Course Listings

511 Ecological Patterns and Processes : The course, which meets Aug. 29–Oct. 5, gives students a fundamental mechanistic understanding about the way abiotic (e.g., climate) and biotic (e.g., resources, competitors, predators) factors determine pattern in the distribution and abundance of species. Students learn how individuals within a species cope with changing environmental conditions by altering their behavior, making physiological adjustments, and changing the allocation of resources among survival growth and reproduction. Students learn how populations of species coexist within communities and how species interactions within communities can drive ecosystem functioning. Students also learn how ecologists use scientific insight to deal with emerging environmental problems such as protecting biodiversity, understanding the consequences of habitat loss on species diversity, and forecasting the effects of global climate change on species population viability and geographic distribution.  : Oswald J. Schmitz : Oswald J. Schmitz

512 Microeconomics for Environmental Management : This six-week course which meets August 29 - October 5 provides an introduction to microeconomic analysis and its application to environmental policy. Students study how markets work to allocate scarce resources. This includes consideration of how individuals and firms make decisions, and how policy analysts seek to quantify the benefits and costs of consumption and production. We consider the conditions under which markets are beneficial to society and when they fail. We see that market failure arises frequently in the context of environmental and natural resource management. The last part of the course focuses on the design of environmental and natural resource policies to address such market failures. The course is designed to cover basic knowledge of economics analysis and prepare students for F&ES 834 and other more advanced offerings. : Matthew J. Kotchen : TBD Faculty

521 Physical Science Foundations for Environmental Managers : This Foundations course, meeting Oct. 15–Dec. 7, provides students with the physical science basics that they need in order to understand and manage environmental problems. The course draws on the following disciplines: climatology, environmental chemistry, geology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, and soil science. Focus is on understanding both the underlying concepts and how they apply to real-world environmental challenges. Useful both as a freestanding course and as a gateway to a wide spectrum of intermediate and advanced courses. : Shimon C. Anisfeld : Shimon C. Anisfeld

522 Problem Solving in the Global Era: How Social Sciences Contribute to Forward Looking Environmental Management : To be offered as a Fall-2 course, Oct. 15–Dec. 7

This 6-week class is designed to identify key contributions of the social sciences for environmental managers. Targeted to both non-specialists, as well as those considering the society and nature stream, the class emphasizes two key themes: the way in which scientific knowledge about environmental problems influence problem definitions, social movements, and policy responses; the role of social sciences in fostering forward looking environmental management. To do this, we draw on Clapp and Dauvergne’s “four environmental world views” framework that integrates knowledge from political science, sociology, anthropology, human geography and development studies; as well as international relations and public policy.  : Ben Cashore : Ben Cashore

550 Natural Science Research Methods :

The course prepares students to design and execute an intensive research project. It covers elementary principles and philosophy of science; research planning, including preparation, criticism, and oral presentation of study plans; communicating research findings; limitations of research techniques; the structure of research organizations; and professional scientific ethics

: William Lauenroth : William Lauenroth

551 Qualitative Social Science Research :

This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to issues of qualitative research methods and design. The course is intended for both doctoral students who are in the beginning stage of their dissertation research, as well as master’s students developing research proposals for their thesis projects. The course covers the basic techniques of designing qualitative research and for collecting, interpreting, and analyzing qualitative data. We explore three interrelated dimensions of research: theoretical foundations of science and research, specific methods available to researchers for data collection and analysis, and the application and practice of research methods. The final product for this course is a research proposal.

: Sara Smiley Smith : TBD Faculty

573 Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making : Urban ecology is the interdisciplinary study of urban and urbanizing systems from local to global scales. While urban ecology shares many features with the biological science of ecology, it emphasizes linkages with social, economic, and physical sciences and the humanities. Geographically, the subject includes central and edge cities, suburbs of various ages and densities, and exurban settlements in which urban lifestyles and economic commitments are dominant. In application, urban ecology can be useful as a social-ecological science for making cities more sustainable, resilient, and equitable. Emerging “grand challenges” in urban ecology include the development of robust approaches and understanding of (1) integrated social-ecological systems in urban and urbanizing environments; (2) the assembly and function of novel ecological communities and ecosystems under novel environmental conditions; (3) drivers of human well-being in diverse urban areas; (4) pathways for developing healthy, sustainable, and disaster-resilient cities; and (5) co-production of actionable science for policy, planning, design, and management. : Morgan Grove : TBD Faculty

577 PSC: Environmental Communicator (Dates TBD) :

This course prepares students for the communication tasks they will face as environmental professionals, researchers, or employees.  In their careers, most professionals spend more than half their work time communicating with others, both inside and outside their organization. To advance in their careers and contribute to the progress of an environmental cause, students need a refined ability to communicate their ideas with clarity and credibility. This course focuses on building a constellation of skills that students can apply to their work. They learn how to use communication to influence others, advocate their ideas, and collaborate with colleagues on project teams. Course topics include strategy in communication, diplomatic language, public speaking, writing styles, listening to people, and framing environmental issues for the public.  The course meets for a weekly two-hour lecture and demonstration, and students attend a one-hour small group practice session that allows them to reinforce new communicative behaviors in simulated job tasks, such as project meetings, budget requests, and public hearings.

: William Vance : William Vance

578 PSC: Financial Concepts for Environmental Managers :

This course which meets,October 23-December 4)exposes students to the financial concepts used by companies to make and evaluate business decisions. The class covers key financial statements of for-profit businesses; building financial projections for a business, project, or investment; financial markets: what they are and how they operate; investors: the tools they use to evaluate potential investments; and common valuation techniques: uses and limitations. Meeting dates to be determined. Enrollment limited to sixty.

