examines the prehistory of the Amazon basin (including the upper Amazon regions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Surinam), the Caribbean, and lower Central American (Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua). The major foci of the course will be 1) the historical ecology of these regions and how long-term human occupation and land use has transformed and shaped the environment, 2) the archaeological record for initial settlement, early domestication of food crops, ceremonial life, artistic expression, and population dynamics through time, and 3) the contribution of archaeology to the development of an appropriate and sustainable development of the Neotropics. Lectures and readings draw heavily on recent research results from ethnography, economic botany, geography, history, agronomy, and ecology of the region. There are no prerequisites for this course.

ANTH 245. Introduction to Cultural Ecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences
Moore.
This course surveys the relationship between human societies and their natural environment. How are the adaptations of humans different than those of other animals? Do human societies create the environments in which they live? Or are human societies merely a reflection of natural resources and geography? Can humans regulate their economies, social organization and religion to establish a sustainable adaptation to the environment? Is the human future one of change or one of doom? After an introduction to the aims and methods of the field, we will grapple with these issues using some classic case studies in cultural ecology.

ANTH 327. Food and Population.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences; economics and business; science and health
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 003.
Huss-Ashmore.
Examines relationships between human food supply and population processes. Traces thinking through Malthus, Marx, and Darwin to modern theories of how food influences population size and growth through biological and economic channels.

ANTH 419. (ANTH596, COML415, FOLK415, FOLK596) Travel, Tourism, and Culture.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Staff.
After two hundred years of growth as an industry, tourism has become one of the biggest sectors of employment worldwide, and its impact on cultures is correspondingly profound. This course will first critically examine the history of tourism's development, and then focus on touristic experience and practice in the twentieth century. We will draw on the substantial theoretical literature from folkloristics, anthropology, sociology, and environmental studies, as well as on literary depictions and reflections on travel and tourism. Course participants will carry out primary research in the Philadelphia area (with an historical or an ethnographic focus), and write a final essay tying their research into the literature. The revised papers may get edited into a publishable volume, depending on the availability of funds, to make the research available to the Philadelphia area public and industry.

ANTH 466. Lowland South American Indians.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Distribution I: May be counted as a Distributional course in Society.
Urban.
This is a general survey course concerned with the Native Peoples of Non-Andean South America. Its focus is ethnological and comparative. Students (advanced undergraduate and graduate) read a range of ethnographies, and become familiar with different comparative approaches, while acquiring the tools for further specialized research. Of special concern are issues pertaining to social organization, ecology, ritual, myth, belief systems, and language. The course also provides a background for students interested in ethnohistory and in contemporary problems of state-Indian relationships.

Back to Top

ARCHITECTURE (ARCH)

ARCH 401. Architecture and Landscape Design I
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Leatherbarrow/Berrizbeita.
An introduction to fundamental topics in architecture and landscape architecture. Issues of mapping, placement, scale, and construction are explored through studio design exercises, site visits, and discussions. Course work focuses on the preparation and presentation of discrete design projects that emphasize the acquisition of representational and analytical skills, and the development of imaginative invention and judgment.

ARCH 402. Architecture and Landscape Design II
IES keywords environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Wesley/Gutierrez
A continuing exploration of architectural design. Content and technique in representation andconstruction are explored through various studio design exercises.

ARCH433. (ARCH 533) Environmental Systems I.
IES keywords environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Malkawi
An introduction to the influence of thermal and luminous phenomenon in the history and practice of architecture. Issues of climate, health and environmental sustainability are explored as they relate to architecture in its natural context. The classes include lectures, site visits and field exploration.

ARCH 434. (ARCH 534) Environmental Systems II.
IES keywords environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Braham
This course examines the environmental technologies of larger buildings, including heating, ventilating, and air conditioning, lighting, and acoustics. Class meetings are divided between slide lectures, work sessions, and site visits.

ARCH 531. Construction I.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; engineering, design, and systems
Falck.
Course explores basic principles and concepts of architectural technology and describes the interrelated nature of structure, construction and environmental systems.

ARCH 533. (401) Environmental Systems I.

ARCH 534. (434)Environmental Systems II.

ARCH 638. Technology Special Topics.
IES keywords: environmental focus; engineering, design, and systems
Faculty.
This series of six classes will discuss the issues and current thinking in sustainable architecture: 1) Introduction: why sustainability is important; 2) Human comfort: what makes people happy in a building; 3) Climatic response: designing buildings that respond to the weather; 4) Energy use: where energy is used and how to control it; 5) Materials: reduce, re-use and recycle? 6) The Future: where is it all going?

ARCH 752. (CPLN656, UDES752) Case Studies in Urban Design.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; urban issues; engineering, design, and systems
Conway.
Through three case studies and a final project this course explores several fundamentally different ways in which the urban design process is realized in this country: The campus as historical prototype and contemporary paradigm; the new community both modernist and neo-traditionalist; expansion/relocation of CBD; and urban/suburban in-fill. Particular emphasis is placed on the roles of planning, historic preservation and landscape architecture in the practice of urban design.

Back to Top

ART HISTORY (ARTH)

ARTH 288. Twentieth-Century Design.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; engineering, design, and systems
Distribution III: May be counted as a Distributional course in Arts & Letters.
Marcus.
This survey of modern utilitarian and decorative objects spans the century, from the Arts and Crafts Movement to the present, from the rise of Modernism to its rejection in Post-Modernism, from Tiffany glass and tubular-metal furniture to the Sony Walkman. Its overall approach focuses on the aesthetics of designed objects and on the designers who created them, but the course also investigates such related topics as industrialization, technology, ergonomics, and environmental, postindustrial, and universal design. Among the major international figures whose graphics, textiles, furniture, and other products will be studied are William Morris, Frank Lloyd Wright, Josef Hoffmann, Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Raymond Loewy, Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen, Paul Rand, Jack Lenor Larsen, Ettore Sottsass,Jr., Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, and Philippe Starck.

BIOLOGY (BIOL)
BIOL 003. (COLL003) "What every lawyer, businessperson, and citizen needs to know about molecular biology". Gen Req V: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Living World.
Zigmond. Prerequisite(s): High school biology required.
IES keywords: environmental focus: science, health
This seminar is intended for students who do not plan to take any additional biology courses, but would like to know what "all the excitement" of modern biology is about. We will cover both the basics of molecular biology and how biotechnology effects our lives. Specific topics will include: DNA fingerprinting, environmental and health applications of genetic engineering and the human genome project.

BIOL 010. Conservation Biology.
Gen Req V: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Living World
Staff.
IES keywords: environmental focus: science, environmental issues
Topics in conservation will be discussed.

BIOL 130. Biology of Dinosaurs.
Gen Req V: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Living World. Balsai.
IES keywords: environmental focus: science
The course examines "non-avian dinosaurs" as objects of valid scientific inquiry and strips them of their media hyperbole. Among the topics examined in detail are: their systematics, ecology (including a survey of other Mesozoic vertebrate groups, important invertebrates, and plant life), physiology, their relationships to modern birds, the facts behind their extinction, and how these animals are reconstructed and restored as living animals (including what is actually known about their reproduction and care of their offspring). No prerequisite is required and all relevant geological and biological background material will be provided as part of the course.

BIOL 140. (BIOL440) Humans and the Environment.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health; management, planning, and policy
Gen Req V: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Living World.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or greater. Some biology background suggested.
Janzen.
Intensive update and exposure to current issues and solutions in contemporary human interactions with the environment. Global in scope, but focused on case histories. Stress on providing biological and sociological background for a given major environment-human interaction, and state-of-the-art suggested solutions.

