Undergraduate Courses 2017-18

This is an introductory course on Environmental Microbiology for students without relevant background. Concepts covered include occurrence, diversity and distribution of microbes in the environment, major groups, life cycle characteristics and growth patterns; the roles of microorganisms in the environment and their impacts on environmental processes as well as their applications to industrial processes.

Understanding our environment, including the ecology, biodiversity and cycles of environmental ecosystems, human environmental impacts such as climate change, energy use, chemical toxicology, waste disposal, water and air pollution; conservation; exploration of new green technologies to reduce impacts, environmental law and changes in policies to ensure sustainability. Case studies through group projects.

Sustainable development integrates improvements in human welfare with improvements in the health of the environment. It is societies attempt to solve the degradation that economic and social development has imposed on the environment. To solve environmental crises such as climate change, pollution, or destruction of biodiversity we need to integrate environmental practices into all our activities, pulling together new technologies, lifestyles, economic theories and business practices, and government policies. This course looks at how this process of integration works at the international, national, and municipal levels and from the organization perspectives of different industrial sectors, businesses, and communities.

The course is aimed at providing students with insights in how to deal with environmental problems and the way in which science interfaces with policies. It will cover major topics on the sources of air pollutions, air chemistry, oxidation of organic compounds and issues on control of air pollutant emissions and air quality management.

This course is intended for UG students of all backgrounds. The course will cover concepts in environmental health including topics on outdoor and indoor environments, workplace, water and sewege, food, genetically modified organism, solid waste, communicable diseases, vectors and control, injury prevention, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, nanomaterials, environmental health standards, monitoring methods, energy related health issues, natural and manmade disasters, etc. The discussions on each of these topics will include nature of the issue, known and potential health effects, control and regulatory approaches. Local and regional examples will be used where applicable.

Selected topics of current interest in environmental studies. May be repeated for credit, if the topics studied are different.

Each EVMT student is required to complete a capstone project before graduation. This is the first course of a two-term project in which the student can synthesize and apply knowledge from their courses. The project is conducted under the supervision of a faculty member.

The aim of this course is to show how sustainability can be applied to the home and business environment. In addition to introducing students to a range of scientific issues the module will provide students with enhanced confidence in the balanced and accurate communication of scientific issues.