: Maureen Burke : Maureen Burke

583 American Energy History : From the powerful winds that carried ships across the oceans to the coal and oil that fueled industrial growth, energy production and consumption have shaped American history and powered the nation’s grandest ambitions. This course examines how the American energy system evolved over time, and why. How has the struggle to control and deploy energy shaped American politics and economic development? What have been the impacts of energy transitions on social and environmental change?  : Paul Sabin : Paul Sabin

584 Agricultural Climate Change Mitigation (January 15-February 19) : : Eric Toensmeier :

590 The Climate Change Negotiations: A Practical Approach : This course meets on four evenings in the fall, October 22, 29, November 5 & 12

This course introduces students to the history of the international climate change negotiations (from the UNFCCC to the Paris Agreement), discusses the ways in which negotiating differences are typically resolved, identifies the issues to be addressed at this year’s Conference of the Parties, and concludes with a mock negotiation.  : Susan Biniaz : TBD Faculty

592 Documentary Film Workshop : This workshop in audiovisual scholarship explores ways to present research through the moving image. Students work within a Public Humanities framework to make a documentary that draws on their disciplinary fields of study. Designed to fulfill requirements for the M.A. with a concentration in Public Humanities. : Charles Musser :

595 Yale Environment Review : : Matthew J. Kotchen : TBD Faculty

601 Perspectives: The Anthropocene : Schedule will also include Friday Discussion sessions

: Julie Zimmerman : Julie Zimmerman : Paul Anastas

603 Environmental Data Visualization & Communication : : Jennifer Marlon : : Simon Queenborough

605 Environmental Risk Communication : : Andrew Schwarz :

607 Advanced Methods in Industrial Ecology : Modelling the Socio-Economic Metabolism
Humans have transformed the Earth’s surface to serve their production and consumption systems. While social sciences study the sphere of human decision making and behavior rooted in culture, organization, and preferences, and earth scientists study the effect of human actions on nature, industrial ecology studies the acquisition and transformation of natural resources to products, their use and disposal, and the ensuing emissions in biophysical terms. This course provides an in-depth treatment of the methods industrial ecologists have developed to study this socioeconomic metabolism. The course focuses on input-output analysis and dynamic stock-flow models of materials in products and infrastructures. It also addresses hybrid approaches, such as the combination of life-cycle assessment and input-output methods or the application of such methods in conjunction with prospective models rooted in stock-flow dynamics. The course is primarily focused on modelling tools, combining blackboard-based lectures with computer-based exercises. Modelling is conducted in MatLab. Grading is based on problem sets, a midterm and a final exam. : Edgar Hertwich : Edgar Hertwich

611 Data Science for Social Research: An Introduction : This seminar provides an introduction to a rapidly growing and promising area of social scientific research that has accompanied the explosion of data in our digital age, as nearly every aspect of life is now connected (e.g., mobile phones, smart devices, social media) and digitized (book archives, government records, websites, communication). Students are introduced to various techniques and software for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data at large scales, especially text data (e.g., machine learning, topic modeling, location extraction, semantic networks). Strong emphasis is placed on integrating these methods into actual research, in hopes of moving new or ongoing student papers toward publication. The course is in a seminar format, with a focus on reading and discussing cutting-edge research, as well as interacting with invited guests from industry (e.g., Google) and academia. An overarching goal of the course is to incubate and launch new interdisciplinary collaborative projects at Yale that integrate data science techniques to solve important problems. : Justin Farrell :

612 Waste and Materials Management: Fundamentals and Frontiers : This course introduces and formalizes concepts related to waste and materials management seen from perspectives of operations, policy, and business. Because there is no disposal-free society, learning about waste that remains waste is a key element of the class. Interest in using wastes as resources opens up other questions related to materials management, policy and regulation, and finance and economics. One goal is to examine fundamentals including generation, collection, processing (e.g., by recycling and composting), and landfilling. Key materials such as paper, plastic, industrial waste, and hazardous waste receive individual attention. A second goal is to describe and discuss alternative futures for waste and materials using ideas drawn from industrial ecology and technology. Half of each class session is devoted to structured learning of fundamentals, and the second half brings in frontiers through readings and student-led discussions. Students who wish to engage in and complete a waste and materials research project in conjunction with the research team can sign up for an additional credit : : TBD Faculty

613 Writing as a Public Scholar : : Stephanie Hanes Wilson : TBD Faculty

614 Environmental Justice, Nature, and Reflective Practice Seminar : Through an interdisciplinary approach to public health, and urban and environmental studies, we will examine the changing relationship between social systems, urbanization, biodiversity conservation, and environmental justice. Particular attention will be focused on how race, class, gender, immigration status, indigeneity, and sexuality intersects with the distribution of natural resources and the equitable development of cities. 
 
In the social sciences, the concept of intersectionality has been used to highlight how these social categories of culture and identity overlap, heightening the effects of discrimination, exclusion, social inequality, and systemic injustice in the lives of specific individuals. An intersectional approach to environmentalism emphasizes how certain people and groups suffer worse effects because of overlapping factors that are often measured separately.
 
In the seminar, we define reflective practice as the ability to reflect on one's professional experiences, actions, and positionality, so as to engage in a process of continuous learning. Students will focus on reflective practice exercises to engage in the practical and theoretical methods used in the field of environmental policy and planning to address the immediate and long-term sustainability challenges posed by global and local environmental change. Urban and sociological theories will be complemented by real-world environmental controversies that require group collaboration to produce in-class presentations, role-playing negotiation case simulations, and the completion of a final research paper.  : Michael Anthony Mendez :

616 Business and Environment Solutions: 7 by 7 (Fall-2) : 7x7: Seven wicked challenges in business and the environment – seven weeks to come up with a solution.
 
You have studied business and the environment for years and you are left with the feeling that there is a lot of talk out there and very few solutions. Here is your chance to try to address some of the stickiest, and yet tangible, challenges at the intersection of business and the environment.
 
In this project-based course, we present student teams with 7 constrained, yet recalcitrant challenges at the intersection of business and the environment on day one. In each challenge, we have a potential game-changing idea to address a major environmental problem, but little idea how to make that idea into a reality through business.
 
Each team will select one challenge[1]. Seven weeks later, your team will present your business solution.
 