BIOL 240. (BIOL444, LARP539) Ecology and Population Biology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): BIOL 102 or 122 or 91.
Treseder.
Evolution and ecology of organisms, structure and regulation of populations, and the organization of biological communities.

BIOL 412. Ecology of Organisms and Populations.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): BIOL 102 or 122 or 91, Biol 240, and one semester of calculus.
Petraitis/Dunham.
Theoretical and empirical aspects of physiological ecology, demography, and the growth and regulation of natural populations.

BIOL 414. Ecology of Communities and Ecosystems.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): BIOL 102 or 122 or 91, Biol 240, and one semester of calculus.
Petraitis/Dunham
Theoretical and empirical aspects of competition, predator-prey interactions, species diversity, island biogeography, and ecosystem analysis and stability.

BIOL 423. Experimental Plant Ecology.
Casper.
IES keywords: environmental focus: science, health
The course consists of both lecture material and hands on research involving questions in plant population or community ecology. Quantitative information from published studies will be discussed, and students, working in teams, will summarize and analyze data from class experiments.

BIOL 440. (BIOL140) Advanced Analysis of Humans and the Environment.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.
Janzen.
Advanced version of BIOL 140. Additional readings and course work as directed. See BIOL 140.

BIOL 464. Introduction to Field Ecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, watersheds
Thorne.
This course surveys the diversity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Philadelphia region through a combination of field trips and field research exercises. The terrestrial ecosystem component, offered by Dr. Jim Thorne from Natural Lands Trust (www.natlands.org), will examine a Black gum-Sweet gum old growth forest estimated to be 450 years old; the largest forest wilderness in southeastern Pennsylvania, the Hopewell Big Woods; forested wetlands in southern New Jersey supporting a Federally-listed species; and the globally threatened Eastern Serpentine Barrens. The aquatic ecosystem component, team-taught by scientists from the Stroud Water Research Center (www.stroudcenter.org), will focus on the White Clay Creek watershed, located in southern Chester County and part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. This portion of the course will involve research exercises in stream ecology, including the role of streamside buffers, energy flow and nutrient cycling, aquatic insect biodiversity, microbial ecology, geomorphology and hydrology. All field trips will involve hands-on field exercises that highlight research topics in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

BIOL 465. Ecological Techniques in Conservation.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
McShea.
Course will be taught at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation & Research Center adjacent to Shenandoah National Park just outside Front Royal, Virginia in January (preparatory lectures at Penn) and March (field work at CRC). Students must pre-register. Prepayment of transportation and living expenses required. Students should be prepared for strenuous, extended field work under varied weather conditions. The main focus of this course is to provide an overview of techniques used by conservation biologists and wildlife managers. The emphasis is on field work and most of each day will be spent outside attempting to collect real data on real organisms. The general topics covered will be survey techniques for forest birds, small mammals, white-tailed deer, and vegetation. A brief introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning Systems is also included. Each topic will start with an introductory lecture the night before and then field work during the day. The course is held at the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation and Research Center (CRC) for endangered species.

BIOL 516. Microbial Ecology Seminar.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Bott.
Population and community ecology of bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa in soils, aquatic systems, and extreme environments; microbial interactions; associations with plants and animals; biogeochemical cycles; and practical applications (e.g., genetic engineering, biological control, bioremediation, and mining).

BIOL 615. Seminar on Environmental and Evolutionary Biology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Staff.
Selection and presentation of current papers of interest in the areas of environmental and evolutionary biology.

Back to Top

BUSINESS AND PUBLIC POLICY (BPUB)

BPUB 201. (BPUB770) Political Economy of Government.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Gen Req I: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Society. Prerequisite(s): ECON 1 or equivalent. A General Honors version of this course is also offered in the fall semester with Janet R. Pack. Check with the General Honors program or in the Course Timetable for a particular semester.
Schinnar.
This introductory course explores the economics and politics of policy analysis and management in government. The first part of the semester is devoted to the analysis of the economics and politics of government policy formulation and implementation. This is followed by a detailed examination of why, how, and with what success/failure government intervenes in a variety of areas. Health, education, welfare, law enforcement, housing and urban development, international trade, the environment are examples of the topics that may be covered. Finally, the course examines the growing importance of allowing competitive markets to provide publicly funded services, taking advantage of private management approaches to fostering innovation in public management. Three major areas in which this is occurring will be examined: privatization/contracting out of government activities; business improvement districts: homeowners associations. A midterm and final exam, as well as a class presentation on one of the areas of government intervention, and your general participation in class discussions will form the basis of your grade.

BPUB 206. (BPUB772, REAL206, REAL772, REAL972) Urban Public Policy and Private Economic Development.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; urban issues; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Prerequisite(s): It is assumed that all students will have had previous training in microeconomics.
Pack, J.
This course examines the major ways in which private development - the activities of builders and the location of firms and households -- is affected by federal, state, and local policies and how private development influences government policy. These critical policies include tax and expenditure policies, as well as a wide variety of regulatory policies -- zoning, environmental impact restrictions, impact fees, building codes - and physical infrastructure development - highways, airports, public transit.

BPUB 261. (OPIM261, OPIM761, BPUB761, BPUB961, SYS 567) Risk Analysis and Environmental Management.
IES keywords: environmental focus; urban; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Prerequisite(s): MGEC 621 or microeconomics.
Kunreuther.
This course introduces students to the challenges and complexities of making decisions about threats to human health and the environment. It explores the role of risk perception, risk assessment and decision and cost benefit analysis in structuring risk-management decisions. The course also examines other policy tools such as compensation, incentive systems, insurance and regulation. Special emphasis will be given to risk communication, the role of the media, and the importance of public participation in the decision-making process.
The problem contexts include risk-induced stigmatization of products (e.g. alar, British beef), places (e.g. Love Canal), and technologies (e.g. nuclear power); the siting of noxious facilities, and managing catastrophic risks. A course project enables students to apply the concepts discussed in the course to a concrete problem.

BPUB 761. (OPIM261, OPIM761, BPUB261, BPUB961, SYS 567) Risk Analysis and Environmental Management.
Prerequisite(s): MGEC 621 or microeconomics.
Kunreuther.
See BPUB 261.

BPUB 777. (BPUB204, BPUB960) Cost Benefit Analysis.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Prerequisite(s): Microeconomics.
Pack, J.
The principle tool for project and policy evaluation in the public sector. Government projects have major effects on tax rates; with successful projects having the potential for reducing taxes and unsuccessful taxes often resulting in tax increases. Since taxes are important influences on the location of businesses and households, valuing government proposals, before they are undertaken, thus has enormous influence on the development community. For government, whose "products" are rarely sold, the valuation of costs and benefits by means alternative to market prices is necessary. It is the counterpart to cost accounting in private firms and provide guidance to avoiding wasteful projects and undertaking those that are worthwhile. In addition, given government regulations, cost benefit evaluations are critical for many private sector activities. Real estate developers, manufacturing firms, employers of all types are required to provide evaluations of environmental impacts and of urban impact for their proposed projects. They too must engage cost benefit analysis, in the evaluation of social benefits and costs.
Government analysts, consultants, and private firms regularly carry out cost benefit analyses for major investments -- bridges, roads, transit systems, convention centers, dams -- as well as for regulatory activities -- OSHA workplace safety regulations and the Clean Air Act are two important examples.

BPUB 960. (BPUB204, BPUB777) Cost Benefit Analysis.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and planning; business and economics
Prerequisite(s): Microeconomics.
Pack, J.
Cost-benefit analysis is the principal tool for evaluating government programs. It is used by government agencies and private firms. Government agencies are required to use cost-benefit analysis to attach values (in the absence of profitability measures) to physical infrastructure projects (roads, tunnels, waterworks, convention centers), social programs (job training, welfare reform), and regulatory activity (environmental, telecommunications, banking, occupational safety). Private firms perform and evaluate cost-benefit analyses in order to determine how they will be affected by these public interventions (infrastructure and regulation, in particular). Consulting firms often carry out these analyses under contract to government or to private firms.

