|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
||||
|
2006-2007 General Catalog
University of California, Riverside Environmental Sciences Graduate Program Subject abbreviation: ENSC
Paul J. Ziemann, Ph.D., Director Professors
Associate Professors
Assistant Professors
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase at the state, national and global levels for individuals trained to solve complex environmental problems. Environmental concerns associated with pesticides, waste disposal, air pollution, and other health-threatening activities have prompted regulatory agencies to develop strategies for the use and disposal of potentially hazardous materials. This situation has created a need in universities, government and industry for scientists trained in a broad spectrum of disciplines. The Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences mobilizes the expertise of UCR’s faculty to provide advanced educational opportunities for students interested in pursuing research, teaching, and professional careers in the wide spectrum of activities relevant to environmental science. The Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences offers the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Sciences. Admission Students normally come to the program having completed an undergraduate degree in environmental science, in a related discipline such as atmospheric science, aquatic science, earth science, economics, hydrology, soil science, or one of the basic sciences such as biology, chemistry, or physics. Students must have completed the following courses or their equivalents before entering the program, or to make up the deficiency early in their graduate studies. CHEM 001A, CHEM 001B, CHEM 001C, CHEM 01LA, CHEM 01LB, CHEM 01LC or equivalent PHYS 002A, PHYS 002B, PHYS 002C or equivalent MATH 008B or MATH 009A, MATH 009B or equivalent BIOL 005A, BIOL 05LA, BIOL 005B, BIOL 005C or equivalent ECON 003 or equivalent Students may conduct research in any environmentally related area of interest to a sponsoring faculty member. Examples are: • Kinetic and products studies of the atmospheric chemistry of volatile organic compounds • Laboratory studies of the dynamics, kinetics and products of the photolysis and reactions of small molecules in the gas phase • Emissions of organic compounds from biogenic sources • Atmospheric chemistry and genotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitrated derivatives • Atmospheric deposition of nitrogenous compounds and their effect on plant community structure and function in California ecosystems • Fate and consequences of contaminants discharged into natural and constructed wetlands • Integrated assessment of the food-chain hazards posed by trace metals released into the environment • Ecotoxicology of contaminants in inland saline lakes in California (Salton Sea, Owens Lake bed) • Geophysical monitoring of contaminant migration • Shallow noninvasive detection of wastes and waste containers • Field scale transport and fate of chemicals in the vadose zone • Volatilization of organic chemicals from soil and water surfaces • Transport and fate of pathogenic organisms in soils and aquifers • Bioremediation of toxic substances in soils • Theoretical and experimental studies of colloidal aggregation • Economic issues associated with agriculture, natural resources, and the environment • Economic impacts of air quality and climate on agriculture • Management and policy issues associated with California water resources There is no foreign language requirement for the program. Master’s Degree The Department of Environmental Sciences offers the M.S. degree in Environmental Sciences under the Plan I (Thesis) and Plan II (Comprehensive Examination) options. Course Work 1. Transport and Fate of Chemicals CHEM 246/ENSC 200/ENTX 200 (Fate and Transport of Chemicals in the Environment) ENSC 202 (Principles and Application of Environmental Modeling) 2. Interactions and Cycling in the Biosphere ENSC 208/ENTX 208/SWSC 208 (Ecotoxicology) ENSC 232/SWSC 232 (Biogeochemistry) 3. Environmental Policy and Management ENSC 201 (Environmental Management) ENSC 206/POSC 206 (Environmental Law and Policy) Plan I (Thesis) Students must complete a minimum of 36 quarter units of graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses in or significantly related to Environmental Sciences. At least 24 of the 36 units must be graduate courses. Students must take one course each from 1. and 2. above and two courses from 3. A maximum of 12 of the 24 graduate units may be in graduate research for the thesis. Each quarter, students must enroll in the seminar course CHEM 257/SWSC 257 and give an oral presentation at the annual student seminar or retreat. No more than two units of CHEM 257/SWSC 257 may be applied toward the 24-unit graduate requirement. Students must write a thesis that is accepted by the thesis committee members and pass an oral defense of the thesis. Plan II (Comprehensive Examination) Students must complete a minimum of 36 quarter units of graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses in or significantly related to Environmental Sciences. At least 18 of the 36 units must be graduate courses. Students must take at least four graduate courses from the three core areas listed above, including one course each from 1. and 2. above and two courses from 3. Students may count no more than 2 units of CHEM 257/SWSC 257 toward the required 18 units and no units from graduate research for thesis or dissertation. Students take a comprehensive written examination that covers fundamental topics in environmental sciences. The written examination, which is three to four hours long, is prepared and evaluated by a committee appointed by the program chair. The examination is taken during the latter part of the final quarter in the M.S. program. Students must wait at least eight weeks before retaking a failed examination. Students failing the examination twice are dismissed from the program. Doctoral Degree The Department of Environmental Sciences offers the Ph.D. degree in Environmental Sciences. Course Work Upon acceptance to the program, the student selects a course work advisory committee consisting of three members of the faculty participating in the graduate program to assist in the planning of the individualized curriculum. A course work study plan should be filed with the graduate advisor by the second quarter after admission. Students must take one course each from 1. and 2. below and two courses from 3. 