In the meantime, we will provide resources (people, literature, frameworks, standards, tools and suggestions) to help you explore the ins and outs of your challenge. We call these resource packs a ‘live-case study’ as they require interaction with live experts in the field. We will also provide a weekly discussion with faculty, entrepreneurs, innovators and out-of-the-box business thinkers that are working on other challenges in the field so that you can glean ideas on how to think about your challenge in new and innovative ways.
 
We will not provide any solutions, because there are no solutions yet. At the end of the class, we will judge each other based on your process of thinking through the problems, the comprehensiveness of analysis, the implementability and expected effectiveness of the business solution and the skill with which you present your case.
 
This course is appropriate for those students with a background and curriculum experience in both business and the environment. Our expectation is that students will have sufficient familiarity with their team challenge to ‘hit the ground running’.
: Todd Cort : Todd Cort

620 Integrative Assessment :

This course illustrates how to integrate the insights and models of different disciplines to address key environmental management questions facing society. Examples are drawn from across pollution and natural resource issues so that students can become familiar with a diverse set of issues. The course illustrates the merits of learning about the natural sciences, engineering, and economics in order to practice environmental management

: : Robert O. Mendelsohn

625 Writing Workshop : This is a half-semester course aimed at helping students improve their writing. The goal is not to try to shape students into professional writers, but rather to develop their writing skills and make them better able to communicate their work and ideas through writing – writing that is clear, accessible, and free of jargon. Students will be required to write short pieces weekly and one longer article. The class is organized as a workshop, with students reading and commenting on each other’s work. The instructor will be available for weekly meetings with students to discuss their writing. There will be regular readings of articles or short book selections, but the focus will be on developing the students’ own writing. Students will be evaluated on: completing all assignments on time; the quality of their work; the progress their writing shows over the course of the class; and participation in discussions : Roger Cohn : Roger Cohn

631 Solving Super Wicked Problems: Environmental Policy Analysis for a Low Carbon World : To be offered in 2019–2020. : : Ben Cashore

632 Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship : Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship is a practice-based course in which students from across campus form interdisciplinary teams to work on a social challenge of their choice. Teams include students from SOM, SPH, FES, YDS, Jackson Institute, and other schools and programs. Students start by identifying a topic area of focus, then form teams based on shared interests and complementary skills. Over the course of thirteen weeks, student teams delve into understanding the challenge through root cause analysis, research on existing solutions and populations affected; then apply human centered design thinking and systems thinking to design, prototype, test, and iterate solutions. Using tools such as the theory of change, logframe, business canvas, and social marketing strategy; teams build and test their impact models, operational models, and revenue models. Readings and assignments from the textbook “Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship” are used to guide this journey. These include technical templates, case studies, and interviews with social entrepreneurs and thought leaders in different sectors and geographies around the world. The class meets weekly for three hours in a workshop-style session, and includes guests from local social enterprises who join the class to share their experience, advice and challenges. At the end of the semester, student teams pitch their ventures to a panel of judges including social venture funders and social entrepreneurs. Teams are encouraged, but not required, to submit their ventures to one of the campus wide startup prizes (see: city.yale.edu/funding). While there are no prerequisites, this course builds on the SOM core course Innovator, and electives including Principles of Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship & New Ventures, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Public Health, Global Social Entrepreneurship, Managing Social Enterprises, Business & the Environment Solutions. : Teresa Chahine :

653 Maple: From Tree to Table : This course covers the cultural, industrial, and sustainable practices of non-timber forest products through the lens of maple sap and syrup. Maple sugar is a forest product unique to northeastern North America, and it has seen a resurgence in interest as global consumers seek nutritious, natural, and sustainably produced foods. This course covers the booming industry and culture around maple syrup, from backyard operations through modern 100,000-tap investment operations. Maple producers are on the front lines of climate change and forest health threats. The course provides students with the knowledge of how challenges related to forest health and climate change are directly impacting maple producers and how these producers are learning to adapt in ways that are environmentally friendly, ecologically sound, and financially competitive in a global market. : Joseph Orefice :

658 Global Resources, International Resource Exchanges, and the Environment : Students first learn the global distribution of resources—the amounts, importance, and causes of distribution, and potential changes to soils, water, biodiversity, human societies, energy sources, climates, agriculture, forests and forest products, minerals, and disturbances. They also learn how to analyze and interpret data on global resource distributions. Second, they gain an understanding of the value of multiple-country trading of resources. Third, they gain an understanding of the many mechanisms that facilitate such exchanges, including policies and treaties; business, markets, trading partners, and economics; “good will”; social “taboos”; force; news media; philanthropy; skillful negotiations; cultural/social affiliation; technologies; shared infrastructures; and others. Four teaching methods are used: lectures on the different resources and policy mechanisms; analytical exercises for understanding how to use and interpret international data—and its limitations; a class negotiation exercise for learning the uses of international trade; and guest lectures by faculty and meetings with practitioners for learning the facilitation mechanisms : Chadwick Dearing Oliver : Chadwick Dearing Oliver

667 Seminar in Freshwater Topics : This seminar is intended to convene F&ES students doing research on, or simply with a keen interest in, the array of issues pertaining to freshwater sustainability.  It’s for one credit, meets once a week, and only for an hour.  The overall goal of the course is to get students talking, thinking together, and learning from one another about those aspects of freshwater availability, protection, quality, and supply that excite them the most.  There will be two kinds of class sessions.  A paper session will involve discussion of a water-related article that is selected by a student and read by everyone else.  A research session will be similarly interactive, but will focus on one student’s research and will involve a 15-30 minute presentation of the research followed by a class discussion.  Although there’s no expectation that the student research will be a “finished piece,” the research session will provide the class an opportunity to learn about a pressing water-related problem and an approach for addressing it, and, equally as important, enable presenters to gain feedback, new perspectives, and advice in overcoming obstacles encountered in their research.  The paper sessions can be led by anyone, while the research session will most likely be appropriate for second-year Master’s students or PhD students.   : James E. Saiers : James E. Saiers

669 Forest Ecosystem Management and Operations (Friday field trips) :

The operational aspects of managing forestland are taught, including topics essential to the professional practice of forest management. Operational aspects of regeneration, intermediate tending, and harvesting (planning, layout, implementation, and postoperation evaluation), best management practices, regulatory and wetlands considerations, and socioeconomic dimensions of field operations are the focus. The ethical and professional responsibilities of forest managers who are responsible for land-altering activities are also considered. The course includes considerable field time to help students utilize their existing knowledge about forests to rapidly assess stands and land parcels with respect to the planning and implementation of on-the-ground treatments. Classes feature local field trips to view forestry operations and to develop and refine field skills.