BPUB 961. (OPIM261, OPIM761, BPUB261, BPUB761, SYS 567)Risk Analysis and Environmental Management.
Prerequisite(s): MGEC 621 or microeconomics.
Kunreuther.
See BPUB 261.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING (CHE)

CHE 475. Environmental Engineering.
IES keywords: environmental focus; engineering, design, and systems
Prerequisite(s): Junior or Senior Standing.
Perlmutter.
A technological examination of alternative responses to environmental problems.

Back to Top

CHEMISTRY (CHEM)

CHEM 012. (COLL003) Environmental Chemistry.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, science
Staff.
The course requires math literacy at the high school algebra level (2 years) and a willingness to learn Excel. Students must also have taken one year of high school chemistry.
The course aims to teach chemical content and principles in the context of significant environmental issues. Topics to be covered include: composition of the atmosphere; protecting the ozone layer; chemistry of global warming; traditional hydrocarbon fuels and energy utilization; water supply, its contaminants, and waste water treatment; acid rain; nuclear energy; and new energy sources. Students will develop critical thinking ability, competence to better assess risks and benefits, and skills that will lead them to be able to make informed decisions about technology-based matters.

CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING (CPLN)

CPLN 585. Land Use Planning: Principles and Practice.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy
Tustian.
Overview of the methods and tools for managing land use and shaping the built environment. Explores principles of successful plan creation emanating from theory and case studies.

CPLN 655. (CPLN455) Land Use and Transportation Planning.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; urban; management, planning, and policy
Tomazinis.
Exploration of the technological and design aspects of urban transportation systems including discussion of land use patterns and transportation, facilities operations, congestion, and environmental issues. Highlights current policy debates revolving around mobility issues at local, federal, and state levels.

CPLN 662. Metropolitan Regional Planning.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy
Staff.
Examination of factors shaping a region with a focus on the role of metropolitan planning organizations. Reviews growth management and environmental quality improvement efforts.

CPLN 666. Modeling Geographical Objects.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy
Tomlin.
Introduction to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in urban and regional planning. Reviews the conceptual foundations of GIS. Students achieve proficiency in Arc View.

CPLN 676. Introduction to Environmental Planning & Policy.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, engineering, design, and systems
Daniels.
Overview of national programs for protecting the environment, managing natural resource areas, preserving biodiversity, and remediating Brownfields, in an overall framework based on sustainability. Covers basic principles of geology, hydrology, limnology, and climatology, Oregon's Land Use Transportation Air Quality (LUTRAQ) connection, environmental impact assessment, environmental justices.

CPLN 764. (CPLN464) Issues in Environmental Planning.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Keene.
Overview of administrative law, relevant constitutional doctrines, and American environmental doctrines, and American environmental policies and legal doctrines such as those embodied in the National Environmental Policy Act and the Superfund Act.

CPLN 765. Environmental Law: Selected Issues.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Keene.
Overview of administrative law, relevant constitutional doctrines, and American environmental doctrines, and American environmental policies and legal doctrines such as those embodied in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Superfund Act.

CPLN 767. (UDES751, URBS767) Theory and Principles of Urban Design.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; urban; management, planning, and policy
Barnett.
An introduction to the theoretical basis for beliefs and practices in city and environmental design, including the relation of the built environment to the natural environment, the organization of groups of buildings, the use and meaning of public places, and the relation of technology to land use and community.

CPLN 770. GIS in Professional Practice.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; urban; management, planning, and policy
Staff.
Introduction to the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in urban and regional planning. Reviews the conceptual foundation of GIS. Students achieve proficiency in Arc View.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND LITERARY THEORY (COML)

COML 777. (LARP773)Topics in Landscape Architecture I.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; history, humanities, and social sciences
Dixon Hunt.
Why do humans (alone among animals) make gardens? Do gardens change (culturally, historically) when human self-analysis and self-explanation take new forms? How do we parse human nature? What has it to do with botanical, zoological, geographical and horticultural natures? How do humans inscribe themselves upon the places they make?

Back to Top

ENVIORNMENTAL STUDIES (ENVS)

ENVS 098. The Next Millennium: Would Technology Help Us Resolve the Environmental Dilemma?.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health; management, planning, and policy
Distribution I: May be counted as a Distributional course in Society.
Bokreta / Santiago-Aviles.
Over the last century we have witnessed the dominance of man over nature. Technology, our understanding of our environment and our consumption habits have been the principal weapons used to achieve this conquest. Now, at the beginning of a new millennium, many questions and concerns about our actions and perceptions are being raised. Can today's technology and the new knowledge about our environment and human nature assure our survival? How can we use the next one hundred years to reconstruct and restore our future? These are the fundamental questions that the class will investigate. The course will rely on evidence, the use of hypothesis and theories, logic as well as the students' scientific inquiry and creativity. We will discuss systems, models and simulations, constancy, patterns of change, evolution and scale.

ENVS 200. Introduction to Environmental Analysis.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World.
Giegengack.
An introduction to philosophy, techniques, and selected details of the application of a broad spectrum of disciplines that relate to environmental problems.

ENVS 295. Maritime Science and Technology: Woods Hole Sea Semester.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Prerequisite(s): Laboratory course in physical or biological science or its equivalent; college algebra or its equivalent. 4 c.u.
A rigorous semester-length academic and practical experience leading to an understanding of the oceans. The Sea Semester is composed of two intensive six-week components taken off campus. The Shore Component-six weeks at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with formal study in: Oceanography, Maritime Studies, and Nautical Science. This is followed by six weeks aboard a sailing research vessel, during which students conduct oceanographic research projects as part of the courses Practical Oceanography I and II.

ENVS 301. Environmental Case Studies.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): ENVS 200.
Doheny.
A detailed, comprehensive investigation of selected environmental problems. Guest speakers from the government and industry will give their accounts of various environmental cases. Students will then present information on a case study of their choosing.

ENVS 404. Urban Environments: West Philadelphia.
IES keywords: environmental focus; urban
Giegengack, Wright.
Local middle school visits required. Non-honors need permit.
A study of selected aspects of urban environments, with an emphasis on West Philadelphia. Students will engage middle school children in exercises of applied environmental research.

ENVS 405. Urban Environment II. Prevention of Tobacco Smoking.
IES keywords: environmental focus; urban
Prerequisite(s): ENVS 404 or permission of instructor. Local middle school visits required. Non-honors need permit.
Giegengack, Wright
A detailed analysis of urban environmental issues.

ENVS 407. (HSOC407) Urban Environments: Prevention of Tobacco Smoking in Adolescents.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, health
Giegengack and Wright.
This course will examine the short and long term physiological effects of smoking, social influences, the effectiveness of cessation programs, tobacco advocacy and the impact of the tobacco settlement. Penn Students will work with middle school students on a campaign to prevent addiction to tobacco.

408. (HSOC408) Urban Environments: The Urban Asthma Epidemic.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, health
Wright and Giegengack.
This course will examine the epidemiology of asthma, the potential causes of asthma, the public health issues and environmental triggers. Penn students will collaborate with the Children's Hospital's clinical research study - Community Asthma Prevention Program. Students will conduct environmental triggers classes in the community.

