51 - 60 of 126 results for: EARTHSYS

How microorganisms shape the geochemistry of the Earth's crust including oceans, lakes, estuaries, subsurface environments, sediments, soils, mineral deposits, and rocks. Topics include mineral formation and dissolution; biogeochemical cycling of elements (carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and metals); geochemical and mineralogical controls on microbial activity, diversity, and evolution; life in extreme environments; and the application of new techniques to geomicrobial systems. Recommended: introductory chemistry and microbiology such as CEE 274A.

Service-learning course that exposes students to sustainability concepts and urban planning as a tool for determining sustainable outcomes in the Bay Area. Focus will be on the relationship of land use and transportation planning to housing and employment patterns, mobility, public health, and social equity. Topics will include government initiatives to counteract urban sprawl and promote smart growth and livability, political realities of organizing and building coalitions around sustainability goals, and increasing opportunities for low-income and communities of color to achieve sustainability outcomes. Students will participate in team-based projects in collaboration with local community partners and take part in significant off-site fieldwork. Prerequisites: consent of the instructor.

The dynamic basis of oceanography. Topics: physical environment; conservation equations for salt, heat, and momentum; geostrophic flows; wind-driven flows; the Gulf Stream; equatorial dynamics and ENSO; thermohaline circulation of the deep oceans; and tides. Prerequisite: PHYSICS 41 (formerly 53).

This seminar delves into a comprehensive new volume on food security written by an all-Stanford team of nineteen faculty and researchers. It explores the interconnections of food security with energy, water, climate, health, and national security, and examines the role of food and agricultural policies and their consequences in countries at different stages of development. Led by the editor of the book, with participation of several of the authors from across many disciplines. Prerequisite: ECON 106. Admission is by application.

Solid, aqueous, and gaseous phases comprising the environment, their natural compositional variations, and chemical interactions. Contrast between natural sources of hazardous elements and compounds and types and sources of anthropogenic contaminants and pollutants. Chemical and physical processes of weathering and soil formation. Chemical factors that affect the stability of solids and aqueous species under earth surface conditions. The release, mobility, and fate of contaminants in natural waters and the roles that water and dissolved substances play in the physical behavior of rocks and soils. The impact of contaminants and design of remediation strategies. Case studies. Prerequisite: 90 or consent of instructor.

This cross-disciplinary course surveys the history and prehistory of human ecological dynamics in Australia, drawing on geology, climatology, archaeology, geography, ecology and anthropology to understand the mutual dynamic relationships between the continent and its inhabitants. Topics include anthropogenic fire and fire ecology, animal extinctions, aridity and climate variability, colonization and spread of Homo sapiens, invasive species interactions, changes in human subsistence and mobility throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene as read through the archaeological record, the totemic geography and social organization of Aboriginal people at the time of European contact, the ecological and geographical aspects of the "Dreamtime", and contemporary issues of policy relative to Aboriginal land tenure and management.

In this course, students will work directly on real-world open space management projects in partnership with the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and preservation of open space, farmland and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. The unique patchwork of urban-to-rural land uses, property ownership, and ecosystems in our region poses numerous challenges and opportunities for regional conservation and environmental stewardship. Students will address a particular challenge through a faculty-mentored research project that will help achieve POST's property management and planning objectives. By focusing on a project driven by POST¿s needs and carried out through engagement with the community, and with thorough reflection, study, and discussion about the roles of scientific, economic, and policy research in local-scale environmental decision-making, students will explore the underlying challenges and complexities of what it means to actually do community-engaged research for conservation and open space preservation in the real world. As such, this course will provide students with skills and experience in research design in conservation biology and ecology, community and stakeholder engagement, land use policy and planning, and the practical aspects of land and environmental management. The POST Practicum is a collaboration between the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Haas Center for Public Service.

Additional practicum units for students intent on continuing their projects from EARTHSYS 176. Students who enroll in 176A must have completed EARTHSYS 176: The Peninsula Open Space Practicum: Community-Based Environmental Research for Open Space Management, or have consent of the instructors.

Learning in interdisciplinary situations. Framing research questions. Developing research methods that benefit from interdisciplinary understanding. Writing for multiple audiences and effectively making interdisciplinary presentations. Discussions with interdisciplinary experts from across campus regarding interdisciplinary research projects.