ENVS Environmental Science
ENVS 2202 Environmental Science
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course is an interdisciplinary course integrating principles from biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, and non-science disciplines as related to the interactions of humans and their environment. Issues of local, regional, and global concern will be used to help students explain scientific concepts and analyze practical solutions to complex environmental problems. Emphasis is placed on the study of ecosystems, human population growth, energy, pollution, and other environmental issues and important environmental regulations.
ENVS 7110 Integrative Environmental Science
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course will explore the complex interdisciplinary nature of environmental science. Students will investigate how interdisciplinary approaches incorporating the scientific disciplines, mathematics, policy, and management can be combined to address real-world environmental issues. The course will often be team taught by 3 faculty and will contain a mix of lecture and project based learning. All students will gain scientific writing experience by developing a research proposal.
ENVS 7120 Genes Organisms and Ecosystems
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course covers major principles of evolution and ecology, and application of these principles to the management of species and ecosystems. Topics include the origin and maintenance of genetic variation, evolutionary change of populations over time, the role of speciation and extinction in regulating biodiversity, and ecological interactions between organisms and their abiotic and biotic environments, at the scales of individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems. These principles will be applied to conservation issues arising from global environmental change, and addressing these issues through sustainable management of species and ecosystems.
ENVS 7130 Biogeochemical Cycles
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course examines biogeochemical cycles (C, N, P, S, and metals), the environments in which these processes occur (hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere), the chemical reactions that take place during these cycles, and the microorganisms that influence them. Additionally, a major theme is the effect of human activities on biogeochemical cycles.
ENVS 7140 Applied Statistics
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course provides an overview of statistical analyses and methods used in studies related to the biological and environmental sciences. The general emphasis of this course includes organizing and summarizing data, drawing inferences from population samples via estimation and significance tests, linear and generalized regression, random-effects models, time-series, and spatio-temporal analysis.
ENVS 7150 Geospatial Data
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course is designed to introduce methods of geospatial data acquisition, processing, mapping and analysis (from the field and from online geodatabases) in the environmental sciences.
ENVS 7160 Computational Sciences
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
An introduction to the application of mathematics to various biologically and environmentally related problems, which can be analyzed both analytically and numerically. Computational approaches for model analysis are introduced and include numerical solutions of linear and nonlinear models, numerical differentiation and integration, data fitting, and other numerical methods.
ENVS 7170 Applied Environmental Chemistry
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
This course covers a variety of chemical fields as they apply to the five essential human needs: water, food, health, waste management, and energy. Various materials, including metals, inorganic and organic compounds, polymers, and proteins, as well as their applications, will be introduced. Basic research and cutting-edge technologies will be discussed.
Prerequisite(s): Admission to the Environmental Science graduate programs.
ENVS 7180 Environmental Modeling
3 Credit Hours. 3 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
An introduction to the study of environmental phenomena that exhibit complexity emergent from a wide variety of parameters. An interdisciplinary course that employs the study of a variety of physical, biological, and chemical problems. Students learn how to construct and analyze minimal mathematical, physical, and computational models that provide informative answers to precise questions about: population dynamics; species interactions (e.g., competition, predation, parasitism); reaction kinetics; sedimentation; biological oscillators; coupled reaction networks; molecular motors; limit cycles; reaction diffusion; nitrogen fluxes in low-relief watersheds; recovery from acid deposition in mountain streams; bacterial patterns; nitrogen budgets on permaculture farms; and the sustainability of human activity on the Earth.
Prerequisite(s): Admission to the Environmental Science graduate programs.
ENVS 7610 Graduate Seminar
1 Credit Hour. 1 Lecture Hour. 0 Lab Hours.
An intensive study of an advanced topic in environmental science and/or sustainability covered by one or more members of the graduate faculty in the College of Science and Mathematics. The selected topic will vary from semester to semester.
ENVS 7730 Internship
1-6 Credit Hours. 0 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
Students will apply their skills and knowledge to a current problem in a professional setting, either on campus or at the site of a participating sponsor. Students must maintain contact with the Internship Director through the course of the internship work, and must submit a written report and a work product at the end of the project.
ENVS 7830 Non-Thesis Capstone
3 Credit Hours. 0 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
Students will define, devise, and implement a Master’s Capstone project, which includes writing, and presenting the project.
ENVS 7900 Research
1-3 Credit Hours. 0 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
Doctoral students will pursue, under the direction of their advisory committee, a program of independent research in a particular area of environmental science. Results of the research will be presented as a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. in Environmental Science degree.
ENVS 9999 Dissertation
1-6 Credit Hours. 0 Lecture Hours. 0 Lab Hours.
Students are provided support and direction in completing the doctoral dissertation. The course provides guidance from both the dissertation supervising chair and the dissertation committee. Students will complete a quantitative project and must follow the scientific standards and best practices associated with question development, writing, statistical analysis, and interpretation of data.