ENVS 450. Techniques in environmental accounting and system analysis.
Prerequisite(s): One year of introductory calculus and statistics, working knowledge of spreadsheet software.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, health
Scatena.
This course will cover the development and analysis of environmental budgets and input-output models that are commonly used in earth and environmental science. The first part of the semester will concentrate on the physical laws, systems principles, and analytical tools used in developing and evaluating input-output models and environmental budgets. During the remainder of the semester we will develop and analyze hydrologic, energy and nutrient budgets for a variety of systems.

ENVS 452. Disturbances and Disasters
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues, health
Scatena.
This course will cover the earth and environmental science of natural disturbances and disasters. Floods, tsunamis, snow and ice storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, droughts, and meteor impacts will be discussed and covered with case studies and readings. The distribution and frequency, geologic and ecosystem level impacts, and risk management of each disturbance will be discussed.

ENVS 463. (ENVS663, URBS463, URBS663) Brownfield Remediation.
IES keywords: environmental focus; urban; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Keene.
This course is intended to give an overview of the genesis of the so-called "Brownfield" problem and of the various efforts that our society is taking to try to solve, or at least ameliorate it. The course will place the "Brownfield" problem in the broader context of the growth and decline of industrial base cities like Philadelphia. Students will study the general constitutional and statutory framework within which we approach the problems of orphan, polluted sites and the disposal of contemporary solid wastes. They will also analyze the principal actions that have been taken by federal and state governments to address remediation and redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites. In addition, the course will explore environmental equity issues.

ENVS 502. Environmental Chemistry.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Doheny and Andrews.
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
The chemistry of water, air, and soil will be studied from an environmental perspective. The nature, composition, structure, and properties of pollutants, their means of detection and methods of purification and remediation will also be studied.

ENVS 504. Biogeochemistry.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Gill.
The presence of life on Earth has had a profound effect on the chemistry of the planet. This course will examine the major elemental cycles of the globe, studying how these cycles link the atmosphere, oceans, and land. We will analyze how life influences these cycles, particularly how human activity affects them. We will study nutrient cycles in soil, wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, the sea and the atmosphere, integrating these interactions to global-scale processes. One semester of chemistry recommended as background.

ENVS 507. Wetlands.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Willig.
The course will focus on the natural history of different wetland types including the factors of climate, geology, and hydrology which influence wetland development and associated soil, vegetation, and wildlife characteristics and key ecological processes. Lectures will be supplemented with weekend trips to different wetland types ranging from tidal salt marshes to non-tidal marshes, swamps, and glacial bogs in order to provide field experience in wetland identification, characterization, and functional assessment. Outside speakers will discuss issues in wetland seed bank ecology, federal regulation, and mitigation. Students will present a short paper on the ecology of a wetland animal and a longer term paper on a selected wetland topic. Readings from Wetlands by Mitsch and Gosseling (1993) and assorted journal papers, government technical documents, and book excerpts will provide a broad overview of the multifaceted field of wetland study.

ENVS 521. New England Field Ecology: Reading the Landscape.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Permission of instructor required. Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Johnson/Siccoma.
Part of the MES program. In a three-week field course, using southern New England as a backdrop, students will develop the skills to understand how geology, topography, soils and plant communities on any site are linked through basic ecological processes. They will also learn which attributes of terrestrial ecosystems to analyze to reconstruct accurately the land-use history of a site and to predict the future of vegetative assemblages. Students will learn to write about the natural history of landscapes in a scientifically credible, but user-friendly fashion. This course will be based at the Yale Forestry School's Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk, CT. Students will visit sites in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York that represent all of the major ecosystems of southern New England from salt marshes to montane coniferous forests.

ENVS 530. Rocky Mountain Field Geology and Ecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Giegengack/Bordeaux.
Field work is done in and around Red Lodge, Montana. An additional fee for Room and Board applies. Permission of the Instructor is required. Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Designed for the MES program (open to non-MES students by permission of the instructor). This is a two-week intensive field course in the geology, natural history, and ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which comprises a range of environments from the mile-high semi-deserts of intermontane basins to the alpine tundra of the Beartooth Plateau above 12,000 feet. The program is based at the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association (YBRA) field station on the northeast flank of the Beartooth Mountains near Red Lodge, Montana. The course includes day trips from the field station as well as overnight visits to sites within Yellowstone National Park. Pre-trip classes will be held in Philadelphia during the two weeks before the trip to ensure that all students are adequately familiar with basic principles of field-based natural science.

ENVS 533. Research Methods in Environmental Studies.
IES keywords: environmental focus
LePage.
This course is designed to prepare Master of Environmental Studies students to undertake their Capstone exercises. In this course, we will discuss how to identify an appropriate research project, how to design a research plan, and how to prepare a detailed proposal. Each student should enter the course with a preliminary research plan and should have identified an advisor. By the end of the course, each student is expected to have a completed Capstone proposal that has been reviewed and approved by his/her advisor.

ENVS 541. Geographic Information Systems and Environmental Planning.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Tomlin.
This course offers a broad and practical introduction to the acquisition, storage, retrieval, maintenance, use, and presentation of digital cartographic data with both image and drawing based geographic information systems (GIS) for a variety of environmental science, planning, and management applications. Its major objectives are to provide the training necessary to make productive use of at least two well known software packages, and to establish the conceptual foundation on which to build further skills and knowledge in late practice.

ENVS 575. (ENGL584, FOLK575, HSSC575) Environmental Imaginaries.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences
Hufford.
Behind struggles over resource use and patterns of development are collective fictions that relate people to their material surroundings. "Environmental imaginaries" refers to the contending discourses that arrange society around processes of development and change. What are the Cartesian fictions that enable the chronic separation of culture from environment? How are these fictions produced, enacted, and materialized in such diverse sites as Appalachian strip mines and Sea World, nature talk and permit hearings? How might alternative ways of knowing and being be conjured through naming practices, narratives, and other speech genres, as well as yardscapes, protest rallies and other forms of public display? Drawing on theories of worldmaking and ethnographic works on culture and environment, this seminar will examine the production of Cartesian-based environmental imaginaries and their alternatives across a range of such genres and practices.

ENVS 580. Ecology of Health.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: science and health: management, planning, and policy.
Sheehan
Movements of people and populations in various historic periods have led to the introduction of diseases new to a population. The colonial period, for example, witnessed the introduction of smallpox to the Americas by European colonizers, resulting in the decimation of indigenous populations. Accompanying changes in agricultural practices, ecological destruction, and changes introduced by war, development, and trade often led to altered habitat, diet, and disease patterns that threatened both colonizers and the colonized. Today, rapid and easy movement of individuals and goods around the globe, as well as new technologies, continued status inequality between rich and poor nations, and sociopolitical conflicts, have created a condition of new, emergent, and reemerging diseases. In addition, the ability of microbes to alter in response to changed environments makes identification and control of disease-causing agents a challenge to medical science.
This course will focus on the social, political, and economic sources and ramifications of world-wide disease patterns. Infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, tuberculosis, and AIDS will be examined. Ecological changes and new technologies often alter food resources, productive activities, and the environment resulting in new disease patterns; one example is arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh brought about by deeply bored wells. The activities of national and international organizations to cope with disease outbreaks, to formulate strategies for disease surveillance and notification, and to create solutions are important to understanding the state of global health. Selected case studies will be used, placing them within a framework of sociological analysis of health and disease, medical research, poverty and disease, as well as national and international organizational and policy responses.

ENVS 601. Proseminar: Contemporary Issues in Environmental Studies.
IES keywords: environmental focus
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Pfefferkorn/Gill.
A detailed, comprehensive investigation of selected environmental problems. This is the first course taken by students entering the Masters of Environmental Studies Program.

