The Colorado Internet Center for Environmental Problem Solving

University Environmental Course Listings

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Modeling the Environment and Climate: Examines modeling of the environment and climate, including climate change. Construction of simple climate and environmental models from first principles. These models are used to examine the interrelationships that exist within the climate and the environment and to test hypotheses and theories related to climate and environmental change.
Weather and the Atmosphere: This course introduces principles of modern meteorology for non-science majors, with emphasis on scientific and human issues associated with severe weather events. Includes description, prediction, economic safety impacts of blizzards, hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, lightning, floods, and firestorms. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: natural science.
Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate: This course covers the climate of the Earth for non-science majors, focusing on the role of the atmosphere and oceans in the climate system. Descriptions of climate system energy flow, atmosphere and ocean global circulations, El-Nino, monsoons and natural and human-caused climate change. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: natural sciences.
Analysis of the Climate and Weather Observations: The instruments, techniques, and statistical methods used in atmospheric observations. issues of data accuracy and spatial representativeness. Applications to ozone changes, surface temperature trends, interannual variability of climate, droughts, floods, and hurricanes. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: natural sciences.
Air Chemistry and Pollution: Composition of the atmosphere. Sources of gaseous and particulate pollutants: their chemistry, transport, and removal from the atmosphere. Application of general principles to acid rain, smog, and stratospheric ozone depletion. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: natural sciences.
Modeling the Environment and Climate: Examines modeling of the environment and climate, including climate change. Construction of simple climate and environmental models from first principles. These models are used to examine the interrelationships that exist within the climate and the environmental and to test hypotheses and theories related to climate and environmental change.
Critical Issues in Climate and Environment: Discussion of current issues such as ozone depletion, global warming, and air quality for graduate students in non- scientific fields. The course will provide the scientific background necessary to understand, follow scientific developments, and critically evaluate these issues.
Physical Processes in Atmospheres and Oceans: Atmospheric thermodynamics, hydrostatics, cloud and radioactive processes, and chemical cycle. Elementary dynamics with application to the earth and planetary atmosphere. PAOS graduate core course.
Dynamics of Oceans: Theory of the large scale wind-driven and thermohaline circulations in the oceans. Models of boundary currents, western intensification, ventilation, equatorial surface and undercurrents, ocean waves, and eddies. PAOS GRADUATE core course.
Remote Sensing of Atmospheres and Oceans: Examines fundamentals of radiative transfer; extinction and scattering-based passive remote sensing; emission- based passive remote sensing; principles of active remote sensing; multi-sensor and multi-wave-length approaches to satellite remote sensing; and future satellite systems and validation programs. PASO graduate core course requirement.
Introduction to Environmental Engineering: Introduces environmental protection legislation and various water, air, and hazardous waste problems. Stresses basic geochemical, ecological, mass conservation, and environmental chemistry concepts in relation to solving environmental engineering problems.
Water and Wastewater Treatment: Introduces design and operation of facilities for treatment of municipal water supplies and wastewater. Engineering application of physical, chemical, and biological unit processes and operations for removal of impurities and pollutants. Integrated design of whole treatment systems combining process elements.
Water Quality: Lectures introduce fundamental of aquatic chemistry of inorganic and organic compounds. Topics include thermodynamics and kinetics of acids and bases, carbonate chemistry, air-water exchange, precipitation and dissolution, complexation, oxidation-reduction, and sorption. Laboratories illustrate concepts through examination of water quality of Boulder Creek and other local waters.
Engineering Hydrology: Engineering applications of principles of hydrology. Hydrologic cycle, rainfall and run-off, groundwater, storm frequency and duration studies, stream hydrography, flood frequency, and flood routing.
Open Channel Hydraulics: Study of flow in open channels both natural and constructed. Topics include application of energy equation and momentum relationships, tractive force on erodible boundaries, water surface profiles, theory and calculations, and design transitions.
Groundwater Engineering: Studies the occurrence, movement, extraction for use, and quantity and quality aspects of groundwater. Introduction and use of basic concepts to solve engineering and geohydrologic problems.