The course can be taken for 2 credits by any student at F&ES or combined with the 1-credit Southern Forest and Forestry Field Trip (F&ES 670b) for 3 credits.

: Michael Ferrucci : Michael Ferrucci

679L Lab: Plant Ecophysiology : Lab : Craig Brodersen :

686 Advanced Issues in Soil Science : To be offered in the academic year 2019–2020. : : Mark Bradford

692 Science and Practice of Temperate Agroforestry : This course explores the science and practices of temperate agroforestry, covering current knowledge of agroforestry science and shedding light on the myths and assumptions that have yet to be tested regarding the integration of trees in agricultural systems. The course begins with an overview of modern agriculture to help us better understand why agroforestry systems have potential to improve the sustainability of farming systems. We also cover the social science regarding agroforestry and why it has not been widely adopted. Silvopasture and forest farming systems are the primary focus, but windbreaks, alley cropping, and riparian forest buffers are also covered. The field of agroforestry has struggled with the promotion of hypothetical practices; this course introduces students to real-world production agroforestry systems and helps them better contribute to financially viable and environmentally sound agricultural operations. : Joseph Orefice : Joseph Orefice

700 Alpine, Arctic, and Boreal Ecosystems Seminar :

Biogeoclimatic analysis of these systems worldwide with special attention to biogeography, biometeorology, physiology, histology, morphology, autecology, and silviculture of high-elevation and high-latitude forests through lectures, guest lectures and discussions, student seminars, and field experience. 

: Graeme P. Berlyn : Graeme P. Berlyn : Xuhui Lee

704 Workshop on Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry with Drones : : Xuhui Lee :

720 Introduction to R : This seminar provides an overview and introduction to the statistical software R for the analysis and graphical presentation of natural and social science data. We follow a flipped style of teaching, with class time primarily used for worked examples and problems. Students also work together in small groups to analyze data from collaborators (or the student’s own data) with a view to publication. The course provides the practical training in R for theoretical courses such as F&ES 510 and 753; they can be taken concurrently or sequentially, although some statistics background is preferred. : Simon Queenborough : Simon Queenborough

730 Economics of Sustainability : to be offered 2019-2020 : : Eli Fenichel

743 Strategic Environmental Communication :

Increasing economic prosperity and improving the lives of an estimated 10 billion people, while maintaining and restoring the life support systems of the planet is the ultimate challenge of the 21^st century, often labeled “sustainability.” Governments, businesses, and civil society will each play critical roles in this historic transition and must operate and succeed in ever-more complex and often contested social, cultural, political and natural environments. Strategic communication is a powerful means of advancing an organization’s mission, especially when informed by insights into human behavior and social systems.  By the end of the course, students will be able to develop communication strategies and apply insights from the social and behavioral sciences to improve the effectiveness of their communication campaigns

: Anthony Leiserowitz : Anthony Leiserowitz

747 Global Communication Skills :

This course helps students to sharpen their language and strategy in professional communication. Course topics include accent reduction, language accuracy, writing styles, presentation skills, meeting leadership, barriers to communication, and types of persuasion in multicultural contexts. We first address aspects of intelligibility, exploring how improved word choices and speech clarity affect audience understanding. We then look at the problem of comprehension and discuss strategies for increasing the student’s ability to listen accurately and read efficiently. We also examine common difficulties and cultural differences in the arrangement of information, use of evidence, and academic argumentation. Several sessions are devoted to specific skills, such as negotiating agreements and writing research reports. The course meets for lecture (two hours), and students attend a weekly small group practicum (one hour). The practicum allows students to reinforce new communicative behaviors in oral and written assignments, while receiving feedback from peers and the instructor. As students polish their skills, they improve their ability to express ideas and to interact in both academic and professional contexts.

 

 

: William Vance : William Vance

750 Writing the World :

This is a practical writing course meant to develop your skills as a writer. But its real subject is perception and the writer’s authority—the relationship between what you notice in the world around you and what, culturally speaking, you’re allowed to notice. What you write during the semester is driven entirely by your own interest and attention. How you write is the question at hand. We’ll be exploring the overlapping habitats of language—present and past—and the natural environment. And, to a lesser extent, we’ll be exploring the character of  persuasion in environmental themes. Every member of the class will write every week, and we will all read what everyone writes every week. It makes no difference whether you’re a would-be journalist, scientist, environmental advocate or policy-maker. The goal is to rework your writing and sharpen your perceptions, both sensory and intellectual.

: Verlyn Klinkenborg : Verlyn Klinkenborg

754 Geospatial Software Design :

This course introduces computer programming tools and techniques for the development and customization of geospatial data-processing capabilities. It relies heavily on use of the Python programming language in conjunction with ESRI’s ArcGIS and on JavaScript in conjunction with Google’s Earth Engine geographic information systems (GIS). Prerequisite: previous experience in GIS. Three hours lecture, problem sets.