ENVS 603. Environmental Sociology.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems.
Sheehan.
The context in which debates take place and decisions and laws about the environment are made, leads to a focus on the community, defined here as workers and residents. Members of urban and rural communities, situated near polluting factories, hazardous sites or landfills, are affected by these contaminants. Using a sociological framework, this course will study the community and its relationship to environmental issues. Community members often first identify local hazards; they form organizations, map polluted sites, and enumerate residents with diseases that may originate from contaminants. Sociologists identify these grassroots initiatives as community epidemiology. Social justice concepts highlight the intersection of race, poverty, and environmental hazards. Major social institutions -corporations, government agencies, health care providers--have played a role in covering over occupational and environmental hazards. Worker and community action has forced these institutions to take a role in identification and remediation of hazardous sites, and of continuous monitoring of neighborhoods and residents. In terms of health effects, among citizens, experts, and major institutions, and debates about both the local and global consequences of environmental hazards, will be among the topics covered. The emergence of institutional structures at the local, state, national, and international levels, to deal with environmental protection, identification and testing of hazards, and establishing limits for exposure, will be examined. The course will include readings on significant contemporary and historical occupational and environmental events in the United States. In addition, selected comparative, international case studies of occupational and environmental issues will be undertaken.

ENVS 604. Advanced Biogeochemistry.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Prerequisites: A soils course would be helpful, but not required.
Vann.
The course will cover nature of the field and its application. Topics include: elemental cycling at various scales, from global to watershed level, the interaction between geology and biology in controlling elemental cycling, how these relationships have changed over the Earth's history and man's influence on these cycles.
The course will include an examination of the CENTURY computer model, a popular model for examining nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Students will submit a term paper on a related subject, such as comparing the functioning of two watersheds or summarizing current understanding of a particular cycle, etc.

ENVS 605. Assessment and Remediation of the Environment Using Biological Organisms.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Vann.
This course is an introduction to current and developing techniques for analyzing environmental contamination and remediation of damaged environments. Knowledge of these options will be important for both students interested in policy/law options, as well as providing a starting point for those pursuing a more science-oriented understanding of environmental issues. The first portion of the course will address bioindicators--the use of living systems to assess environmental contamination. Many new methods of rapidly-analyzing environmental samples are becoming available. These include systems ranging from biochemical assays to monitoring of whole organisms or ecosystems, as well as techniques ranging from laboratory to field and satellite surveys. The course will survey these approaches to familiarize the student with this rapidly developing field. The second portion of the course will introduce techniques for bioremediation--the use of living organisms to restore contaminated environments. Several case studies will be provided (perhaps with external speakers). Students will be expected to prepare a final paper examining a particular technique in detail.

ENVS 606. Nature, Culture and the American Experience: Writing the Stories.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences
Samuels.
Celebrated in story and song, paintings and photographs, and as the destination of cultural elites and individual journeys of discovery, the American landscape has yielded not only the raw materials of nation building but also unique monuments of cultural identity. Readings (and screenings) in American history, literature, folklore, art, ecology, legal opinions, and nature essays will be selected to provide students with rich and varied source materials to inform and shape their own writing around topics that explore our changing views of nature, wilderness, and the American landscape. Assignments will include autobiographical writing as well as general non-fiction. In addition to conferences and written comments from the instructor, students will serve as a community of readers for their peers' work.

ENVS 607. From Bartram to Janzen: Thinking about Nature in America.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current Timetable.
Bourque.
This seminar will explore the history of environmental thought in the United States from roughly the 18th century to the present. Topics include: the use and development of natural resources: the definition, planning, and management of public spaces such as national parks, game lands, and zoos; establishment of environmental standards; the emergence of conservation ecology; "green" politics; and ecofeminism. Students will be encouraged to examine the public discussion of these issues as well as the development of policy. Course requirements include several short papers (3-5 pages) and active participation in class discussion.

ENVS 608. Public Voices, Private Rights: Perspectives on American Environmentalism.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Minott.
This course will address various aspects of American environmentalism. We will look at structural issues such as the foundations of environmental protection in common law, the constitutional limits on environmental protection, and the creation of bureaucratic environmental policy making. We will also look at philosophical issues such as American Conservationism and Preservationism, the anti-environmental backlash, and environmental justice. Finally, we will discuss scientific and legal issues such as the economics of risk, the question of who can speak for Nature, and voluntary actions/command and control.

ENVS 609. Environmental Remediation Strategies: Diplomacy, Modesty, and Charm.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current Timetable.
Law/Potter.
This seminar will review the process of remediating hazardous-waste sites. Rather than focus on the statutes, regulations, guidelines, and policies, the class will explore the realities, inadequacies, and conflicts of the decision-making process as it operates today. The interplay of the various stakeholders is not straightforward - government agencies and their contractors have different objectives and requirements that are not always complimentary, or grounded with common sense. Responsible party groups can consist of one to hundreds of individual companies, government agencies, or even individuals - all of whom have the objective of minimizing their liability (financial responsibility). Identifying and developing a consensus solution that is acceptable to all stakeholders and at the same time provides the best possible cleanup takes the skills of a "Swiss Delegate".
Several guest speakers will discuss their experiences - they will provide the views of industry and government, as well as those of legal and environmental professionals. In addition, site visits are planned to three Superfund sites in the Philadelphia area. Course requirements include active participation, a class project, and a short presentation.

ENVS 610. Regional Field Ecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Willig.
Over the course of six Saturday field trips, we will travel from the barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean in southern New Jersey to the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania and visit representative sites of the diverse landscapes in the region along the way. At each site we will study and consider interactions between geology, topography, hydrology, soils, vegetation, wildlife, and disturbance. Students will summarize field trip data in a weekly site report. Evening class meetings will provide the opportunity to review field trips and reports and preview upcoming trips. Six all-day Saturday field trips are required.

ENVS 611. Seminar in Experimental Design.
Permission of Instructor.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems.
Vann.
Analysis of scientific research is critical to informed policy decisions and the resolution of legal and regulatory issues. This course is designed to introduce the non-scientist to scientific methods and thought and its limitations, and to introduce the basic concepts of experimental design and statistical analysis. The student will gain insight into understanding and evaluating scientific papers and research, as well as learning to apply these techniques to the student's own efforts, such as capstone research projects.

ENVS 612. Advanced Environmental Chemistry.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Nemeroff.
This course will examine the environmental contamination of water, air, and soil. Students will continue the evaluation of composition, structure and properties of pollutants, their means of detection and methods of purification and remediation. Successful completion of ENVS 502 or a thorough knowledge of general and organic chemistry is recommended.

ENVS 613. Water in Environmental Planning.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Curley.
This course will present a combination of technical and non-technical material. Its purpose is to introduce the people who are not engineers or scientists to the practices that engineers and scientists use to study water and watersheds. It will present the following concepts: Hydrology, Water Treatment, and Waste Water.

ENVS 617. Nature Writing: A Taxonomy.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: history, humanities, and social sciences
Samuels/Hoffman.
Ranging across time periods, subject matter and forms of expression, this course is designed to familiarize students with the broad spectrum of American thinking and writing about nature. Subjects will include seeing, exploration and discovery, speaking a word for nature, intervention and exploration, urban wilds, watery worlds, re-imagining the desert, the land ethic, solitude and rambles, finding home and natural history expressed in the form of essays, poetry, novels and short stories. Assignments will include autobiographical writing as well as general non-fiction. In addition to conferences and written comments from the instructors, students will serve as a community of readers for the work of their peers.

