Fall 2006 Course List

ESP 5000  Environmental Science (3 credits) Instructor: William Smith
Mondays, 5:30 – 8:30 pm
Students in this course will be introduced to the sciences fundamental to the understanding of major environmental issues.  The adverse impacts being imposed on our air, water and land resources will be explored.  Students will gain a better understanding of aspects of the physical, chemical and biological sciences that define environmental issues; the role of sound science in contemporary environmental policy; and experience in researching and presenting a contemporary environmental science topic.

ESP 5300  Field Methods in Water Resources (1 credit) Instructor: Kevin McGuire
Thursdays, 11:30 am – 3:00 pm
Hydrologic and climatic field measurements and computations useful in watershed management and hydrology.  Involves the collection, compilation, and interpretation of data and assessing error, and learning about fundamental hydrologic properties. Course complements Watershed Hydrology.

ESP 5150  Glacial and Periglacial Geology  (3 credits) Instructor: Mike Prentice
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Glaciation has strongly shaped the New England landscape and blanketed it with diverse sediments that influence its hydrology, biology, and human development. The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, themselves of significant societal concern, are remnants of ice sheets that formerly covered 30% of the earth’s land surface. The course will introduce glaciers and the processes and products of glacier and cold-region erosion and deposition. The course will emphasize the development, form, and properties of New England glacial sediments but cover the global record. The glacial-geologic methods learned will be applied to on-going investigations of glacier and climate history around the planet.

ESP 5510  Limnology (3 credits) Instructor: Larry Spencer
Thursdays, 3:30 – 6:00 pm
This course will examine the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems. Topics to be covered will include the geology, chemistry, physics and biology of such systems. Special emphasis will be given to biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and productivity, and relationships of freshwater systems to human existence.  Lab work will include studies of both lotic and lentic systems

ESP 5640  Methods of Social Research  (3 credits) Instructor: Brian Eisenhauer
Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 10:00 – 11:00 am
We encounter information about cultures and society in many ways throughout our lives. This course will enable students to become more astute and critical consumers of social research studies through exploring the thinking behind social research and the methods used to collect, analyze, and report the findings of the social sciences. Students will gain knowledge in research design and implement an actual study of social phenomena.  Skills to be presented include theory application and construction, operationalizing variables, evaluating strengths and weaknesses of research methodologies, determining causality, sampling, hypothesis formulation and testing, data collection, analysis and depiction, and proposal writing. 

ESP 5660  Principles of Interpretation  (3 credits) Instructor: Audrey Eisenhauer
Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
This course introduces students to the basic principles and practices of the art and profession of interpretation. After completing this course students will be able to: understand and relate a working definition of interpretation; discuss the history, principles, and philosophy of interpretation as it is practiced in natural resource settings; describe the basics of visitor evaluation; illustrate basic skills in interpretive research, oral presentation development and exhibit development; demonstrate development of interpretive themes, goals, and objectives; and demonstrate competency in making thematic oral presentations and producing interpretive exhibits.  For an additional fee to the National Association for Interpretation, students will have an opportunity to become a Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG). This option will be explained in class at the beginning of the semester and students can visit www.interpnet.com for more information.     

ESP 5710  Science Colloquium Series (1 credit per year)
Wednesdays, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
This graduate seminar is designed to be a core course in the Environmental Science and Policy program. It will focus on the analysis on contemporary issues in environmental science.  Specific topics will vary from year to year and will be tailored to the interests of the students enrolled and faculty interests.  The course will create a foundation of knowledge of contemporary issues.   It is also expected that it will help students refine their research interests as well as be exposed to new ideas through interaction with others in the course.

ESP 5650  Social Movements and Environmental Justice (3 credits) Instructor: Brian Eisenhauer
Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 1:25 – 2:15 pm
Sociological examinations of social movements attempt to address one of the most important questions in sociology -- how does social and cultural change actually happen?  Many of the characteristics of modern society that we take for granted, such as environmental awareness, voting rights, and organized labor, have their origins in the struggles of organized social movements. This course will examine the ways different social theorists and researchers analyze social movements through a focus on the environmental justice movement. The environmental justice movement asserts that throughout the world there are marked and increasing disparities between those who have access to clean and safe resources and those who do not. In this and other aspects, the environmental justice perspective differs from traditional environmental philosophies in that it seeks to combine a concern for the natural world with a consciousness of ethnic, class, and gender discrimination.

ESP 5500  Special Topics: Alpine Environments (2 credits) Instructors: Geoff Wilson & June Hammond Rowan
Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm; 1 Friday afternoon & 3 Saturday field trips (dates to be determined)
This seminar course will focus on the alpine and subalpine environments of New Hampshire including the region's flora and fauna, geology,climate, as well as human influences through air quality and recreational uses.  The course includes a field portion that integral to the course content and involves fairly strenuous hiking, since alpine areas lie at high elevations.  Students should be prepared to hike 7-10 miles per fieldtrip with elevation changes ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. 

ESP 5500  Special Topics: Environmental Pollution Toxicology (3 credits) Instructor: Wavell Fogleman
Wednesdays, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Course is designed to acquaint students with the fundamentals of environmental toxicology, particularly the effects of toxins on humans but also other animals and plants.  Environmental toxicology is a multi- disciplinary endeavor involving biology, chemistry, epidemiology, statistics and water and atmospheric sciences.

ESP 5320  Watershed Hydrology (3 credits) Instructor: Kevin McGuire
Tuesdays, 3:30 – 6:00 pm
A qualitative and quantitative understanding of concepts and physical principles governing the occurrence, distribution, and circulation of water near the Earth's surface. Emphasis will be on the physical understanding and parameterization of hydrologic processes such as how rainfall and snowmelt become streamflow, evapotranspiration, and groundwater.  Course expected to serve as prerequisite to Watershed Management and Snow Hydrology, and co- or pre-requisite to Field Methods in Water Resources. 

ESP 5920  Independent Environmental Research (1-4 credits)
Students select a topic and project in consultation with their advisor and committee. Collaboration with external organizations and partners is encouraged. A timeline, goals, deliverables, credits, and expected outcomes are outlined for each project.

ESP 5900  Master’s Thesis Research (1-8 credits)
Students select a topic in consultation with their advisor and committee. A timeline, proposal, and defense are outlined. A final thesis is prepared in accordance with program thesis guidelines.