Earth and Environmental Sciences - Sophomore

COURSE #: EAES2011

Course description 

This course introduces students to physical processes and ways of thinking quantitatively about the world around us, to understand every day and specific physical phenomena related to Earth and Environmental Sciences. The course includes introductions to mechanics and gravity (how objects move, potential field gravity field, principles of Newtonian mechanics, stress and strain), fluids and material properties (how solids, liquids and gases behave, buoyancy forces, gases rules, model of ideal gases, thermal physics (how heat moves, latent constant, thermodynamics laws), and waves (e.g., light and sound). Throughout the course, we’ll develop skills of asking physics questions and making scientific estimates. 

Course learning outcomes 

After finishing this course students will be able to:

• recognize fundamental concepts throughout physics (e.g., conservation of energy).
• recognize that EES phenomena as combination of multiple physical processes
• interpret physical concepts quantitatively
• derive the most important physics concepts and equations for EES

Assessments and Grading 

COURSE #: EAES 3001

Course Description

This course provides a theoretical and practical introduction to the fundamental principles of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing digital image processing. It is focused on the essential skills of operating a functional GIS with ArcGIS software package, which is one of the most widely used desktop GIS applications in the world. This course analyses generic programming language concepts and techniques and demonstrates their implementation using Python in GIS. The fundamental principles and methods of introductory and intermediate geographic information science are explored as students practice ways to think spatially and develop ways to work with and apply new GIS knowledge to real world problems.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, the students will be able to:

• Explain the main concepts that define Geographic Information Systems
• Create maps, extract satellite or aerial photos using ArcGIS and Google Earth software’s
• Know how to develop and manage geodatabases
• Explain how and why geographic data are entered, stored, and manipulated using GIS, and how to acquire, process, and analyze remotely sensed data.
• Conduct basic spatial analyses including clip analysis, slope analysis, and IDW
• Explain how to properly use geospatial analysis for a wide range of applications, such as ESRI's ArcGIS
• Understand the working principle of GPS, its components, signal structure, and error sources and to understand various GPS surveying methods and processing techniques used in GPS observations
• Analyze spatial data, using GIS analysis tools such as Network and Buffer Analysis
• Explain what makes spatial data ‘special’ in terms of acquisition, analysis, and visualization
• Apply Python programming language as a GIS computer language and using the special ‘arcpy’ package.
• Apply modern GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies like Raster Calculation, Map Algebra, Raster Vector Conversions, Surface Analysis, reclassified a slope raster

Course Assessment and Grading

COURSE #: EAES 2046

Course Description

Geomorphology is the study of Earth’s surface.  As such, it is a crucial component of solutions to a wide range of environmental problems and engineering designs. It has even become an important tool for understanding how far-off planets like Mars and Venus have evolved to their current state.  This course is about earth’s landscape, its present form, and the processes responsible for its large-scale organization.  The goal is to provide students with an appreciation of how the landscape around them formed and its continued evolution with particular focus on landscapes of mountain environments of Central Asia.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course the students will be able to:

• Explain principal terms, definitions and theories of geomorphology
• Describe landforms and land forming processes in different climate zones and tectonic regimes
• Explain different theories and models for landscape evolution
• Discuss the development of micro to mega scale landforms and their lifespans
• Assess the mode of formation, age and history for landforms in mountain environments of Central Asia
• Compare the formation of large-scale landforms involving both exogenous and endogenous processes

Course Assignments and Grading

COURSE #: HUSS 2053

Course description

Ethics is an introductory course which explores the broad thematic and historical view of ethics, theories and their implications. In this course students will learn about the major ethical traditions and teachings. Throughout the course students will gain basic information about the development of ethics in major religious and secular context, in the Eastern and Western countries. The course also highlights some of the major contemporary ethical issues and debates about ethics of research, science, and business.

Course learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Discuss the moral issues of the contemporary society
• Examine and question assumptions about the concepts of good and bad
• Explore the connection between ethical theories, morality and practice of ethics
• Demonstrate knowledge of major themes and arguments in ethics
• Apply ethical concepts and principles to practice
• Reveal a well-reasoned ethical position in writing

Course Assessments and Grading:

COURSE #: EAES 2030

Course Description

This course will provide hands-on training to use geospatial and environmental facts to produce useful suggestions for improving decisions about location, atmosphere, and climate, from the most natural to the most urban. To solve challenging issues related to maintaining ecosystems and promoting sustainable practices, students will use their abilities in geographic information systems and remote sensing. It will also emphasize the importance of recognizing that complex environmental issues such as natural resource mismanagement and atmospheric and climate change require the expertise of highly skilled individuals. To adapt to the current crisis, students will be able to analyze a wide range of information, including real-time data, mapping, monitoring, management, and live forecast. This course demonstrates how to use remote sensing and geospatial information for many planned and daily decisions across a wide range of sectors, especially in atmospheric and climate science. Graduates will be well-positioned for an exciting career due to their unique combination of environmental and geospatial skills in a pragmatic, case-based learning environment.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will be able to:

• Use geoscience techniques and current environmental information to define issues and solutions in atmospheric and climate science.
• Grasp numerical models and their role in atmospheric and climate science based on current observations and solve earth and environmental problems.
• Demonstrate their ability to analyze, interpret, and process climate data and visualize various atmospheric and climate phenomena.
• Acquire satellite images, perform parameter retrieval, and explain the GIS for atmosphere and climatology applications and forecasts.
• Describe various instruments and software programs used for atmospheric and climate observation and measurement.
• Manage the design, documentation, and resourcing of RS/GIS science solutions in a variety of settings, including workplaces and contested environmental issues.
• Describe atmospheric and climate change impacts; disasters with a focus on impacts; preparedness; response; related policies, law and future plans. 

Course Assessments and Grading

COURSE #: EAES 3059 

Course Description 

Negative impacts of climate change on ecosystems, infrastructure, and people’s lives, emanating from use of energy sources, necessitate drastic changes in all sectors of the economy, but especially so in the energy sector, where transition away from fossil fuels and making energy systems green and clean to mitigate environmental harm is imperative. In this course, we will investigate the central question of “How can sustainable energy sources be harnessed and utilized to minimize or eliminate environmental impacts?”. An overview of renewable energy sources (hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy), energy storage and energy efficiency options as well as a discussion of conventional energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear) provides an avenue towards assessing their environmental impacts. It is well-known that to affect transition towards sustainability, energy policy needs to phase out conventional energy and expand use of alternative options. However, much is debated about the extent to which energy policy determines the transition path and what kind of mechanisms constrain or facilitate the transition. Why is action lacking? Is it due to politics, economics or culture, or a combination of factors? During the course, we will interrogate these aspects and also deal with misconceptions about intermittency, reliability and other arguments levied at sustainable energy. Ultimately, this course seeks to provide concepts, theories and tools for describing, discussing and analyzing the issues surrounding conventional and sustainable energy options.  

Course Learning Outcomes  

At the end of this course the students will be able to:  

• Describe key concepts and theories in relation to energy forms, sources and uses. 
• Assess household energy use in terms of sustainability of energy sources and technologies. 
• Analyze country-level energy endowment, deployment, challenges and policy mechanisms that constrain or facilitate sustainable energy transformations. 

Course Assessments and Grading