: Charles Dana Tomlin : Charles Dana Tomlin

762 Applied Math for Environmental Studies (AMES):Foundations for Measuring and Modeling Environmental and Socio-environmental Systems :

The language of mathematics is an important leg in the stool of interdisciplinary research and analysis, and many graduate courses at F&ES involve mathematical content. However, many graduate students have not taken a math course in years, and their math skills are rusty. Furthermore, many graduate-level mathematical concepts may be entirely new. Experience suggests that many students either opt out of taking courses they are truly interested in or muddle through, struggle with the math, and miss important concepts. AMES is meant to help students refresh or acquire new math skills and succeed in content and “toolbox” graduate-level courses. AMES provides a structured opportunity to learn a range of mathematical concepts used in environmental studies. The course assumes that, at a minimum, students took college algebra and perhaps a semester of calculus (but might not really remember it). Concepts are presented heuristically in a “how to” and “why” approach with examples from environmental studies. The goal is for students to be conversant and have intuition about (i.e., to demystify) why logs, exponents, derivatives, integrals, linear algebra, probability, optimization, stability analysis, and differential equations show up throughout environmental studies. Students learn (review) how to use these techniques. Also covered is a bit of history of math and an introduction to computer programming.

: : Eli Fenichel

777 Water Quality Control :

Study of the preparation of water for domestic and other uses and treatment of wastewater for recycling or discharge to the environment. Topics include processes for removal of organics and inorganics, regulation of dissolved oxygen, and techniques such as ion exchange, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, activated carbon adsorption, and biological methods.

: Jaehong Kim : Jaehong Kim

782 Globalization Space: International Infrastructure and Extrastatecraft : The course researches global infrastructure space as a medium of polity. It considers networks of trade, energy, communication, transportation, spatial products, finance, management, and labor as well as new strains of political opportunity that reside within their spatial disposition. Case studies include free zones and automated ports around the world, satellite urbanism in South Asia, high-speed rail in Japan and the Middle East, agripoles in Southern Spain, fiber optic submarine cable and mobile telephony in East Africa, spatial products of tourism in the DPRK, and the standards and management platforms of ISO.. : Keller Easterling : Keller Easterling

789E Journey of the Universe (Dates TBD) : This six-week hybrid course draws on the resources created in the Journey of the Universeproject—a film, a book, and a series of twenty interviews with scientists and environmentalists. Journey of the Universeweaves together the discoveries of evolutionary science with cosmological understandings found in the religious traditions of the world. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a creative process based on connection, interdependence, and emergence. The Journeyproject also presents an opportunity to investigate the daunting ecological and social challenges of our times. This course examines a range of dynamic interactions and interdependencies in the emergence of galaxies, Earth, life, and human communities. It brings the sciences and humanities into dialogue to explore the ways in which we understand evolutionary processes and the implications for humans and our ecological future. This is an online hybrid course; no shopping period. : : John Grim : Mary Evelyn Tucker

799 Sustainable Development Goals and Implementation :  This course has students (working alone or in a small group) design a specific implementation plan for a specific country for a specific item that is part of the Sustainable Development Goals to be adopted by the U.N. in September 2015. Students study the new post-2015 sustainable development goals and their implementation in the real world. The course focuses primarily on understanding and developing the ability to effectively apply a variety of tools and means of implementation, relying primarily on guest lecturers. The aim is for each student or group of students to combine a geographic area/region (for example, a country of key interest), a sustainable development goal, and a tool for implementation to design an effective implementation strategy to present to those at the ministerial and decision-making level. : Gordon T. Geballe : Gordon T. Geballe

805 Seminar on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics :

This seminar is based on outside speakers and internal student/faculty presentations oriented toward original research in the field of environmental and natural resource economics and policy. Presentations are aimed at the doctoral level, but interested master’s students may enroll with permission of the instructors.

: Kenneth Gillingham : Kenneth Gillingham

817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice :

Our cities, towns, and regions represent the cumulative impact of planning policies implemented at multiple scales over the past century. This course explores the dynamic trends facing the United States and its communities and the evolution in planning practice that is occurring at the local and regional scale to address them. It looks at both suburban and urban approaches. The recent deep recession, climate change, and a lack of social cohesion call for a new triple bottom-line approach to decision-making for our future. Existing policies and governance structures are not always well suited for the new challenges and opportunities that we face. Local, state, and the national government are, to varying degrees, crafting new solutions to the challenges of urban and suburban America.

: David Kooris : David Kooris

822 Strategic Communication: Delivering Effective Presentations(see description for section times and dates) : Must get permission from Instructor to enroll in course - Cannot add this course to online worksheet

Enrollment cap of 6 F&ES students per section.
F&ES students are asked to submit a statement of interest to Professor Reich.    

2 Sections available in Fall-2 (October 22- December 18 ) 
Section -01: T/Th 10:10-11:30 - Evans Hall
Section -02: T/Th 1:00-2:20 - Evans Hall 

2 Sections available in Spring-2 (March 25 - May 14)
Section 01: T/Th T/Th 10:10-11:30 - Evans Hall
Section -02: T/Th 1:00-2:20 - Evans Hall 

The focus of this course is to increase one's competencies in oral communication and presentation. Developing and executing effective communication strategies is essential in a variety of business settings. Business leaders are often expected to present their message with confidence and clarity to employees, clients, partners, investors and the public. This highly interactive, practical course will help students develop confidence in public speaking through weekly presentations and assignments, lectures and discussions, guest speakers, simulated activities, and filmed feedback. Students will be given the opportunity to present both individually and as part of a team. We will explore the essentials of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, message construction, communicator credibility, and delivery. Students at all levels of mastery of public speaking will benefit from this course.  Enrollment is limited to 36.  Students are required to attend the first class session in order to remain enrolled or to bid for the course.  : Taly Reich : Taly Reich

823 Regulation of Energy Extraction (Follows Law School Calendar) :

This comparative risk course explores the troubled intersection between energy and environmental policies. We consider a diverse range of regulatory approaches to minimize adverse environmental effects of various forms of energy development. These include emerging issues regarding hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the United States and European Union; regulation of off-shore drilling and lessons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; liability for natural resources and other damages from oil spills under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90); the Fukushima, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl nuclear accidents; applicability of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to oil and coal leases on federal lands; the Endangered Species Act; visual pollution and other issues relating to wind farms; coal mine disasters; mountaintop mining and the Mine Safety Act; and tailings piles and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The class concludes by considering how concerns about climate change may affect the future of energy development. No prerequisites. Self-scheduled examination or paper option.

