Earth and Environmental Sciences - Senior

Course # EAES 4146

Credits 6

Course Description

Natural hazards continually modify landscapes, sometimes slowly (chronic hazards) and often episodically. They can be defined as phenomena that originate in the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, or biosphere that have the potential to exert either an extreme impact on humans and/or the natural environment or a more progressive, cumulative impact. When these hazards cause damage to property, infrastructure, environmental investments, or affect people, they become disasters. Natural hazards and related disasters are global phenomena and are becoming increasingly important in Central Asia. Effectively managing hazard risk reduces the human, economic, and environmental consequences. The course primarily focuses on hazards that occur in mountain environments in a global context; however, many examples are taken from the Central Asia region and similar areas. As such, the primary focus of the course is on erosion processes of all types, related hydrological hazards, and mass wasting (e.g., floods, landslides, debris flows, rock fall, extreme soil erosion, desertification, glacial lake outburst floods), as well as the atmospheric or seismic phenomena driving these hazards. Also, an overview of hazard risk and vulnerability, earth and volcanic hazards, drought, and cold region hazards will be presented. For each hazard, the intrinsic physical processes are introduced along with the consequences of the potential disasters. For those hazards affected by human activities (e.g., sediment hazards), interactions with land use will be covered. Where relevant, the effects of climate change and climate perturbations on hazard occurrence and severity will be discussed. Central to all hazard lectures is the consideration of hazard risk and risk mitigation.

Course learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Articulate the concept of risk related to hazards and apply this to various hazard scenarios.
• Distinguish between chronic and episodic hazards and relate this to the types of disasters that may occur.
• Understand and assess the processes that initiate and perpetuate a wide of natural hazards.
• Predict where different hazards are likely to occur and why.
• Appraise how hazard vulnerability and resilience affect hazard risk.
• Identify how climate change and climate perturbations may affect various hazards in the future.
• Evaluate how human activities affect the magnitude and frequency of certain hazards.
• Develop problem solving skills related to complex hazard scenarios and their mitigation.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # DMNS 2076

Credits 6

Course description 

This course covers the field of ecology, focusing on the interactions between living organisms and their physical environments. Students explore the structure and functionality of various ecological systems, including populations, communities, and ecosystems. The course aims to ensure students master major concepts and basic terminology of ecology, comprehend how evolution and ecology complement each other, and become familiar with different approaches to ecological study, such as theory, observations, and experiments. By the end of the course, students achieve a comprehensive understanding of the complex interrelationships that define ecological systems. 

Course Learning outcomes 

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

• Explain the environmental characteristics of different ecosystems, evolution, and adaptation of organisms to environmental conditions.
• Define the energy flow and nutrient cycle.
• Recognize and evaluate examples of human impact on the natural world.
• Analyze the global processes. (water cycle, Climate change etc.)

Course assessment and grading 

Course # DMNS 2035

Credits 6

TBA

Course # EAES 4751E

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites:  Information Technology course

Course Description

Programming in Python is an introductory course that covers programming techniques and tools to manipulate, manage, and analyze relevant data. The course focuses on the Python programming language that students will use to solve statistical analysis and GIS problems, apply Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques, and create a website using Django framework. The tasks will be accomplished by identifying and using existing Python packages as well as appropriate open-source software extensions. The course introduces basic to advanced statistical functions, data visualization, and data manipulation techniques. The relevant functions in data science are explained. The main goal of this course is to give students an understanding of the breadth of different programming applications. In particular, students will be taught how to design and write effective code using Python to perform routine and specialized data manipulation, management, statistical analysis, GIS analysis, and web application development tasks.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Explain the theoretical concepts of different data types
• Conceptualize and create loops and if/else statements in Python
• Create specialized functions in Python to handle results
• Manipulate data for descriptive statistical analysis in Python
• Use Django framework for development of different types of websites, in particular, a highly customizable app, such as an internet magazine website
• Use special packages, such as panda, to create graphs and convert plain text to formatted text.
• Using the packages NumPy, Matplotlib, Pandas and Skikit-Learn for various mathematical calculations, data manipulation, graphing and creating machine learning algorithms.

Course Assignments and Grading

Course # MDIA 4083E

Credits 6

Course pre-requisites and co-requisites: N/A (Recommended Science Communication)

Course Description

This course improves students’ communication skills by engaging in environmental discourses that connects the local with the global.  Students study a range of visual and written texts to learn how environmental communication is used by different actors in society. The role of communication is studied at the intersections of other key issues such as biodiversity, sustainable development, and climate change.  By evaluating and creating different media texts students gain an understanding of how media in various contexts shape environmental communication discourses in the public sphere. Using holistic and systems thinking students conduct research, identify target audience and design effective messages that place community concerns at the centre.

