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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
English honors thesis. Required of all senior English majors pursuing departmental honors.
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3.00 Credits
This course introduces environmental studies as an interdisciplinary field of learning. It will provide a survey of a broad range of environmental problems, cases, and questions, from climate change to sustainable agriculture, from toxic waste to species extinction. We will also examine the intellectual traditions, authors, and historical developments that have most profoundly shaped our understanding of these issues. Keeping a constant eye on the complexities of life in the twenty-first century, we will explore the many different theories and methods that inform environmental scholarship, activism, and policy-making in a variety of cultural arenas and across geographical scales. Along the way, we will read works by philosophers, economists, journalists, historians, sociologists, and many others.
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3.00 Credits
The field of environmental science considers physical, chemical, and biological interactions in an integrated approach to complex environmental systems. This course introduces students to multidisciplinary scientific methods used to assess and interpret human impacts on the environment through hands-on study of several local sites. Examples of topics covered are: anthropogenic carbon dioxide, acid rain, toxic metals, water quality, and waste treatment. Discussions of case studies from other parts of the world illustrate the global analogues of these local studies. Following these group projects, students design and complete independent projects in subjects of particular interest to them.
Prerequisite:
This course is an introductory science seminar, designed for students who have a strong interest in Environmental Science
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3.00 Credits
The destruction caused by recent hurricanes such as Katrina, devastation of prolonged drought in the African Sahel, catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Indonesia and sea level encroachment on the Alaska coast are visible examples of natural disasters that may be modulated by climate change. Reports from the World Bank conclude that global climate change, together with environmental degradation and urbanization, has the potential to increase the severity and impact of natural disasters. In this course we globally examine geological and climatological processes that "set up" natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, landslides, droughts, extreme temperatures, and coastal surges, as well as the processes that condition availability of water resources. We study in detail the causes and anticipated consequences of human alteration of climate and its impact on the spectrum of natural hazards and resources. During laboratory sessions we use local field sites and computer models to analyze recent disasters/hazards and options for mitigating future impacts and study trends in weather and climate.
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3.00 Credits
The oceans cover about 72% of Earth's surface, yet we know the surface of Venus better than our own ocean floors. Why is that? This integrated introduction to the oceans cover formation and history of the ocean basins; the composition and origin of seawater; currents, tides, and waves; ocean-atmosphere interactions; oceans and climate; deep-marine environments; coastal processes; productivity in the oceans; and marine resources. Coastal oceanography will be investigated on an all-day field trip, hosted by the Williams-Mystic program in Connecticut.
Prerequisite:
Students who have taken Geosciences 210/MAST 211 at Williams-Mystic may not take Geosciences 104 for credit
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3.00 Credits
Our planet is about 4.6 billion years old, and has supported life for at least the last 3.5 billion of those years. This course will consider the inter-related nature of Earth and the life that inhabits it, starting with the first living organisms and progressing to the interaction of our own species with the Earth today. Students will investigate the dynamic nature of the Earth-life system, examine many of its feedbacks, and learn about the dramatic changes that have occurred throughout the history of the Earth. We will ask questions such as: How did the Earth facilitate biologic evolution, and what effects did those biologic events have on the physical Earth? When did photosynthesis evolve, how can we detect that in the rock record, and how did this biological event lead to profound changes in the environment? How and why did animals evolve and what role did environmental change play in the radiation of animal life? How did the rise and radiation of land plants affect world climate? How do plate tectonics, glaciation, and volcanism influence biodiversity and evolutionary innovation? What caused mass extinctions in the past and what can that teach us about our current extinction crisis? Labs will involve hands-on analysis of rocks, fossils, and real-world data as well as conceptual and analytical exercises; field trips will contextualize major events in Earth history and will help students learn to read the rock record. Through these investigations, the class will provide a comprehensive overview of Earth history, with special attention paid to the geological and paleontological history of the northeastern United States.
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3.00 Credits
Energy use has skyrocketed in the United States and elsewhere in the world, causing significant economic and political shifts, as well as concerns for the environment. This course will address the physics and technology of energy generation, consumption, and conservation. It will cover a wide range of energy sources, including fossil fuels, hydropower, solar energy, wind energy, and nuclear energy. We will discuss energy use in transportation, manufacturing, building heating, and building lighting. Students will learn to compare the efficiencies and environmental impacts of various energy sources and uses.
Prerequisite:
High school physics, high school chemistry, and mathematics at the level of MATH 103
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3.00 Credits
Intended for the non-scientist, this course explores the biological dimensions of social issues in tropical societies, and focuses on specifically on the peoples and cultures of tropical regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceanea, and the Caribbean. Tropical issues have become prominent on a global scale, and many social issues in the tropics are inextricably bound to human ecology, evolution, and physiology. The course begins with a survey of the tropical environment of humans, including major climatic and habitat features. The next section focuses on human population biology, and emphasizes demography and the role of disease particularly malaria and AIDS. The final part of the course covers the place of human societies in local and global ecosystems including the challenges of tropical food production, the importance of organic diversity, and the interaction of humans with their supporting ecological environment. This course fulfills the EDI requirement. Through lectures, debates and readings, students confront social issues in the tropics from the perspective of biologist. This builds a framework for lifelong exploration of human diversity.
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3.00 Credits
This course combines lectures with field and indoor laboratory exercises to explore factors that determine the distribution and abundance of plants and animals in natural systems. The course begins with an overall view of global patterns and then builds from the population to the ecosystem level. An emphasis is given to basic ecological principles and relates them to current environmental issues. Selected topics include population dynamics (competition, predation, mutualism); community interactions (succession, food chains and diversity) and ecosystem function (biogeochemical cycles, energy flow).
Prerequisite:
Biology 101 and 102, or Environmental Studies 101 or 102, or permission of instructor
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3.00 Credits
This course is designed for geosciences majors and for environmental studies students interested in surficial geologic processes and their importance in shaping the physical environment. Geomorphology analyzes the nature and rates of constructional, weathering, and erosional processes and the influence of climatic, tectonic, and volcanic forces on landform evolution. Labs focus on field measurements of hydrologic and geomorphic processes in the Williamstown area as well as on the analysis of topographic maps and stereo air photos.
Prerequisite:
Any 100-level Geosciences course or consent of the instructor
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