: E. Donald Elliott : E. Donald Elliott

828 Comparative Environmental Law in Global Legal Systems (2 week intensive course: dates TBD) :

This course examines environmental law in the various legal systems of the world—from the common and civil law traditions to socialist law, customary law, and Islamic law. In particular, environmental law and case studies from a number of countries are examined, including Australia, Canada, China, Europe, New Zealand, the United States, Singapore, and the states of Southeast Asia. The objective is to understand the scope and evolution of national environmental law through the patterns of legislative, administrative, and judicial decision making in the various legal regimes. The systems of central/unitary governments are contrasted with those of federal systems. As corporations engage in the same manufacturing activities around the world, it is important that corporate managers and their legal advisers understand how these activities are regulated in the different legal systems. Additionally, as earth’s natural systems are integrated throughout the biosphere, the effectiveness of one nation’s environmental laws is complemented or undermined by the efficacy of another nation’s comparable laws. Students are examined by a written paper that is a comparative study of some aspect of environmental law, involving at least two jurisdictions.

Class meets Monday-Friday. M-Th: 4:00-6:50, F: 2:00-4:50

: Lin Heng Lye : TBD Faculty

830 MANY : The MANY seminar continues work on the MANY project—an online platform to facilitate migration through an exchange of needs. Initiated at Yale in 2017 and exhibited at the Venice Biennale, MANY presents the opportunity to organize an interdisciplinary university-wide seminar that assembles professors and guests to critically consider the project and rehearse strategies for realizing it.

MANY rethinks cosmopolitan mobility for all those who might say “We don’t want your citizenship or your victimhood or your segregation or your bad jobs. We don’t want to stay.” For the MANY project, migration is, not crisis, but a historical constant.  It connects existing visa sponsoring networks with spatial projects so that cities can bargain with their underexploited spaces to attract a changing influx of talent and resources—matching their needs with the needs of mobile people to generate mutual benefits

The seminar offers lectures and readings by thinkers, authors, strategists, developers, film makers, policy-makers, activists and urbanists from Yale faculty and outside guests together with workshops and one final presentation/symposium. A cohort of 12-18 students, working in four to six teams of three or four, will develop the project. Teams will explore such things as Digital Architecture and Financing, Laws/Standards/Visas, Architecture/Urbanism/Landscape, Political/Economic/Environmental Migration, and Cultural Narratives of Migration. All coding, visa research and urban research to date together with a growing compendium of links and press will be made available to all groups at the outset. The final presentation, organized by students, will offer the platform and its development timeline to potential partners interested in its realization. Enrollment is limited to 18. While graduate and undergraduate students may work together in a group, undergraduates will receive individual grades for each of three assignments as well as the final project.  : Keller Easterling :

836 Agrarian Societies: Culture, Society, History, and Development :

An interdisciplinary examination of agrarian societies, contemporary and historical, Western and non-Western. Major analytical perspectives from anthropology, economics, history, political science, and environmental studies are used to develop a meaning-centered and historically grounded account of the transformation of rural society. Four hours lecture plus discussion sections.

: Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan : TBD Faculty

862 Science of Science Communication :

[The] Science of Science Communication (21141). 2 units. The simple dissemination of valid scientific knowledge does not guarantee it will be recognized by non experts to whom it is of consequence. The

science of science communication is an emerging, multidisciplinary field that investigates the processes that enable ordinary citizens to form beliefs consistent with the best available scientific evidence, the conditions that impede the formation of such beliefs, and the strategies that can be employed to avoid or ameliorate such conditions. This seminar will survey, and make a modest attempt to systematize, the growing body of work in this area. Special attention will be paid to identifying the distinctive communication dynamics of the diverse contexts in which non experts engage scientific information, including electoral politics, governmental policymaking, and personal health decision making. Paper required. Permission of the instructor required. Also PSYC 601b/F&ES 862b/HPM 601b. D.M. Kahan.
 

 

Course Selection: In addition to listing this course among permission-of-instructor selections, students should also submit a statement of interest by 4:30 p.m. on December 8.

: Dan Kahan : Dan Kahan

869 Disaster, Degradation, Dystopia: Social Science Approaches to Environmental Perturbation and Change :

An advanced seminar on the long tradition of social science scholarship on environmental perception, perturbation, and disaster, the relevance of which has been heightened by the current global attention to climate change. Section I, introduction. Section II, central questions and debates in the field: social dimensions of natural disasters; discursive dimensions of environmental degradation; asymmetries between political power and resource wealth; and anthropological approaches to the study of climate and society. Section III, historic and comparative understandings of the environment: the twenty-first-century development of a posthumanist, multispecies ethnography; and then the half-millennium tradition of natural history studies. Section IV, classroom presentation of students’ and teaching fellow’s writings. One class is devoted to student selections of the most influential works in the current literature, and there are two guest lectures by prominent scholars in the field.  Prerequisite: F&ES 520/ANTH 581, ANTH 517, or F&ES 839/ANTH 597. Three hours lecture/seminar

: Michael R. Dove : Michael R. Dove

889 Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) :

This course focuses on fundamental aspects of risk, using environmental and health risks in the public and private sectors as its primary examples, and is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the value of risk assessment and risk management (RA/RM) in the environmental engineering profession. Students learn how to identify potential hazards, quantify associated risks using probabilistic methods, and incorporate both probabilistic and deterministic results from environmental risk assessment (ERA) into the decision-making process after taking into consideration risk-to-risk trade-offs and societal, environmental, and economic consequences. Students learn how to apply methods and tools for qualitative and quantitative risk assessment (QLRA and QRA).

: : Yehia Khalil

891 Biology of Insect Disease Vectors :

Insects transmit pathogens that cause many emerging and re-emerging human and agriculture-related diseases. Many of these diseases, which are referred to as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), have a dramatically negative impact on human health in the developing world. Furthermore, they cause indirect devastation by significantly reducing agricultural productivity and nutrient availability, exacerbating poverty and deepening disparities. This course introduces students to the biological interactions that occur between major groups of important disease vectors and the pathogens they transmit. Lectures cover current research trends that relate to the ecology and physiology of insect vectors. Course content focuses on how these aspects of vector biology relate to the development and implementation of innovative and effective disease control strategies. Prerequisites: full year of college/university level biology, or permission of the instructor(s). 

