Course Catalog

Covers topics of basic observational astronomy and introduces topics of modern astrophysics. Topics include earth-based astronomy, the telescope, the solar system, and planetary motion. Studies the properties of the atom and of light and discusses the new space observatories before considering astrophysics: the birth, evolution, and death of stars, galaxy formation, and evidence for the expansion of the universe. Must take lab.

This course introduces the concepts of Climate and Weather, and the physical and chemical structure of the atmosphere at equilibrium and how energy and mass flow through the atmosphere as it is displaced from this state. Students will learn about agents that affect weather – radiation, moisture, greenhouse gases, etc., and then critically examine the findings of the Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Managing risk associated with natural environmental disasters (volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc.) and unnatural disasters (oil spills, nuclear fallout, toxic spills, groundwater exhaustion, eutrophication, global warming) is a fundamental aspect of environmental policy. In this course, students will learn about the underlying physical processes of the most common and costly environmental disasters afflicting society today, and will examine historical landmark cases, discussing damage cost models (infrastructure, life, ecosystem) and risk minimization strategies (relocation, protection, resource or technology discontinuation).

This course is an introduction of the science of oceanic environment, from submarine canyons to zooplankton, from global warming to the growing plastics problem in mid oceanic gyres, from acidification to wave dynamics. We will explain oceanography's most important concepts and debunk its widely (and wildly) held misconceptions.