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Preference to freshmen. Microbial life is diverse and resilient on Earth; could it survive elsewhere in our solar system? This seminar will investigate the diversity of microbial life on earth, with an emphasis on extremophiles, and consider the potential for microbial life to exist and persist in extraterrestrial locales. Topics include microbial phylogenetic and physiological diversity, biochemical adaptations of extremophiles, ecology of extreme habitats, and apparent requirements and limits of life. Format includes lectures, discussions, lab-based activities and local field trips. Basics of microbiology, biochemistry, and astrobiology.

Preference to freshman. Focus is on the complex climate challenges posed by the substantial benefits of energy consumption, including the critical tension between the enormous global demand for increased human well-being and the negative climate consequences of large-scale emissions of carbon dioxide. Topics include: Earth¿s energy balance; detection and attribution of climate change; the climate response to enhanced greenhouse forcing; impacts of climate change on natural and human systems; and proposed methods for curbing further climate change. Sources include peer-reviewed scientific papers, current research results, and portrayal of scientific findings by the mass media and social networks.

Microbes are often viewed through the lens of infectious disease yet they play a much broader and underappreciated role in sustaining our Earth system. From introducing oxygen into the Earth¿s atmosphere over 2 billion years ago to consuming greenhouse gases today, microbial communities have had (and continue to have) a significant impact on our planet. In this seminar, students will learn how microbes transformed the ancient Earth environment into our modern planet, how they currently sustain our Earth¿s ecosystems, and how scientists study them both in the present and in the past. Students will be exposed to the fundamentals of microbiology, biogeochemistry, and Earth history.

Preference to freshmen. Field trips to sites in the Elkhorn Slough, a small agriculturally impacted estuary that opens into Monterey Bay, a model ecosystem for understanding the complexity of estuaries, and one of California's last remaining coastal wetlands. Readings include Jane Caffrey's "Changes in a California Estuary: A Profile of Elkhorn Slough". Basics of biogeochemistry, microbiology, oceanography, ecology, pollution, and environmental management.

Welfare reform passed by the Federal Government in 1996 heralded a dramatic step in how our nation designs and operates its programs that support poor families. The centerpiece of this legislation known as 'devolution' transferred much responsibility for these programs to the states. States had their first opportunity since the 'war on poverty' of the 1960s to undertake radical changes in setting up their public assistance programs. Recently, many of the reforms instituted in the 1990s are being hotly debated and in some aspects reversed. What flexibility did the states receive under welfare reform, and what considerations are relevant in exercising this flexibility? What selections have states made, and how are their programs and those of the federal government likely to evolve in the future? This seminar will address these questions, exploring how reforms changed welfare and who has been affected by these changes. In addition to covering the patchwork of different programs that currently constitute America's social safety net, the seminar will also scrutinize the makeup and trends in government spending and how our nation defines poverty and eligibility for income support. Moreover, the discussion will illustrate the role that economics plays in assessing the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs and the consequences on families' behavior. Students will participate in a project in which they develop their own recommendations for devising a safety net for poor families in America.

Examines the intimate relationship between environmental quality and the production and consumption of energy. Assesses the economics efficiency and political economy implications of a number of current topics in energy and environmental economics. Topics include: the economic theory of exhaustible resources, Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) control (cap and trade mechanisms and carbon fees), GHG emissions offsets, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the "smart" transmission grid for electricity, nuclear energy and nuclear waste, the real cost of renewable energy, natural gas and coal-fired electricity production, the global coal and natural gas markets, Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) and Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), Energy Efficiency Investments and Demand Response, and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). For all topics, there will be reading to explain the economics and engineering behind the topic and class discussion to clarify and elaborate on this interaction.

Spending by federal, state, and local governments accounts for about one-third of U.S. GDP and governments employ more than one-in-seven workers in the U.S. For most U.S. residents, government is represented by a complicated web of federal, state, and local policies. There is an increasingly contentious debate about the proper role of the government and regarding the impact of specific government policies. This debate is rarely grounded in a common set of facts.nIn this seminar, we will explore how each level of government interacts with U.S. residents through government services, public programs, taxes, and regulations. We will examine financial results for different levels of government while considering the net effects of government intervention on the health and economic well-being of individuals and families. Particular attention will be paid to certain sectors (e.g. education, health care, etc.) and to certain groups (e.g. those in poverty, the elderly, etc.). Along the way we will accumulate a set of metrics to assess the performance of each level of government while highlighting the formidable challenges of such an exercise.

In this class we will discuss the economic and institutional causes of the rise in inequality in the US and other countries over the last 40 years. We will also discuss the consequences of inequality in terms of social justice, economic welfare, aggregate economic performance, intergenerational mobility, and the possible implications of inequality for the recent global financial crisis.

We will explore the evolution and current performance of capitalist and socialist economies, their interaction with democracy, and the contemporary debate about the appropriate roles of individual vs. collective rights and responsibilities.