: Brian Weiss :

892 Introduction to Planning and Development :

This course demonstrates the ways in which financial and political feasibility determine the design of buildings and the character of the built environment. Students propose projects and then adjust them to the conflicting interests of the financial institutions, real estate developers, civic organizations, community groups, public officials, and the widest variety of participants in the planning process. Subjects covered include housing, commercial development, zoning, historic preservation, parks and public open space, suburban subdivisions, planned communities, and comprehensive plans.

: Alexander Garvin : Alexander Garvin

896 Public Health Toxicology :

This course is designed to serve as a foundation for understanding environmental toxicology. It includes basic principles of toxicology, mechanisms of toxicity and cellular defense, and the fundamental interactions between chemicals and biological systems. Human exposure to foreign chemicals and their adverse effects are considered, as is the importance of federal and state agencies in protecting public health. Through the use of case studies, the course provides insights into prevention of mortality and morbidity resulting from environmental exposure to toxic substances, the fundamentals of risk assessment and regulatory toxicology, and the causes underlying the variability in susceptibility of people to chemicals.

: Vasilis Vasiliou : Vasilis Vasiliou

897 Environmental and Occupational Exposure Science :

This course examines the fundamental and practical aspects of assessing exposures to environmental agents, broadly defined, in the residential, ambient, and workplace environments. The course provides the knowledge and skills to design and conduct exposure assessments, and has a particular focus on applications to environmental epidemiology and risk assessment. Indirect and direct methods of assessing exposures, such as questionnaires, environmental sampling, biological monitoring, and spatial modeling, are reviewed; and case studies and hands-on projects are presented

: TBD Faculty : TBD Faculty

900 Doctoral Student Seminar and Responsible Conduct of Research :

This course provides the foundation for doctoral study at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. As a major part of the course, students will learn what it means to do scholarly research as well as become adept with philosophy of science and research methodology and proposal writing, as a basis for exploring diverse approaches to formulating and addressing research questions. Students will work with their advisers to put these concepts and principles into practice to develop the basis for their dissertation research (including building bibliography, identifying and crafting research questions, formulating research hypotheses and drafting a research proposal).  Students will further learn about funding opportunities and procedures for submitting grants. The course will also cover professional ethics and responsible conduct of research, including ethical approaches to inquiry and measurement, data acquisition and management, authorship and publication, peer review, conflicts of interest, mentoring, collaborative research, and animal and human subjects research.  Finally, the course will explore ethical ways to advocate for the application of scholarly knowledge in the interest of environmental problem solving.  Weekly assigned readings will support concepts and issues addressed in class. Students will present their embryonic research ideas in class and use feedback from the group to further develop their ideas

: Karen C. Seto : Oswald J. Schmitz

902 Environmental Anthropology Research Lab :

1 credit/credit/fail. A bi-weekly seminar for Dove doctoral advisees and students in the combined F&ES/Anthropology program. It consists of the presentation and discussion of dissertation prospectuses and proposals, dissertation chapters, and related publications; collaborative writing and publishing projects on subjects of common interest; and discussion of such topics as grantsmanship, data analysis, writing and publishing, and the job search. Two-hour seminar

: Michael R. Dove : Michael R. Dove

905 Doctoral Seminar in Environmental and Energy Economics :

This course is designed to bring doctoral students up to speed on the latest developments in the literature on environmental and energy economics. Key papers are presented, and associated mathematical and empirical methods are covered. Topics to be covered include uncertainty and climate change policy, estimating energy demand, electricity markets, and behavioral economics and the environment. A focus is on identifying areas that deserve future research attention. Open to advanced master’s students with permission of the instructor.

: : Kenneth Gillingham

910 Survival Skills for Doctoral Students : credit/fail. This course is aimed at preparing advanced doctoral students for successful and rewarding careers in ecology and environmental science. Students learn about academic and non-academic careers from readings of and presentations by scientists in those positions. Students identify important steps toward planning and launching their career paths, and skills for being effective in these positions; and they develop their own career plan, curriculum vitae, teaching and research plans, and critiques of professional web pages. Finally, the course exposes students to resources and opportunities for continuing to apply and polish their skills.  : William Lauenroth : William Lauenroth : Ingrid C. Burke

964 Large-Scale Conservation: Integrating Science, Management, and Policy :

Environmental sustainability and human dignity are important societal goals, but figuring out how to achieve them on large scales—geographic, temporal, and in terms of complexity—has proven to be extremely challenging. Abundant trend data show that many species, ecosystems, and other environmental and human systems are being overused, stressed, or degraded, thus undercutting the likelihood that we can reach sustainability and human rights for all. In addition, our institutions for science, management, and policy are not designed to address sustainability challenges on these scales. Over the last few decades numerous management and policy initiatives have been put forward to address large-scale resource use, including single and multiple use, parks and protected areas, ecosystem management, bioregional planning, integrated conservation and development, transboundary approaches, and adaptive governance. This course (a mixed seminar and practicum) explicitly uses an integrative (i.e., via interdisciplinary) framework to examine the conceptual and contextual basis for these efforts; compares and contrasts their scientific, management, and policy components; explores themes of leadership, problem solving, decision making, governance, change, and learning; and surveys cases from three arenas (terrestrial, aquatic, and marine). The course takes a problem-oriented, contextual, and multi-method approach that offers students conceptual, practical, and professional benefits. It includes readings, lectures, discussions, workshops, exercises, oral presentations, guest speakers, individual and small-group assignments, and possibly a field trip and group project. In past years the course took a field trip to the Connecticut River system to evaluate region-wide conservation efforts, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Grand Canyon Ecosystem. It also organized an international workshop focused on the Yellowstone to Yukon initiative, and assisted a major U.S. NGO plan for transboundary projects along the U.S.-Canadian border. Extensive student participation is required throughout. Enrollment limited to eighteen.