Course Learning Outcomes:

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

• Examine the ways in which different political, cultural, economic and geographical contexts shape environmental communication discourses in the public sphere.
• Evaluate a range of texts and assess their effectiveness on the intended audience.
• Examine how visual texts act as cultural prism that shape our understanding of nature.
• Discuss the role of media in reporting key environmental issues in different societies while connecting the local with the global.
• Design communication responses to engage a variety of audiences about environmental issues.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # DMNS 2012E

Credits 3

Course Description

Linear Algebra is a foundational course at UCA. It can be applied in business, economics, sociology, ecology, demography, engineering and other areas.

In this course, students will study mathematics that deals with the system of linear equations and their applications, operations with matrices, applications of Markov chains, applications of determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors and their applications. 

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Set up and solve a system of equations to fit a polynomial function to a set of data points.
  Use matrices and Gaussian and Gauss – Jordan eliminations to solve a system of linear equations.
  Do operations with matrices.
• Find the inverse of a matrix.
  Use a stochastic matrix to find the n^th  state matrix of a Markov chain.
  Find steady state matrices of absorbing Markov chain.
  Use matrix algebra to analyze an economic system (Leontief input- output model).
  Find the least square regressions line for a set of data.
  Use Cramer’s rules to solve a system of n linear equations in n variables.
  Model population growth using an age transition matrix and an age distribution vector.
  Solve Linear Algebra problems wit the application of R studio.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # MDIA 2113E

Credits 3

Course Description

Creative Writing involves the development of intellectual, imaginative and skills of embodied self-expression. It also involves reading. In this craft-base course, students engage in a series of lectures and workshops, learning a range of creative writing skills in a variety of genres, methods and approaches and, in turn, are encouraged to be experimental and adventurous in their writing. Seminars address different creative writing topics and readings so that students can learn about various approaches from poetry to film dialogue-writing. The workshops are interactive; they aim to increase understanding of the process of creative writing and, most importantly, the process of script development, editing and presentation. All creative work in its original form can be written in a language of the student’s choosing but must be translated into English for assignment submission.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Identify and write in a range of genres including original fiction, non-fiction and poetry using literary techniques.
• Identify and demonstrate - in literature and in their own work - classic language forms and features, and elements of plot development, characters, landscape and setting, and achieve creative writing and reading skills in relation to concepts, topics, craft, technique and voice.
• Understand and demonstrate the creative processes of revision and editing.

Course # EAES 2130E

Credits 3

TBA

Course # ECON 1001

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: high school mathematics and pre-calculus

Course Description

Introduction to Microeconomics deals with the interactions between individual households and business. The course helps in explaining the mechanism behind determination of prices of different commodities. It also explains about the prices of the factors of production. It helps in understanding the working of the free-market economy and it introduces students to some of the basic concepts used in economics. The course introduces the students to the various basic concepts necessary to understand economic policies and their effect on society and shows which policies can enhance productive efficiency that may result in greater social welfare. In brief, the course will introduce some explanation about the working of a capitalist economy.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion the course, students should be able to:

• Explain the three main building blocks of supply and demand analysis – demand curves, supply curves, and the concept of market equilibrium.
• Apply utility functions in the analysis of preferences with a single and multiple goods.
• Calculate expected utility as a way to evaluate risky outcomes.
• Derive the equation of an isoquant from the equation of the production function.
• Describe the conditions that characterize different types of market structure.
• Explain why some kinds of games can lead players to cooperate, while other kinds do not.
• Explain why externalities and public goods are a source of market failure.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # EAES 2046

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: Introduction to Atmospheric and Climate Science.

Course Description

The dynamic nature of the atmosphere, with its constantly shifting patterns of natural events, weather fluctuations, and changing climate, is an inevitable part of our lives. Meteorology is a scientific discipline that focuses on studying these processes within the lowest layer of the atmosphere. This introductory meteorology course is designed to provide an overview of the fundamental meteorological concepts including atmospheric structure, weather maps, and the role of meteorological variables such as temperature, humidity, pressure and wind. The course also covers precipitation and clouds, air masses, fronts and cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, aspects of forecasting, climate, air pollution, and atmospheric optics. Students are expected to gain a fundamental understanding of weather and atmospheric phenomena at various scales and to actively engage in practical exercises and field trips. 