ENVS 620. Violence and the Environment.
IES keywords: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social sciences; management, planning, and policy
Minott.
Governments, corporations, environmental organizations, anti-environmental organizations, and individuals have resorted to violence as a means to achieving an environmental end. Although some defend such violence as the only way to achieve specific goals, do the ends ever really justify the means? Does violence have a place in the environmental movement? How should environmentalists respond to pro- or anti-environmental violence? This course will study instances of such violence and explore why violence has been seen as an acceptable or, sometimes, the only way to achieve a desirable end.

ENVS 621. Environmental Policy Making and Sensitive Populations.
IES keywords: environmental issues, science and health management, planning, and policy
Minott.
Everyone is exposed to environmental hazards, yet certain populations are at particular risk. This class will examine the special relationship that these groups have with the environment. The course will start with a review of emerging environmental health issues and then start focusing to specific sensitive groups such as children, people of color, low income, and people with preexisting health conditions. How do (or should) environmental policy makers address the threat to these population sub-groups. What policies have worked and which ones have failed.

ENVS 622. Crossing Borders: Policy, Regulatory and Management Issues in Transboundary Environmental Protection.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: planning, and policy
Feldman
Transboundary issues arise at the local, regional, supra-national, and global levels. Pollution does not respect political boundaries; habitats are defined by ecosystems, not by regulation. This course will introduce the difficulties posed by cross-border issues and, using case studies, explore a range of policy, regulatory and management mechanisms employed to address these challenges. Among the topics to be covered include: interstate compacts (e.g. Chesapeake Bay), NAFTA Commission on Environmental Cooperation (e.g. biodiversity in North America), Regional Cooperation (e.g. Baltic Sea, international watercourses), European Union regulation (e.g. Hazardous Waste directives and the Basel Convention), and international conventions (e.g. The Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions).

ENVS 623. Function and Management of Lakes, Rivers, and their Watersheds.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Johnson, Goulden, and Patrick.
This course will describe the importance of the watershed to riverine and lake ecosystems. We will show how, from using GIS, GPS, and biological data, one can monitor the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of lake and river ecosystems. Finally, we will describe the function of ecosystems operative in lakes and rivers.

ENVS 624. Overview of Environmental Justice: Issues, Actions and Visions for the Future.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated, management, planning, and policy
Harris and Thompson
Many people refer to the Environmental Justice Movement as the most significant social rights movement to occur in this country since the Civil Rights Movement Communities around the United States have expressed concerns related to the siteing, permitting and clean up of hazardous waste sites in minority and low-income areas. Beginning with the protests in Warren County, North Carolina, Environmental Justice has become a most critical and controversial issue in this country. This course will provide an overview of the history, guiding principles, and issues of concern regarding Environmental Justice and will examine the approaches taken by communities, EPA, state and local government over the years to address these concerns. Students will be expected to evaluate and assess the various issues and case studies presented to them in a critical fashion, and to discuss these case studies, and make recommendations for appropriate action.

ENVS 625. Environmental Law.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Howland.

ENVS 626. Business and the Natural Environment.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated, management, planning, and policy
Heller.
This course explores dramatic changes taking place at the interface of business, society, and the natural environment. Previously, business and environmental interests were believed to be adversarial. Now, some contemporary thinkers are suggesting that environmental capabilities can be a source of competitive advantage for corporations. A recent Harvard Business Review article refers to the sum of these changes as "The Next Industrial Revolution." In this course we will study examples on the cutting edge of these developments. We will look at corporations that are creating a "double bottom line" by strategizing about the ecological impact of their decisions, as well as the economic impact. We will learn about industrial designers who are rethinking everything from tennis shoes to corporate headquarters' buildings with the environment in mind. We will consider new alliances among business, environmental activists and government regulators -- all stakeholders in a sustainable society.

ENVS 627. The Delaware River: An Environmental Case Study.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Laskowski and Collier.
The Delaware River and Estuary offer an opportunity to examine efforts to protect the environment in a multi-state, economically and ecologically complex area. This case study will review environmental protection efforts in and around the River, the stressors on the environment, and attempts to balance environmental protection with economic, employment, and other needs. It will address scientific issues , relationships between air /water quality, transportation and sprawl issues, the balancing of water quality and water quantity. Students will learn about the institutions responsible for managing this complex system, and what goals and indicators of progress are used by these organizations. Students will be asked to research in detail one or more aspects of the environmental management systems, identify the key drivers in determining environmental quality, recommend improvements to the system, and propose a vision for the future.

ENVS 628. Global Environmental Politics
IES Keywords: environmental issues, management, planning, and policy
Hunold
Nation-states and multinational corporations are the most powerful actors in the global political economy. What does this mean for efforts to protect the global environment? Do environmental activists stand a chance? Drawing on insights from green political theory, international relations, and political economy, the field of global environmental politics may have the answer. Following a survey of relevant state and non-state actors in global environmental politics and a review of major international environmental agreements, we will examine diverse theories of global environmental politics. Regime theory, global governance, green critiques of globalization, green theories of state sovereignty, and social movement theory offer competing accounts of the role of state, society, and economy in creating and managing global environmental change. Our goal will be to assess these competing explanations and strategies for promoting global ecological sustainability.

ENVS 629. Conservation and Land Management.
Some Saturday field trips will be required.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated, management, planning, and policy
Heckscher.
This course will consist of weekly seminars, along with a practicum. The seminars will be devoted to some central issues in conservation science, such as preservation of biodiversity, populations and ecosystems, design of preserves, fire ecology, and adaptive management. Each student will be expected to undertake a practicum, working with a conservation professional on an issue related to protection or management of one or more natural areas.

ENVS 630. Overview of Current Environmental Protection: Management Practices and Future Directions.
IES keywords: environmental focus; management, planning, and policy
Laskowski.
Environmental Protection Management (EPM) is a complicated endeavor, involving science, law, economics, information management, engineering, and other disciplines. A variety of approaches have been used in administering the dozens of federal, state, and local environmental laws. Some of these approaches are regulatory in nature; some are non-regulatory. Some have limited involvement of the various stakeholders; some are driven almost entirely by the public and related interest groups.

ENVS 631. Major Global Environmental Problems of Today and how we must deal with them tomorrow.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Laskowski
Global environmental problems of today are some of the greatest challenges of the new millennium. Almost everyone is in some way part of the problem and increasingly will be asked to be a part of the solution. The problems that we face today often differ from those of the past because it is sometimes difficult for the international community to agree on the extent, causes, and impacts of the problem and how to allocate responsibility for the resolution of the problem. Governments, businesses and NGOs around the world have recognized the need to take the initiative and address these issues through regulation, voluntary approaches, and cooperation on an international level. How best to manage these problems is the constant challenge. This course will provide an overview of several of the major global environmental problems facing the world today, and how they are connected by common causes, underlying themes and concepts critical to the understanding and management of these issues. It will examine the over-arching concepts of sustainability and globalization as well as frameworks for assessing and managing the issues. The course will also consider the role of the major players/stakeholders in the situation, including governments, non-government organizations, and private sector individuals/participants, and where appropriate, touch on such issues as intergenerational aspects and the potential long-term irreversibility. With the assistance of regional and national experts, we will address specific problems, such as: human populations and their environmental impact; issues surrounding resources such as food, water, habitats, and energy; global climate change; the ozone layer; and problems of international/environmental terrorism, catastrophes, and disease. Each student will prepare a report and presentation on some aspect of a topic discussed during the term.

ENVS 632. Professional Case Studies in Environmental Analysis and Management.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Laskowski
This course is designed for students nearing the end of their MES program. It will provide students with hands-on experience working with local environmental professionals on projects in the Delaware Valley region. Each student will select a project made available by a local public or private agency. Among the tasks that students will perform are data collection and analysis, project planning, and documentation. Each student will prepare a detailed report under the direction of the agency representative that can be the basis for a Capstone project. Those interested in continuing on to the Capstone phase will use the report as the basis for a publishable document to be prepared in conjunction with the participating agency.