: : Susan G. Clark

970 Environmental Protection Clinic Policy and Advocacy (Follows Law School Calendar) :

Follows Law School Calendar

A clinical seminar in which students are engaged with actual environmental law and policy problems on behalf of client organizations (environmental groups, government agencies, international bodies, etc.). The class meets weekly, and students work ten to twelve hours per week in interdisciplinary groups (with students from the Law School and other departments or schools at Yale) on projects with a specific legal or policy product (e.g., draft legislation or regulations, hearing testimony, analytic studies, policy proposals, white papers, memos, etc.). Students may propose projects and client organizations, subject to approval by the instructor. Brief statement of interest required; please e-mail joshua.galperin@yale.edu for information. Enrollment limited to thirty. This course follows the Yale Law School academic calendar.

: Douglas Kysar : TBD Faculty : Elizabeth Suatoni : David Hawkins

971 Land Use Clinic : This clinic explores a variety of specific community land use topics of current concern and relevance to the field, to the curriculum, and to society. Potential project topics include renewable energy, natural resources, rural-based land uses, agriculture, and sustainable urban planning. Students work with the instructor to develop papers, research memorandums, presentations, and publications on a selected topic. The instructor or guest speakers lecture on specific topics related to student projects. Additionally, students attend field trips relevant to the curriculum and may participate in project meetings with clients. Students select from a project list or meet with the instructor to design a relevant project.  : Jessica Bacher : Jessica Bacher

972 Advanced Environmental Protection Clinic (Follows Law School Calendar) : Open only to students who have successfully completed the Environmental Protection Clinic (F&ES 970a,b). Permission of the instructor required. No statement of interest required. Attendance at clinic seminar is optional. For all questions, please email conor.reynolds@yale.edu. : Douglas Kysar : : Elizabeth Suatoni

973 Industrial Ecology Capstone : The industrial ecology specialization examines the relationships among production, consumption, sustainability, design, and industrial ecology in diverse settings, from products to firms to cities to international trade flows. This capstone course assigns student teams to work with sponsor companies to apply quantitative methods to practical problems facing the organization. In addition, students working independently join the class to learn more about project preparation and to share insights with other students interested in industrial ecology insights and applications. : Reid J. Lifset : Marian Chertow

975 Environmental Justice Capstone: Interdisciplinary Research and Practice at the Intersection of Civil Rights & the Environment (application process) : Students in the spring 2019 Environmental Justice Capstone (subtitled Interdisciplinary Research and Practice at the Intersection of Civil Rights & the Environment) will have the opportunity to work in partnership with communities of color and low-income communities on projects to address racial disparities and improve environmental quality and public health in environmentally overburdened communities.  Students will work in small teams taking on projects to address inequality and race discrimination in the distribution of health hazards as well as procedural inequities experienced by communities as they try to assert their own vision for the future of their neighborhoods, towns and cities. 
Students this past semester worked on projects that included:
-Drafting federal legislation in consultation with community and advocacy groups across the country that would place a moratorium on concentrated animal feeding operations and enact other measures to limit their impacts;
-Research and drafting public comments to be filed on behalf of environmental justice organizations regarding recently proposed changes to NEPA; 
-Research and analysis of the impacts of a landfill in a historically black community in Alabama  analyzing landfill permit variances and assessing the relationship between race and landfill locations in Alabama. 
 
These projects will continue and in the coming semester, students will also have the opportunity to analyze the impact of Connecticut’s ten-year old environmental justice law and work with community groups in Beaumont, Texas and Uniontown, Alabama on the documentation of the impacts of polluting facilities such as refineries and landfills.
 
The semester will begin with a “bootcamp” intended to provide an orientation on key substantive information and the work of the Capstone.  Students will then participate in a weekly seminar intended to explore issues raised by the application of knowledge, skills, and approaches to the environmental justice context, including both substantive issues of environmental and civil rights law and policy, as well as questions related to practice, including ethical and social dimensions of providing technical assistance in this context.  In addition to class meetings and preparation, Capstone participants must complete project work.  Students will also be expected to participate in two weekly one-half-hour team meetings. While there is no prerequisite for the Capstone, participants should have a strong interest in working on behalf of environmentally overburdened communities — often communities of color and low-income communities.
 
To apply, please send Marianne Engelman Lado a c.v. and short statement of your interest (under a page please) at Marianne.engelman-lado@yale.edu by December 1.  Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.  Second year students will be given priority, but first year students are encouraged to apply. Enrollment limited to sixteen. : Marianne Engelman-Lado :

983 Water Resource Science & Management Capstone : This course is designed as the preferred option to fulfill the requirement of a capstone course within the M.E.M. specialization in Water Resource Science and Management. Students work under the instructor’s direction, with advice from other water faculty, to develop management plans or other guidance documents supported by new or existing applied research. Students are trained in research methods so that they have useful background knowledge that will be essential in their future management careers. Topics emphasize real-world, interdisciplinary problems with possible immediate application. : Gaboury Benoit : Gaboury Benoit

985 Capstone: Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice : Building from the topics covered in FES 817a, this capstone course provides the opportunity for students to apply the theory of practice developed during that course to a real world, local project for a public or civic sector client as part of an inter-disciplinary student team. Up to two teams of between four and five students each will work together focusing on a critical neighborhood of New Haven or a nearby municipality. The emphasis in each location will be identifying and overcoming the tensions and conflicts between economic, social, and environmental objectives to develop a balanced strategy for the neighborhood that meets stakeholders goals within the context of overarching regional, national, and even global challenges and opportunities (e.g. climate change and demographic shifts). Towards that end, students will be exposed to the detailed process of local government and decision-making as well as techniques use by city planners to collect and assess data and utilize that information coupled with stakeholder engagement to develop tools to help the community achieve their vision. With a focus on inter-disciplinary problem solving and the collective project management resulting in a client-driven work product, students will learn valuable skills for their future careers. : David Kooris :