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Describe the role of meteorological parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind to quantify the atmospheric state.
• Describe formation of precipitation and precipitation types.
• Identify different types of clouds and their formation mechanisms.
• Explain the fundamental atmospheric phenomena including air masses, fronts, cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
• Describe basic tools and techniques to gather and interpret atmospheric data.
• Discuss climate and changing nature of climate including various influences.
• Describe the issue of air pollution and the role of meteorological parameters in distribution of air pollutants.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # EAES 3762E

Credits 6

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: None

Course Description

Environmental Chemistry is an application of chemical principles to the study of the environment. It includes natural processes and pollution problems related to air, water, and soil. This course will cover some of the effects of pollutants on humans, other animals, plants and the nonliving parts of the earth. This course is divided into 5 major points (1) General concepts (2)Atmospheric chemistry and air pollution;3) Soil and agricultural environmental chemistry; (4) Water chemistry and water pollution; and (5) Metals and waste disposal.

Course learning outcomes

Upon the completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Define chemical and biochemical principles of fundamental environmental processes in air, water, and soil.
• Recognize different types of toxic substances and analyze toxicological information.
• Apply basic chemical concepts to analyze chemical processes involved in different environmental problems (air, water & soil).
• Describe water purification and waste treatment processes and the practical chemistry involved.
• Describe causes and effects of environmental pollution by energy industry and discuss some mitigation strategies.
• Explain the nature and composition of soil and soil pollutants
• Discuss local and global environmental issues based on the knowledge gained throughout the course.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # ECON 3006

Credits 6

TBA

Course # ECON  3113E

Credits 3

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites: None

Course Description

The focus of the course is gender differences in the labor market and will cover both theoretical and empirical studies. Students will delve into these topics to understand the many ways that gender is relevant in the economy. Students will obtain an evidence-based understanding of two key aspects: 1) the potential mechanisms behind gender inequality, and 2) the policies and evidence of their effects on advancing gender equality. Specifically, this course analyzes the economic aspects of issues related to gender, such as gender wage gaps, labor force discrimination, family-friendly policies in the workplace, the valuation of unpaid household work, and the differential impact of public policies. During the course, students will become familiar with the methodology of gender analysis in the economic sciences and research gender analysis indicators to support skills development for relevant research and analysis.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Define gender inequality.
• Explain how gender wage gaps are measured and why they might exist
• Describe global best practices in family policy
• Determine models and data appropriate for gender analysis
• Relate evidence-based empirical analysis to economic and sociological theory in gender issues 

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # ECON 4131E

Credits 3

TBA

Course # EAES 3029

Credits 6

Course Description

There has been a rapid growth in the use of digital spatial data in many areas of resource management and the environmental sciences. The aim of this course is to provide both a solid theoretical understanding and a comprehensive practical introduction to the use of geographic information systems and remote sensing in the analysis of digital spatial data, simple modelling using digital spatial data, and in decision support using commercially available software. Topics covered in the course provide an overview of the use of digital geographic information and earth-resource imagery for a wide range of environmental applications including geology, vegetation and forestry, agriculture, oceanographic and regional and urban analysis. Students will also examine current satellite image acquisition systems, image display and enhancement, image geocoding and image classification and remote sensing applications in GIS. Digital image processing and analysis techniques are studied in theory and in practice using digital image processing software.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

• Interpret remotely sensed images by using image analysis software for visual display and image enhancement.
• Describe the electromagnetic spectrum and understand the various ways electromagnetic radiation interactions with matter.
• Communicate the difference between spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolution and determine optimal resolutions for particular applications and/or problems to be addressed.
• Classify images using supervised and unsupervised classification.
• Understand the concepts of atmospheric windows with respect to scatter and absorption and perform an atmospheric correction.
• Discuss optical, thermal, and radar remote sensing and understand the advantages and disadvantages of each for particular applications.
• Perform basic image pre-processing and processing techniques.
• Explain the basics of geographic information systems (GIS) and related areas such as geodesy and remote sensing.
• Select and acquire both primary and secondary spatial data for use in GIS.

Course Assignments and Grading

Course # HUSS 2116E

Credits 6

Course Description

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to social and cultural anthropology, emphasizing the intricate relationships between society, culture and ecology. Students will explore how human societies are not only diverse in their cultural practices but also share common experiences that transcend geographical boundaries. The course delves into the ways different communities interpret their environments, sustain livelihoods, and organize social, political, and religious structures. A key focus will be the interplay between culture and ecology, examining how traditional societies are shaped by and, in turn, shape their environments. Students will apply basic ethnographic research methods in practical research projects that investigate the cultural and environmental dynamics within their own communities. By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced understanding of how anthropological theories can be applied to contemporary issues, offering insights into the sustainable interaction between human societies, their culture and environments.

Course Learning Outcomes 

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

• analyze and discuss the core concepts and principles of anthropology
• apply concepts of cultural variation and the diversity of perspectives, practices, and beliefs found within each culture and across cultures
• Critically examine traditional and modern economic systems, focusing on how cultural patterns influence consumption and economic structures
• apply anthropological research methods such as participant observation, thick description, fieldwork and interviewing.

Course Assessments and Grading