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Courses
Whereas sustainability is represented broadly throughout the course offerings in SOLS, below are some of the courses that are particularly relevant to sustainability efforts.
- BIO 100 The Living World: Biodiversity and sustainability issues are included in this broad overview of the life sciences with a special emphasis on society-science interactions and on critical thinking and scientific reasoning (non-majors course; about 700 students per semester).
- BIO 187 General Biology I: Biodiversity and sustainability introduced to biological sciences majors.
- BIO 311/314/414 Biology and Society/Research Colloquium in Biology and Society I and II: Interactions between biological sciences and society are explored; the two colloquium courses develop critical thinking in this area.
- BIO 317 Conservation Biology proposed new expansion of this course will be BIO 322/323 Conservation Biology and Sustainable Ecosystems I and II: This is the anchor course in the newly proposed Concentration in Conservation Biology and Ecological Sustainability (replacing the stand-alone major in Conservation Biology). This course fully integrates the principles of biodiversity, conservation biology and all aspects of sustainable use and sustainable development.
- BIO 319/PLB 320 Environmental Science: A dedicated non-majors course that highlights the principles of sustainability.
- BIO 320 Ecology: The anchor course developing the principles of ecology, without which it is impossible to understand biodiversity science and sustainable use.
- BIO 325 Oceanography: Includes discussion on the environmental and social aspects of oceans, which are gaining in importance in our ability to understand the earths sustainability.
- BIO 394/PHI 310 Environmental Ethics: Focuses on ethical parameters (including sustainability) as they relate to dealing with environmental issues.
- BIO 410 Techniques in Wildlife Conservation Biology: Teaches natural history and the principles needed to address conservation goals.
- BIO 411 Advanced Conservation Biology I proposed to be renamed Quantitative Conservation Biology: Explores the nature of sustainable use calculations, essential to understanding how natural resources can be used and sustained.
- BIO 412 Advanced Conservation Biology II proposed to be renamed Conservation in Action: This course is all about sustainability, as it explores how conservation biologists conduct their work, interact with stakeholders, develop personal philosophies concerning issues in sustainability, and extensions of these themes.
- BIO 421 Landscape Ecology: Discusses how landscapes interact with ecological processes landscape ecology is central to most analyses of regional and global sustainability.
- BIO 426 Limnology: This course is an all-encompassing overview of the multi-disciplinary science of inland waters (lakes, streams) with major emphases on environmental issues involving water, such as water supply management, eutrophication, acid rain, and global climate change.
- BIO 427 Fire: Addresses the interdisciplinary nature of fire, and with it the resilience and sustainability of natural ecosystems as well as the societal interactions with fire.
- BIO 515 Science, Technology, and Public Affairs: Addresses the policy components that must be understood to engage in sustainability studies locally, regionally and globally.
- HPS 377 Nature in Context: Discusses various perspectives on the nature of nature, rise of environmentalism, etc. all with a central theme of sustainability.
- HPS 402 Technology, Society, and Human Values: Discusses conflict resolution in a variety of settings many of which are central to how sustainability issues are raised and solved.
- MBB 343 Genetic Engineering and Society: Discusses implications of genetic engineering and biotechnology for a more sustainable society.
- MBB 490 Capstone: Issues in Biotechnology: Integrates science and humanities and discusses environmental benefits and impacts of biotechnology, as well as regulatory issues, ethics, and commercialization.
- MIC 381 Pathogenic microbes: Infectious disease, with emphasis on pathogenesis, host defenses, and molecular mechanisms of microbial virulence - key to global health issues.
- MIC 461 Geomicrobiology: Discusses interactions among microbial life, geological materials, and biogeochemical cycles, key to sustainability.
- PLB 302 Plants and Civilization: Engages students to think about the relationship of plants and people a key to understanding ecosystem sustainability.
- PLB 322 Environmental Science: A botanical look at biodiversity and sustainability for majors. Develops environmental problem-solving activities and embraces looking at environmental problems from regional to global scales.
- PLB 420/421 Plant Ecology: Organisms and Populations/Communities and Ecosystems: Develops the principles of ecology from a botanical perspective, necessary for a thorough understanding of sustainability.
- PLB 434 Landscape Ecological Analysis and Modeling: Explores the technical means to analyze landscapes a critical piece of all sustainability studies.
- BIO 494 Urban Ecological Systems: This course considers urban ecosystems and the emerging theoretical bases for understanding their dynamics. The topic is critically important to sustainability since over half of the world’s population resides in cities, and yet these ecosystems represent concentrated areas of both environmental problems. Cities also are hot spots of human innovation, which can provide solutions to those problems.
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