Water Resource Engineering: Applications to the design of water supply and distribution systems; waste and storm water collection systems; flood protection structures and plans; reservoirs; irrigation and drainage canal networks.
Environmental Engineering: Applications to the design of facilities for the treatment of municipal water supplies and wastewater, hazardous waste, and industrial waste.
Hazardous and Industrial Waste management: Evaluation of processes used for treatment of wastes requiring special handling and disposal: toxic organic chemicals, heavy metals, acidic, caustic, and radioactive waste material. Techniques for destruction, immobilization, and resource recovery; assessment of environmental impact of treatment process end products.
Advanced Solar Design: Performance prediction and economic analysis of high temperature, photovoltaic, and other innovative solar systems; performance prediction methods for solar processes.
Advanced Passive Solar Design: Emphasizes design-oriented treatment of passive solar systems. Treats generic types of systems and their performance and cost. Covers passive system construction and daylighting.
Groundwater Hydrology: Studies the occurrence, movement, extraction for use, and quantity and quality aspects of groundwater. Introduces and uses basic concepts to solve engineering and geohydrologic problems.
Water Law, Policy, and Institutions: Contemporary issues in water management based on legal doctrine. Legal issues in water resource problems are identified and discussed in close relationship with technical, economic, and political considerations.
Groundwater Modeling: Studies mathematical and numerical techniques needed to develop models to solve problems in water flow and chemical transport in the saturated and unsaturated zones of aquifers. Not only emphasizes the learning of modeling techniques from fundamentals, but also the application of models and modeling methods to solve problems in groundwater engineering, geo-environmental engineering, hazardous waste management, aquifer remediation design, and aquifer clean-up.
Environmental Engineering Chemistry: Comprehensive analysis of the chemistry of natural and polluted waters and the application to environmental engineering problems. Topics include energetic principles, chemical equilibrium, co"coordination chemistry, adsorption phenomena, solid phase interactions, redox phenomena, natural water models, metal pollution, dynamics in aquatic ecosystems, and biogeochemical and nutrient cycling. Computer simulations are used to illustrate more complex chemical systems.
Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management: Evaluation of processes used for treatment of wastes requiring special handling and disposal: toxic organic chemicals, heavy metals, acidic, caustic, and radioactive waste material. Techniques for destruction, immobilization, and resource recovery; assessment of environmental impact of treatment process end products.
Environmental Pollutants: Water quality management course in which the relationships among air, water, and land pollution, water quality, and beneficial uses are examines. Major objectives are to develop the ability to recognize the consequences and impacts of pollutants in the aquatic environment and to learn how to correct or minimize the unfavorable water quality conditions.
Water Treatment: Advanced studies on theory of treatment; design and operation of domestic and industrial water supplies.
Wastewater Treatment: Advanced analysis of wastewater treatment systems; design and operation of treatment process reactors; factors affecting performance of facilities used for physical separation, and chemical and biological conversion of wastewater compounds, including nitrogen and phosphorus.
Advanced Aquatic Chemistry: Examines aquatic equilibria, corrosion, colloid and polymer chemistry, behavior of natural organic matter in engineered systems, and application of personal computers to model aquatic equilibria.
Aquatic Surface Particle: Examination of the role of surfaces and particles in the fate and transport of contaminants in the aquatic environment. Emphasis on modeling of adsorption, dissolution, precipitation, surface- catalyzed reactions, and coagulation and filtration kinetics.
Introduction to Environmental Studies: A survey of environmental studies examining ecological, socioeconomic, political, aesthetic, and technological factors that influence the quality of life on Earth.
Race, Class, and Pollution Politics: Examines communities affected by major toxic contamination threats in the U. S., evaluating race and class factors in levels of governmental and private-sector responses and actions. Investigative research methods utilized at case study sites provide skills necessary for assessment of any environmental threat for protective action.
Environmental Systems 1 - Climate and Vegetation: Introduces the atmospheric environment of the Earth: elements and controls of climate and their implications for hydrology, vegetation, and soils. Emphasizes distribution of physical features across the Earth's surface and interactions between humans and their environment, especially those leading to global change on the decade to century time scale. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: natural science.
