Teaching

EHS 200A - Fundamentals of Environmental Health Sciences Syllabus
  Every day the front page of every newspaper in the world has an article that touches on Environmental Health. The threats can be global climate change, heat waves or floods, air and water pollution, oil spills or contamination from geologic fracturing, effects on vulnerable populations, radiation threats, shelter failures, and many more.
  The purpose of this course is to develop the content knowledge and thought processes to be a successful environmental health researcher. The lectures present the fundamental science behind critical environmental health issues and their application to human health. In addition, some sessions are devoted to developing critical thinking skills and training in R, a programming language useful for data management, plotting and statistical analyses.

EHS 203 - Seminar in Ecotoxicology Syllabus
  The goal of the Ecotoxicology Graduate Seminar is to provide a forum, with active student participation, for discussion of important topics in ecotoxicology. Ecotoxicology is a significant area of environmental health sciences that draws on the areas of environmental chemistry, toxicology and ecology. This seminar brings together interested students with EHS faculty working in areas related to ecotoxicology to discuss current topics and trends in the field, as well as classic ecotoxicology studies. Discussion revolves around student presentations of the literature. This seminar provides an opportunity for graduate students to critically evaluate the primary literature and make an organized presentation to their peers and faculty.
  Specific topics for the seminar vary from year to year. For Fall 2014, the seminar focused on the ecotoxicological aspects of the widespread decline of bees (often called colony collapse disorder), with specific focus on the role of neonicotinoid pesticides.

EHS 206 - Applied Coastal Ecology Syllabus
  This seminar provides a forum, with active student participation, critical evaluation of the peer-reviewed literature, and presentations, for discussion of important topics in applied coastal ecology. Spring 2015 quarter’s discussion focused on ecosystem services associated with LID techniques, specifically biofilters such as bioswales and rain gardens, for capturing and treating urban runoff. LID is a critical element of urban sustainability, but little attention has been paid to the ecological value of LID techniques. We examined research on ecosystem services in urban settings to see how these might apply to stormwater biofilters in terms of the services biofilters might provide, methods for quantifying biofilter ecosystem services, and relationships to ecosystem services in the urban landscape; identify data gaps; and consider research needed to fill those gaps.

EHS 212 - Applied Ecology Syllabus
  The objective of Applied Ecology is to provide insight into how ecological theory and principles can be applied to solving environmental problems. Applied Ecology covers a variety of current environmental issues, organized into the following four general themes: (1) methods for detecting environmental impacts, (2) restoring damaged habitats, (3) conservation biology, and (4) ecological effects and mitigation alternatives for global climate change.
  In addition to the specific subject matter, this course emphasizes the development of two skills that are critical for the success of every scientist: critical thinking, and clear written and oral communication.

EHS M414 - Environmental Science and Engineering Syllabus
Workshop - Technical Writing (previously ENV 410B)
  The goal of this course is to teach the fundamentals of writing a scientific paper. Students complete a manuscript that is ready to submit for publication in a peer-reviewed journal by the end of the quarter. The exercises focus on the student’s master’s or doctoral research. Although there may be considerable variance in the amount of data collected (for example, for ESE students during their Problems Course), all students prepare all sections of a manuscript, using “example” data and analyses if necessary. Specific aspects of technical writing and manuscript preparation are reviewed and discussed. Each section of the manuscript undergoes peer review and this process is discussed. The manuscripts are then revised to respond to the reviewers’ comments and re-submitted for evaluation.