DES Curriculum

DES Curriculum

ESP 360 - Water Quality Assessment and Control: A study of water-related legislation, methods for determining compliance with statutes, and control methods used for water quality attainment. Regional topics addressed include: waste-water treatment, drinking water standards, storm water runoff, lake eutrophication, best management practices, and biomonitoring for water quality assessment. Three hours of lecture and three hours of lab per week. Prerequisites: BIO 107 and CHY 113 and 114 and POS 202 or POS 365 and a statistics course. Cr 4.

ESP 401W - Environmental Impact Assessment: An overview of methods used to analyze the environmental impact of human decisions. The course will emphasize U.S. requirements for impact assessment as outlined in NEPA. Federal documents (e.g., DEIS, EIA, EIS, FONSI, and ROD) of past and on-going projects are reviewed. A laboratory session is taken concurrently and is writing intensive. Focus is on the application of assessment procedures to a thematic environmental issue. It is the fourth course of a thematic sequence for DES majors. Prerequisite: ESP 290.

ESP 403 - Bioremediation and Phytoremediation: A study of the interaction of soils and groundwater with organic and synthetic contaminants, and the role of soils in pollution control. Students investigate the physical, chemical, and microbiological properties of soil and water and compare conventional remediation with bioremediation techniques. Special emphasis is placed on regional pollution problems including agricultural runoff, landfill leachates, and leaking underground storage tanks. Prerequisites: ESP 101 and CHY 113 and 114 and ESP 250 or permission. Cr 3.

ESP 411 - Methods of Field Analysis: This lecture/lab/field course investigates ecological issues using descriptive field techniques, hypothesis testing, computer analysis and journal article interpretation. This course is writing-intensive. Prerequisites: BIO 331 and MAT 120. Cr 4.

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