(S non-lab) GEP

Th 4:30PM - 7:00PM

Engineering Building Rm. 104

Dr. Ana Prados

This course will utilize NASA Satellite Imagery, newly created visualizations, and analysis and decision-support web-tools to provide a First Year Seminar (FYS). The course will provide students with an opportunity for early exposure to the Earth Sciences by learning how earth satellite monitoring is currently utilized in environmental and societal applications. The course structure will be a combination of in-class lectures, directed web-based hands-on activities, and student presentations, and will be taught at a computer lab on campus. In-class time will be divided evenly between lectures and hands-on computer exercises.

The course curriculum will primarily rely on NASA imagery and tools to teach 1) basic earth system science principles, climate variability and atmospheric chemistry and 2) Environmental and societal implications of climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and air pollution. Students will form 2-person teams to produce a total of 10 Student presentations to be provided throughout the semester. Students will choose (and/or will be assigned) one of the lecture topics and then utilize the concepts and tools learned in the course to deliver a Case Study at the local or regional level in the U.S or internationally. A Case Study uses imagery and analysis tools to explain current or past environmental conditions and provides a discussion of at least one environmental (e.g. crop damage, acid rain, biodiversity loss) and one societal (e.g. health, economics, flood damage, etc) aspect.