1. Transport and Fate of Chemicals CHEM 246/ENSC 200/ENTX 200 (Fate and Transport of Chemicals in the Environment) ENSC 202 (Principles and Application of Environmental Modeling) 2. Interactions and Cycling in the Biosphere ENSC 208/ENTX 208/SWSC 208 (Ecotoxicology) ENSC 232/SWSC 232 (Biogeochemistry) 3. Environmental Policy and Management ENSC 201 (Environmental Management) ENSC 206/POSC 206 (Environmental Law and Policy) Students must enroll in the seminar course CHEM 257/SWSC 257 each quarter and give an oral presentation at the annual student seminar or retreat. The elective courses prescribed by the student’s course work advisory committee depends on the research interests of the student. Comprehensive Written and Oral Qualifying ExaminationsFollowing completion of all course work, the student writes a qualifying examination prepared and administered by the written qualifying committee, which consists of five faculty members. Three members represent interests in the student’s line of research; the other two represent breadth in the two core areas outside the student’s main area of concentration. The written exam may be attempted only twice. If it is failed twice, the student is redirected to the master’s degree or terminated from the program. Oral Examination A student who has successfully passed the written qualifying examination may proceed with the oral qualifying examination, conducted before the oral qualifying examination committee, which consists of five faculty members, one of whom must be from outside the graduate program in Environmental Sciences. The oral examination may be attempted only twice. If the oral qualifying exam is failed twice, the student is redirected to the master’s degree or terminated from the program. The written and oral exams are normally taken at the end of the second year of graduate study. Dissertation and Final Oral Examination All students write a doctoral dissertation, which is read and accepted by all members of the doctoral dissertation committee, comprised of three faculty from the graduate program in Environmental Sciences. The student must pass a final, oral defense of the thesis in front of the committee. Relationship between Master’s and Doctoral Programs The master’s and Ph.D. programs are separate. Students who enter the Ph.D. program do not need to acquire a master’s first, although students may elect to take both. Normative Time to Degree 15 quarters Career Opportunities Students trained in the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences can fill many areas of expertise needed in the state and nation. Such areas include regulatory agencies, consulting firms, government and academic research institutions, and industrial research facilities. ENSC 200. Fate and Transport of Chemicals in the Environment (4) S Lecture, 4 hours. Prerequisite(s): CHEM 109 or CHEM 110B; CHEM 112A, CHEM 112B, CHEM 112C; or consent of instructor. Covers the identification of toxicants and their sources in the environment; equilibrium partitioning of chemicals in the environment (between air, water, soil, sediment, and biota) using physico-chemical properties; and the transport and chemical transformations of chemical compounds in air, water, and soil media. Includes case studies of fate and transport of selected toxic chemicals. Cross-listed with CHEM 246 and ENTX 200. ENSC 201. Environmental Management (4) S, Even Years Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): ECON 003 or consent of instructor. An introduction to economic instruments used to make environmental policy to address pollution control and natural resource protection on local and international scales. Investigates public and private incentives for single and multiple polluters to reduce pollution and conserve exhaustible and renewable resources. Fernandez ENSC 202. Principles and Applications of Environmental Modeling (4) W, Alternate Even Years Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Introduction to the principles of transport modeling, including mass balance and flux laws, boundary conditions, and rate processes. Discusses and demonstrates the use of compartmental and differential models of specific environmental processes. Also examines case studies and environmental modeling software applications. May be taken Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC) by students advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. Chang, Jury, Simenuk ENSC 205. Functional Diversity of Prokaryotes (3) Lecture, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): BCH 110A, BCH 110B, BIOL 121/MCBL 121; or equivalents; or consent of instructor. In-depth coverage of bacterial and archaeal bioenergetics, cell structure, diversity of metabolism, regulation of metabolism, growth, and biosynthesis, and cell-cell interactions