ENVS 634. Green Design and the City.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems
Berman
Can our cities become examples of sustainable design? Does inner city revitalization tie into sustainability? Are there successful examples to learn from? This seminar will focus on how existing cities attempt to integrate green design principles within them. It will look at case studies, both in the US and abroad. Urban design and transportation will be examined within this context, including how to create pedestrian friendly spaces. Infill construction and the adaptive use of existing buildings will be discussed, as well as the reuse of Brownfield sites. We will also look at what types of construction actually constitute green buildings. We will take advantage of our local resources within Philadelphia, and include visits to nearby sites, along with talks by local experts. There will be a series of short projects given throughout the term. They will usually include both a written component and a presentation to the class. The energetic execution of these projects, their presentations and the subsequent discussions, will be a key part of this seminar.

ENVS 640. Digital Mapping.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Smith / Giegengack.
Global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) have greatly changed the way cartographic data is collected and analyzed. This course will discuss design strategies for mapping projects involving GPS, differential GPS, and GIS, and provide a hands-on introduction to the use of these technologies. The principal emphasis of the course will be on learning to choose appropriate and efficient data acquisition techniques and to develop data collection protocols suited to the aims of any given project. Though the mechanics of importing digital data into GIS will be discussed, and the analytical capabilities of GIS will be an important factor in project design, actual data analysis through GIS will not be taught.

ENVS 641. Cartographic Modeling.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Tomlin.
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
This course explores the nature and use of digital geographic information systems (GIS) for the analysis and synthesis of spatial patterns and processes through 'cartographic modeling'. Cartographic modeling is a general but well defined methodology that can be used to address a wide variety of analytical mapping applications in a clear and consistent manner. It does so by decomposing both data and data-processing tasks into elemental components that can then be recomposed with relative ease and with great flexibility.

ENVS 642. Ecophysiology of plants.
Prerequisite(s): Introductory biology, plant ecology or permission of instructor.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Vann
The course will examine how environmental factors have shaped the nature and evolution of physiological processes in plants, as well as discussing how anthropogenic alteration of the environment may influence plant responses in the future. Using field and lab studies, students will be introduced to techniques and instrumentation used in the discipline, such as gas exchange analysis and stable isotope techniques.

ENVS 645. A Primer on Stream and River Ecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Blain
This class explores streams and rivers from the perspectives of both the natural and social sciences. Students will get a solid grounding in the hydrology, geology, physics, chemistry, and biology of streams and rivers, and they will learn how all these fit together in a watersheds ecosystem. They will also examine the impacts that human development has had on such ecosystems over time -- how rivers have become polluted, what mechanisms they have to fight pollution, and what we need to do to protect, maintain and restore them now and in the future. In addition to considering such questions within a theoretical framework, the class will look at issues in the real world. Students will set up an actual monitoring system, in which they will process samples taken from above and below a sewage treatment plant in a local stream, and then analyze and interpret the sample data. They will also learn about ongoing research projects in the watersheds that supply New York City its drinking water and in the streams and rivers of developing nations. In both cases, they will not only the science but also the politics of streams, rivers, and the water that they convey.

ENVS 663. (ENVS463, URBS463, URBS663) Brownfield Remediation.
IES keywords: environmental focus; urban; management, planning, and policy
Offered through CGS - See current timetable.
Keene.
Advanced version of ENVS 463. The students will collaborate with high school students at the West Philadelphia High School to identify sites in their neighborhoods and to learn how to determine the sites ownership and land use history. The students will study ways of determining environmental risk and the various options that are available for remediation in light of community ideas about re-use. Students will be expected to participate actively in the seminar and the sessions with high school students. Students in the course are required to prepare and present a term paper on a topic in the general area of "Brownfield" analysis and remediation.

Back to Top

ECONOMICS (ECON)

ECON 020. Economic History and Development.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Distribution I: May be counted as a Distributional course in Society.
Prerequisite(s): ECON 001 and 002.
Heston.
A survey of the economies of the Third World, and an evaluation of their policies and prospects for economic growth in light of experience since 1800 in the presently industrialized countries and in the light of various theories of growth. Reform movements, structure of adjustment policies, and environmental issues will also be emphasized.

ECON 130. Economic Policy Analysis.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; management, planning, and policy; business and economics
Distribution I: May be counted as a Distributional course in Society.
Prerequisite(s): ECON 003.
Staff.
This course has three parts. The first looks at market and government failures and discusses the need for public policies as well as limits to their effectiveness. The second part is a detailed study of cost-benefit analysis. The last part is a partial survey of topics in public policy such as regulation of public utilities, environmental policy and anti-discrimination policy.

ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE (EAS)

EAS 300. Maritime Science and Technology: The Sea Semester.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Prerequisite(s): Laboratory course in physical or biological science or its equivalent; college algebra or its equivalent. 4 c.u.
A focused academic and practical experience offered by Sea Education Association, Inc. for university students interested in understanding the sea and maritime matters. The Sea Semester is composed of two intensive six-week components taken off campus. The Shore Component-six weeks at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with formal study in: Introduction to Oceanography. A survey of the characteristics and processes of the global ocean. Oceanographic concepts are introduced and developed from their bases in biology, physics, chemistry, and geology. Courses: introduction to maritime studies, introduction to nautical science, oceanographic laboratory I & II.

ENGLISH (ENGL)

ENGL 584. Environmental Imaginaries.
IES: environmental focus; history, humanities, and social science
Hufford.
Behind struggles over resource use and patterns of development are collective fictions that relate people to their material surroundings. "Environmental Imaginaries" refers to the contending discourses that arrange society around processes of development and change. What are the Cartesian fictions that enable the chronic separation of culture from environment? How are these fictions produced, enacted, and materialized in such diverse sites as Appalachian strip mines and Sea World, nature talks and permit hearings? How might alternative ways of knowing and being be conjured through naming practices, narratives, and other speech genres, as well as yardscapes, protest rallies and other forms of public display? Drawing on theories of worldmaking and ethnographic works on culture and environment, this seminar will examine the production of Cartesian-based environmental imaginaries and their alternatives across a range of such genres and practices.

Back to Top

GEOLOGY (GEOL)

GEOL 001. Our Planet Earth.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World.
Bordeaux or Fonjweng. Only offered through CGS and Summer Sessions.
An introduction to geology for non-science majors and those who are particularly curious about the nature of our planet and the scientific controversies about its past and its future.

GEOL 003. (PHYS003) Evolution of the Physical World.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World.
Pfefferkorn/Segre.
The big bang, origin of elements, stars, Earth, continents and mountains.

GEOL 100. Introduction to Geology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World. Field trips required.
Phipps.
An introduction to processes and forces that form the surface and the interior of the Earth. Changes in climate and the history of life. Earth resources and their uses.

GEOL 103. (COLL 003) Natural Disturbances and Human Disasters.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Scatena.
Natural disturbances play a fundamental role in sculpturing landscapes and structuring natural and human-based ecosystems. This course explores the natural and social science of disturbances by analyzing their geologic causes, their ecological and social consequences, and the role of human behavior in disaster reduction and mitigation. Volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, fires, and extraterrestrial impacts are analyzed and compared.

GEOL 109. Geology for Engineers and Architects.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health; engineering, design, and systems
Open to architectural and engineering majors; others admitted only by permission of instructor. Field trips.
Phipps.
Relations of rocks, rock structures, soils, ground water, and geologic agents to architectural, engineering, and land-use problems.