Environmental Systems 2 - Landforms and Soils.: Introduces two essential aspects of the natural environment: landforms and soils. Emphasizes the genesis, distribution, and utility of surface features in a variety of learning situations, including lectures, labs, and field trips. Approved for arts and science core curriculum: natural science.
World Regional Geography: An intellectual journey around the globe, stopping at major regions to study the people, their environments, and how they interact. Topics include the political/economic tensions in changing Europe, conflicts in Brazilian rainforests, transitions facing African peoples, and rapid changes in China.
Human Geographies: Examines social, political, economic, and cultural processes creating the geographical worlds in which we live, and how these spatial relationships shape our everyday lives. Studies urban growth, geopolitics, agricultural development and change, economic growth and decline, population dynamics, and migration exploring both how these processes work at global scale as well as shape geographies of particular places.
Mountain Geography: Surveys mountain environments and their human use with illustrations from temperate and tropical mountain areas.
Biogeography: Survey and analysis of plant and animal distribution on a world scale from ecological and historical perspectives. Emphasizes human impact on vegetation.
Natural Hazards: Impact of extreme geophysical events on human society. Emphasizes adaptations to extreme events and ways of reducing vulnerability and damage.
Conservation Practice and Resource Management: Inventory, policy, and management of natural resources. Emphasizes practical approaches to the conservation and management of soil, land, water, and air resources.
Conservation Thought: Historical survey of human consumption of earthly material; environmental and global considerations of population growth, cultural attitude, and technological development; diverse goals and philosophy of conservation movements in time and place.
Economic Geography: Several theories of location of economic activity are presented: general theory of land use, agricultural location theory, plant location theory, central place theory, location of systems of cities, and geographical organization of industries. Aggregate geographical structure of regions studied as the geography of three major markets: labor, product, and capital, including the banking system. Economic growth of regions and policies designed to influence regional growth and welfare.
Geography of International Development: Compares and contrasts global characteristics and processes of development, emphasizing the developing countries of the world. Theories of development, specific development topics, and case studies are integrated to explore the problems of development.
Remote Sensing of the Environment: Covers acquisition and interpretation of environmental data by remote sensing. Theory and sensors are discussed, as are manual and microwave portions of the spectrum are stressed.
Mountain Geomorphology: Field course emphasizing study of landforms produced by weathering and soils, mass movement, and erosional processes under all climatic and altitudinal conditions.
Forest Geography: Principles and Dynamics: Surveys principles of forest geography and ecology. Both individual tree responses to environmental factors and species interactions within communities are included. Emphasizes forest dynamics and their relation to management problems.
Methods of Soil Analysis: Methods of soil sampling and laboratory analysis are applied toward an understanding of the relationships between soils, the environment, and landscape impacts. Field trips explore field observation and sampling techniques. Laboratory analyzes determine soil physical and chemical properties.
Seminar: Conservation Trends: Provides environmental studies or geography majors with an undergraduate format for interdisciplinary discussion and research into current and future directions of conservation. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: critical thinking.
Water Resources and Water Management of Western United States: Interpretation and analysis of hydroclimatic data, surface, and groundwater. Water use is critically evaluated emphasizing problems associated with geographic maldistribution, appropriations, irrigation, industry, pollution, and regional development.
Political Geography: Systematic study of relations between geography and politics, especially as background for better understanding of international affairs. Includes topics such as frontiers and boundaries, power analysis, geopolitics, international political economy, and strategic concepts.
Public Land Law: Deals with the legal status and management of federal lands. Explores federal law, policy, and agency practice affecting the use of mineral, timber, range, water, wildlife, and wilderness resources on public lands.
Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy: Examines the historical, political, and intellectual influences that created and shaped major areas of law governing land and natural resources development and conservation, especially in the American West. Readings include books and articles by leading writers as well as the landmark court decisions. Enables students with a passing interest in natural resources to take a single course in the field. Allows students going on to take other natural resource courses a more advanced treatment of the subject matter.
