Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: THE SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT: THE LITERATURE OF PLACE

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course is intended as an introduction to environmental studies and will have a humanistic focus this semester on "The Literature of Place," primarily nonfiction prose and personal essays which describe the writer's connection with a particular place and the accompanying interaction of humans and the natural environment in that place and more generally. Cross-list: UNIV 111.

Long Title: EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Description: History of the Earth. Earth's systems over the past 4.6 billion years. Topics include evolution of life, continents continents, ocean basins and climate. Cross-list: ESCI 102.

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS SEMINAR

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Seminar topics may vary. Cross-list: ESCI 113.

Long Title: NATURAL DISASTER SEMINAR

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Hurricanes have devastated the United States over the last two hurricane seasons. We will investigate the science behind hurricanes and the impacts of hurricanes on humans. We will learn what controls hurricanes and uncertainty in prediction. We also will look at historical and modern human reactions and responses to major events. Cross-list: ESCI 114.

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Long Title: Engineering Solutions for Sustainable Communities

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Students will work in teams to develop sustainable solutions for energy or environmental problems affecting our Houston and Rice communities. Emphasis will be placed on the integrationof engineering fundamentals with societal issues, environmental and safety consdierations, sustainability and professional communications. Pre-requisities: introductory engineering courses, or permission of instructor. Crosslisted wth CHBE 281. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: INTRODUCTION TO THE ENVIRONMENT: ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course is intended as an introduction to environmental studies from all divisions of the campus. The course focuses on attitudes and values relating to the environment as represented in environmental history and environmental literature.

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: RICE INTO THE FUTURE

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course addresses science, technology, and policy elements of environmental issues. Students use the campus and local community as a laboratory in which to do projects to reduce environmental impacts, enhance sustainability, or resolve environmental problems.

Long Title: ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course explores the physical principles of energy use and its impacts on Earth's environment and climate. Topics will include energy mechanics, climate change, and the environmental impacts and future prospects of various fossil fuel and alternative energy sources.

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL BATTLES IN THE 21ST CENTURY: HOUSTON AS MICROCOSM

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course will examine Houston (and neighboring areas) as a vivid case study in a broad array of environmental issues that engage policymakers, business leaders, scientists and other researchers, environmentalists, and citizens, not just in Houston but also across the United States and in other nations. There will be a particularly strong focus on air pollution, given Houston's well-known air quality problems and the especially complicated challenges they present. As with other topics covered in the course, air quality will be addressed in a multi-faceted manner, with discussion of its scientific, political, economic, sociological and historical dimensions.

Long Title: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisite(s): BIOS 201 AND BIOS 202

Description: An overview of environmentall health issues including discussion of basic research methods; illnesses caused or exacerbated by environmental exposures; environmental justice; and the role of research in driving effective policies to protect public health. The course includes numerous guest lectures by area researchers, clinicians, and policy makers; a bus tour featuring disproportionately affected neighborhoods, air pollution monitoring stations and "green" initiatives; student presentations on issues of special interest; and critical reading of seminal environmental health studies. Cross-listed with SOSC 314.

Long Title: CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The course is designed to give studetns a broad overview of conservation biology. Lecture and discussions will focus on conservation issues such as biodiversity, extinction, management, sustained yield, invasive species and perserve design. Cross-linked with BIOS 323. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group III

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course introduces students to the coupled nature of the biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere using as focal points elemental cycles such as those of carbon and nitrogen. Cross-list: BIOS 340, ESCI 340.

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1 TO 6

Description: Provides enrollment credit for approved internships with environmental organizations or agencies. Students must seek approval prior to beginning the internship. Weekly progress reports and a final paper are required. Instructor Permission Required.

Long Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 3 TO 9

Long Title: Introduction to Environmental Law

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Legal techniques by societies to plan and regulate the use of environmental resources. Crosslisted with CEVE 406.

Long Title: ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: This course covers the organic geochemistry of the natural environment. Topics include: production, transport, decomposition, and storage of organic matter in the marine and terrestrial environments, use of isotopes to track biogeochemical processes and natural and perturbed carbon cycle issues, including past and recent climate shifts. Cross-list: CHEM 425, ESCI 425.

Long Title: Energy Economics

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Discussion of key aspects in the supply and demand of energy. Topics include optimal extraction of depletable resouces, transportation, storage, end-use and efficiency, and the relationship between economic activity, energy, and the environment. Crosslisted with ECON 437.

Long Title: Environmental and Energy Economics

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: The economic theories of externalities and common property resources are used to analyze environmental problems. Regulation, taxes and subsidies, transferable pollution rights and legal solutions to environmental problems are evaluated. Environmental and other aspects of alternative energy sources are considered and the pricing of depletable energy resouces is analyzed. Crosslisted with ECON 480.

Department: Environmental Studies

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 1 TO 12

Description: Open to environmental science or engineering majors with permission of instructor. Written report required. Crosslisted with CEVE 490. Instructor Permission Required.