GEOL 111. Geology Laboratory.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 001 or 100, preferably taken concurrently. Field trips required.
Phipps.
Hands-on study of earth materials and processes. Identification and interpretation of rocks, minerals and fossils. Topographic and geologic maps. Evolution of landscapes. Field trips lead to a synthesis of the geologic history of southeastern Pennsylvania.

GEOL 125. Earth and Life through Time.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World.
Pfefferkorn or Bordeaux.
Origin of Earth, continents, and life. Continental movements, changing climates, and evolving life.

GEOL 130. Oceanography
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Gen Req VI: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Physical World.
Grottoli or Pfefferkorn.
The oceans cover over 2/3 of the Earth's surface. This course introduces basic oceanographic concepts such as plate tectonics, marine sediments, physical and chemical properties of seawater, ocean circulation, air-sea interactions, waves, tides, nutrient cycles in the ocean, biology of the oceans, and environmental issues related to the marine environment.

GEOL 201. (GEOL521, GEOL531) Mineralogy.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 and CHEM 001 or 101.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.
Crystallography, representative minerals, their chemical and physical properties. Use of petrographic microscope in identifying common rock-forming minerals in thin section.

GEOL 204. Mineral Economics.
Gen Req VII: May be counted towards the General Requirement in Science Studies.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 001 or GEOL 100 or permission of instructor.
Staff.
Types and significance of major ores, industrial minerals, and fuels. Methods and costs of exploration, evaluation, mining and processing. Environmental problems.

GEOL 205. (GEOL406) Paleontology. Bordeaux.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or permission of instructor. Two field trips required.
IES Keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Geologic history of invertebrates and their inferred life habits, paleoecology, evolution. Introduction to paleobotany and vertebrate paleontology.

GEOL 206. (GEOL506) Stratigraphy.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or permission of instructor. Two field trips, field project.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Horton.
Introductory sedimentary concepts, stratigraphic principles, depositional environments, and interpretation of the rock record in a paleoecological setting.

GEOL 208. (GEOL630) Structural Geology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 and 111; PHYS 150 strongly recommended. Three field trips required.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Phipps.
Introduction to deformation as a fundamental geologic process. Stress and strain; rock mechanics. Definition, measurement, geometrical and statistical analysis, and interpretation of structural features. Structural problems in the field. Maps, cross-sections, and three-dimensional visualization; regional structural geology.

GEOL 317. Petrology and Petrography.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 201. Two field trips.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.
Occurrences and origins of igneous and metamorphic rocks; phase equilibria in heterogeneous systems. Laboratory study of rocks and thin sections as a tool in interpretation of petrogenesis.

GEOL 390. Geology Field Work
4-8 weeks, usually during the summer.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Giegengack.

GEOL 401. Environmental Geology.
IES keywords: environmental focus; watersheds; science and health
Willig.
The purpose of this course is to better understand the interactions of humans and the environment through an examination of geologic processes and features as they influence and are influenced by human activities. The ultimate goal of such study is to make better land use decisions. Following a review of some basic geologic concepts, we will study hazardous geologic processes including volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, river flooding, coastal flooding and erosion, landslides, and subsidence. Next we will discuss environmental impacts associated with the use of fossil fuels, water, and soils. The course will conclude with student presentations of selected topics in environmental geology.

GEOL 404. International Mineral Resources.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health; management, planning, and policy
Staff.
The origin, nature and international importance of mineral deposits. A multidisciplinary approach to consider the role of non-renewable resources in developing countries and in technically advanced nations.

GEOL 405. Paleoecology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 205 or permission of instructor.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Bordeaux
Relationship of fossil assemblages to life assemblages; structure of ancient communities, and interaction of organisms with each other and with the physical environment; evolution of communities.

GEOL 415. Paleobotany.
Prerequisite(s): Basic course in Geology or Biology or permission of instructor. Two field trips.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Pfefferkorn
Fossil record and evolution of plants. Methods and application of paleobotanical research.

GEOL 417. Advanced Petrology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 317.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar
Chemistry, physics, phase equilibria, microscope study in igneous and metamorphic petrology.

GEOL 418. Geochemistry.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Omar.
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to theory and applications of chemistry in the earth and environmental sciences. Theory covered will include nucleosynthesis, atomic structure, acid-base equilibrium, thermodynamics, oxidation-reduction reactions. Applications will emphasize oceanography, atmospheric sciences and environmental chemistry, as well as other topics depending on the interests of the class. Although we will review the basics, this course is intended to supplement, rather than to replace, courses offered in the department of Chemistry. It is appropriate for advanced undergraduate as well as graduate students in Geology, Environmental Science, Chemistry and other sciences, who wish to have a better understanding of these important chemical processes.

420. Introduction to Geophysics.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or 109, two semesters Math and Physics, and/or instructor's permission.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Doheny
Concepts of geophysical modeling, inverse problem solving, numerical methods, and computer methods as applied to geophysics. Radioactivity, heat transport in the Earth, and magnetic fields, rock magnetism, and seismology.

GEOL 428. Introduction to Isotope Geochemistry.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated; science and health
Omar.
This course is for advanced undergraduate students interested in learning about or pursuing applications of isotope geochemistry, with an emphasis on biological and climatic processes (e.g. plant physiology, soils, nutrient cycling, atmospheric chemistry).

GEOL 501. Pleistocene Geology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or equivalent.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Giegengack
Origin, extent in space and time, and effect on geologic processes of Late Cenozoic climatic change; Pleistocene stratigraphy in different parts of the world.

GEOL 502. Data Analysis and Computer Modeling in Geology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or 109 and the instructor's permission.
IES keywords: environmental issues incorporated: engineering, design, and systems:
Phipps
Data analysis from simple parametric statistics to multivariate statistics, including cluster and factor analysis. Additional topics include: Bootstrapping, Markov chains, runs tests, spectral analysis, and other general techniques to analyze data sequences and time-series. Map studies include: analysis of distributions of points and lines, directional data, spherical distributions, shape and trends surfaces.

GEOL 511. Geology of Soils.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 or equivalent. Field trips.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Johnson
Nature, properties, genesis, and classification of soils; soils of the United States.

GEOL 515. Evolution/Revolution of Land Ecosystems.
IES keywords: environmental focus; science and health
Permission of instructor needed.
Dimichele/Wing.
Origin and diversification of land ecosystems. Interaction between plants and animals. Effects of past climatic change and other external factors. The importance of past changes in land ecosystems to our understanding of current global change.

GEOL 517. Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.

GEOL 520. Nuclear Geology.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100, and permission of instructor.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.
Natural radioactivity, Earth's heat, nuclear age determination, geochemistry of stable isotopes, and geological applications of nuclear technology.

GEOL 521. (GEOL201, GEOL531) Mineralogy of Rock Preservation.
Graduate School of Fine Arts students only.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.
Advanced crystallography, representative minerals, their chemical and physical properties, with emphasis on building stone preservation. Use of petrographic microscope in identifying common rock-forming minerals in thin section.

GEOL 525. Plant Paleoecology.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Pfefferkorn.
Deciphering the ecology of fossil plants, ecosystems, and landscapes through quantitative and qualitative methods.

GEOL 528. Aqueous Geochemistry.
Prerequisite(s): GEOL 100 and 511 and permission of instructor.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Johnson.
Chemical composition and interactions of soils and soil water with applications to current problems.

GEOL 530. Hydrogeology.
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Mastropaolo.
Flow of water (and associated contaminants) in natural porous media.

GEOL 531. (GEOL 201, GEOL 521) Advanced Mineralogy. (B)
IES keywords: environmental focus: course deals primarily with environmental issues
Omar.
Advanced crystallography, representative minerals, their chemical and physical properties. Use of petrographic microscope in identifying common rock-forming minerals in thin section.