Water Resources: Analysis of regional and national water problems, including legal methods by which water supplies are allocated, and an examination of problems involved in water resource planning.
Oil and Gas: Deals with the legal problems associated with private arrangements forth ownership and development of oil and gas: deeds and leases to oil and gas rights. trespass, adverse possession, implied covenants in leases, conveyances of fractional interests, and the interaction of private right and conservation regulation.
Mining Law: Federal law governing access to and development of hard rock minerals on public lands; location of claims; issues of discovery; assessment work; patents; and environmental regulation.
Pollution Law: Examination and analysis of important federal pollution control statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Solid Waste Act, and Superfund, Related economic theory and policy issues are considered.
Natural Resources Litigation Clinic: Offers hands-on experience in the practice of natural resources law in the Rocky Mountain region to a select number of clinic students. Affords an inside view into both complex environmental litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. Students participate in traditional litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. Students participate in traditional litigation, administrative advocacy, legislative drafting, and the conduct of complex negotiations and settlements.
Hazardous Waste and Toxic Torts: Examines statutorily-imposed responsibility and common-law tort and product liability exposure. These are discussed in relation to the growing problem of the handling and disposal of toxic substances and hazardous waste as they impact public health and the environment. Focuses on federal law and that of several states regulating chemicals and toxic substances, hazardous waste disposal, and clean-up of contaminated sites.
Legal Negotiation and Dispute Resolution: Explores fundamentals of effective negotiation techniques and policies for lawyers. Students engage in mock negotiations of several legal disputes. Examines a variety of dispute resolution processes such as mediation, arbitration, mini-trials, and court-annexed settlement procedures as alternatives to traditional court adjudication.
Independent Legal Research: International Environmental Law Journal: Students participate in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Colorado Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. Standards for the awarding of credit are set and applied by the faculty.
Seminar: Advanced Natural Resources Law: For students with a strong interest in natural resources issues in the American West. Coverage is based upon biological and geographical classifications where numerous resource issues converge. Studies historical, literary, and scientific materials and then moves to an analysis of current problems relating to matters such as federal public lands, wildlife habitat, water quantity, ocean and coastal law, land us planning, pollution control, Indian law, and state, federal authority as they implicate the topic of the seminar.
Seminar: Advanced Water Resource Management: Explores the use of watersheds as geographic and political entities for addressing water- related issues. Introduces the nature of watersheds and their historical treatment, and looks at the ways in which laws and institutions facilitate or impede watershed-based problem solving or decision-making. Students prepare and present major research papers focusing on a particular water issue and explore solutions in the context of the entire watershed with its related problems and multiple, interconnected interest.
Seminar: Biotechnology and Law: Legal, moral, and economic analysis of problems posed or soon to be posed by advances in biomedical technologies. Examines problems raised by behavior control through organic intervention, including psychosurgery, psychoactive drugs. and electrical stimulation of the brain; genetic engineering, amplification of human powers and faculties by artificial means, including organ transplantation, man-machine symbiosis, and pharmacologically induced enhancement of mental functioning; death and dying; and regulation of experimentation with human subjects. Discusses problems in distributive justice posed by limited availability of biotechnological commodities, as well as issues arising from enforced treatment.
Seminar: Alternative Dispute Resolution: A study of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) theory, its application in specific contexts (e. g., civil rights), procedural approaches to ADR, advantages and disadvantages of using ADR, and the attorney's roles in ADR processes.
Seminar: International Environmental Law: Deals with selected issues in environmental law that involve the United States and one or more other countries. Students prepare research papers on topics dealing with trans-boundary pollution, extraterritorial application of federal water courses, export or disposal of hazardous materials, regulation of foreign aid and investment affecting the environment, options for controlling global climate change, and the use of treaties to protect the environment.

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For more information contact: Guy Burgess, Co-Director, Conflict Research Consortium, Campus Box 327, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0327 Phone: (303)492-1635; Fax: (303)492-2154; E-Mail: crc@colorado.eduCopyright 1997 by Conflict Research Consortium