Course Descriptions - Health and Environment
Courses offered by the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies are described below. The letters “a” and “b” following the course numbers indicate fall- and spring-term courses respectively. Bracketed courses will not be offered during the academic year.
Project courses embrace individually assigned advanced field or laboratory work, or literature review, on topics of special interest to the student; credits and hours for these projects are determined for each student in consultation with the instructor.
Courses throughout the University are generally open to students enrolled in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, subject to limitations on class size and requirements for prerequisites. Courses numbered 500 and above are graduate courses.
The sequence of numbers does not reflect level of advancement.
Project courses embrace individually assigned advanced field or laboratory work, or literature review, on topics of special interest to the student; credits and hours for these projects are determined for each student in consultation with the instructor.
Courses throughout the University are generally open to students enrolled in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, subject to limitations on class size and requirements for prerequisites. Courses numbered 500 and above are graduate courses.
The sequence of numbers does not reflect level of advancement.
Health and Environment
[F&ES 96002b] Environmental Health Policy (721b)
F&ES 90003a Applied Risk Assessment I (726a)
F&ES 96004b The Environment and Human Health (730b)
F&ES 96005b Introduction to Toxicology
Health and Environment
[F&ES 96002b/PLSC 855b, Environmental Health Policy. 3 credits. This course focuses on five types of environmental health problems. The first case is malaria, concentrating on the resurgence of drug-resistant strains in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Western Africa. The second case explores age-related health risks from air pollution, especially small diameter particulate matter in urban centers, with cases considered in both the industrial and the developing world. The third case surrounds age-related risks from lead, especially the relative contribution of different contaminated mediaair, water, food, and soil. The fourth case explores farmworker and childhood exposure to pesticides in the United States and abroad. The fifth case examines age and spatial distribution of breast and prostate cancer in Connecticut, considering variance in probable exposure to such different estrogenic environmental contaminants as DDT and PCBs. In each instance, the temporal, spatial, and demographic variances in the distribution of the problem are characterized to provide a basis for considering the effect of past policiespublic and privatein promoting or diminishing the problem while providing a basis for considering policy reforms. John P. Wargo.]
F&ES 90003a/EHS 511a, Applied Risk Assessment I. 2 credits. This course introduces students to the nomenclature, concepts, and basic skills of quantitative risk assessment (QRA). The goal is to provide an understanding necessary to read and critically evaluate QRA. Emphasis is on the intellectual and conceptual basis of risk assessment, particularly its dependence on toxicology and epidemiology, rather than its mathematical constructs and statistical models. Specific cases consider the use of risk assessment for setting occupational exposure limits, establishing community exposure limits, and quantifying the hazards of environmental exposures to chemicals in air and drinking water. Jonathan Borak.
F&ES 96004b, The Environment and Human Health. 3 credits. This course provides an overview of the critical relationships between the environment and human health. The class explores the interaction between health and different parts of the environmental system including water pollution, water-related disease, indoor and outdoor air, and agriculture. Other topics include environmental justice, case studies of environmental health disasters, waste disposal, risk, urbanization, and links between global warming and health. Michelle Bell.
F&ES 96005b/EHS 503b, Introduction to Toxicology. 3 credits. This course introduces students to the concepts and nomenclature of toxicology. Emphasis is placed on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of foreign toxic materials. The goal is to provide a fundamental understanding of important toxicological principles and their relevance to the more general study of human health. The course utilizes case studies that require students to apply their knowledge of toxicologic concepts and processes to refine issues and solve problems in epidemiology and public health. The course includes a series of guest lectures by prominent content experts who illustrate the importance of general toxicological principles as applied to specific classes and types of toxicants and exposures. Jonathan Borak, Cheryl Fields.