between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Project involves analysis of metabolic pathways from complete, annotated, prokaryotic genome sequences. Cross-listed with MCBL 201 and PLPA 201. Stein ENSC 206. Environmental Policy and Law (4) S, Even Years Seminar, 3 hours; extra reading, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing, POSC 010, POSC 020; or consent of instructor. An introduction to the process and politics of environmental regulation in the United States and the negotiation and implementation of international environmental accords. Uses social scientific methods of analysis to investigate specific issues such as air quality, energy, and biodiversity. Cross-listed with POSC 206. Allison ENSC 208. Ecotoxicology (4) Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): BIOL 005A, BIOL 005B, CHEM 112A, CHEM 112B; or consent of instructor. Introduction to the impact of chemicals upon ecological systems. Examination of the fate and effects of environmental chemicals in various hierarchies of biological organization to learn how to carry out precise and accurate assessments of ecological risk. Cross-listed with ENTX 208 and SWSC 208. Schlenk ENSC 214. Soil and Water Chemistry Laboratory (2) Laboratory, 6 hours. Prerequisite(s): concurrent enrollment in ENSC 104/SWSC 104 or consent of instructor. A series of advanced laboratory exercises involving modern analytical methods for soils, sediments, and surface waters. Topics include trace metal speciation, isotope exchange kinetics, mineral solubility, adsorption isotherms, redox couples, and partitioning and biodegradation of organic contaminants. Cross-listed with SWSC 214. Parker ENSC 217. Vadose Zone Processes (4) Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): MATH 009B or MATH 09HB, ENSC 107/SWSC 107; or consent of instructor. A study of physical and mathematical descriptions of transient flow and transport processes in the vadose zone. Emphasis is on numerical solutions to equations describing the movement of water, gas, contaminants and heat, including chemical and biological reactions. Explores mathematical models for direct and inverse solutions, spatial heterogeneity, and determination of soil hydraulic properties. Cross-listed with SWSC 217. Simunek ENSC 224. Watershed Hydrologic Systems (5) S, Odd Years Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 2 hours. Prerequisite(s): ENSC 163, GEO 157, MATH 009C or MATH 09HC; or consent of instructor. Discusses the hydrologic processes occurring at watershed scale and the systems of and distributed approaches to watershed hydrologic modeling. Focuses on modeling rainfall-runoff processes and considering water quality to determine the validity of hydrologic simulation models. Cross-listed with SWSC 224. ENSC 225. Watershed Biogeochemistry (3) S, Even Years Lecture, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): ENSC 163; CHEM 136/ENSC 136/ENTX 136/SWSC 136 or ENSC 104/SWSC 104 or ENSC 232/SWSC 232 is recommended. Emphasizes terrestrial-aquatic linkages in headwater catchments, focusing on hydrologic pathways, isotopic and geochemical tracers, nutrient cycling, water quality, experimental manipulations, and modeling. Cross-listed with SWSC 225. ENSC 232. Biogeochemistry (4) W, Odd Years Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; consent of instructor. A study of the biogeochemical cycling and exchange of carbon and important nutrients (N, S, base cations) between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Quantitatively describes processes at scales ranging from local to global. Addresses modern concerns about water and atmospheric quality, including global climate change. Cross-listed with SWSC 232. Parker ENSC 265. Special Topics in Earth and Environmental Sciences (1-3) F, W, S Seminar, 1-3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing. Involves oral presentations and small-group discussions of selected topics in the areas of biogeochemistry, global climate change, geomicrobiology, earth surface processes, and interplanetary life.† Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable as content changes to a maximum of 10 units. Cross-listed with GEO 265. ENSC 275. Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences (1) Seminar, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Involves seminars by faculty, visiting scholars, environmental professionals, and advanced graduate students on current research topics in Environmental Sciences. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable. ENSC 290. Directed Studies (1-6) Consultation, 1-3 hours; individual study, 1-15 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; consent of instructor and graduate advisor. Individual study of selected topics in Environmental Sciences under faculty direction. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable. ENSC 297. Directed Research (1-6) Outside research, 3-18 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; consent of instructor. Individual research performed under the direction of a faculty member. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable. ENSC 299. Research for the Thesis or Dissertation (1-12) Outside research, 3-36 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; consent of instructor. Research in environmental sciences for the M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable. Professional Course ENSC 302. Teaching Practicum (1-4) Practicum, 3-12 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing. Supervised teaching in Environmental Sciences or related courses. Required of all teaching assistants in Environmental Sciences. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable. |