Course Listings

511 Ecological Foundations for Environmental Managers (Fall-2, Oct 24-Dec 9) :

This course gives students a fundamental mechanistic understanding about the way abiotic (e.g., climate) and biotic (e.g., resources, competitors, predators) factors determine pattern in the distribution and abundance of species. Students learn how individuals within a species cope with changing environmental conditions by altering their behavior, making physiological adjustments, and changing the allocation of resources among survival, growth, and reproduction. Students learn how populations of species coexist within communities and how species interactions within communities can drive ecosystem functioning. Students also learn how ecologists use scientific insight to deal with emerging environmental problems such as protecting biodiversity, understanding the consequences of habitat loss on species diversity, and forecasting the effects of global climate change on species population viability and geographic distribution.

: Oswald J. Schmitz : Oswald J. Schmitz

512 Microeconomic Foundations for Environmental Managers (Fall-1, Aug 31- Oct 12) : This six-week course which meets Fall-1 provides an introduction to microeconomic analysis and its application to environmental policy. Students study how markets work to allocate scarce resources. This includes consideration of how individuals and firms make decisions, and how policy analysts seek to quantify the benefits and costs of consumption and production. We consider the conditions under which markets are beneficial to society and when they fail. We see that market failure arises frequently in the context of environmental and natural resource management. The last part of the course focuses on the design of environmental and natural resource policies to address such market failures. The course is designed to cover basic knowledge of economics analysis and prepare students for ENV 834 and other more advanced offerings. : Matthew J. Kotchen : Matthew J. Kotchen

521 Physical Science Foundations for Environmental Managers : This required foundational course provides students with the physical science basics that they need to understand and manage environmental problems. The course draws on climatology, environmental chemistry, geology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, and soil science. Focus is on understanding both the underlying concepts and how they apply to real-world environmental challenges. Useful both as a freestanding course and as a gateway to a wide spectrum of intermediate and advanced courses. : Shimon C. Anisfeld : Shimon C. Anisfeld

522 Social Science Foundations for Environmental Managers : The environmental social sciences shed light on how humans define, perceive, understand, manage and otherwise influence the environment. Insights into the cultural, institutional, political-economic, and historic drivers of human actions are needed to describe and understand human-environment interactions as well as to move towards long-lasting and flexible responses to socioenvironmental change. This basic knowledge course is designed to introduce students to a range of social science disciplines that are engaged in understanding the relationships between nature and society. Explicit focus will be in on how to mobilize the insights gained from  environmental social sciences for natural resource management.  : Amity Doolittle : Amity Doolittle

550 Natural Science Research Methods :

The course prepares students to design and execute an intensive research project. It covers elementary principles and philosophy of science; research planning, including preparation, criticism, and oral presentation of study plans; communicating research findings; limitations of research techniques; the structure of research organizations; and professional scientific ethics

: William Lauenroth : William Lauenroth

551 Qualitative Social Science Research Methods : This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to issues of qualitative research methods and design. The course is intended for both doctoral students who are in the beginning stage of their dissertation research, as well as master’s students developing research proposals for their thesis projects with a focus on understanding the nexus of human-environment issues. The course covers the basic techniques of designing qualitative research and for collecting, interpreting, and analyzing qualitative data. We explore three interrelated dimensions of research: theoretical foundations of science and research, specific methods available to researchers for data collection and analysis, and the application and practice of research methods—all with a strong emphasis on the relationship between people and natural resources. The final product for this course is a research proposal. : Amity Doolittle : Amity Doolittle

552 Master's Student Research Colloquium :

One of the most important aspects of scientific research involves the communication of research findings to the wider scientific community. Therefore, second-year M.E.Sc. and M.F.S. students are required to present the results of their faculty-supervised research as participants in the Master’s Student Research Conference, a daylong event held near the end of the spring term. Student contributors participate by delivering a fifteen-minute oral presentation to the YSE faculty and student body or by presenting a research poster in a session open to the YSE community. Students receive a score of satisfactory completion for this effort.

: TBD Faculty : TBD Faculty

553 Perspectives: Environmental Leadership : : Julie Zimmerman : Julie Zimmerman : Peter Boyd

577 PSC: Environmental Communicator (Dates TBD) :

This course prepares students for the communication tasks they will face as environmental professionals, researchers, or employees.  In their careers, most professionals spend more than half their work time communicating with others, both inside and outside their organization. To advance in their careers and contribute to the progress of an environmental cause, students need a refined ability to communicate their ideas with clarity and credibility. This course focuses on building a constellation of skills that students can apply to their work. They learn how to use communication to influence others, advocate their ideas, and collaborate with colleagues on project teams. Course topics include strategy in communication, diplomatic language, public speaking, writing styles, listening to people, and framing environmental issues for the public.  The course meets for a weekly two-hour lecture and demonstration, and students attend a one-hour small group practice session that allows them to reinforce new communicative behaviors in simulated job tasks, such as project meetings, budget requests, and public hearings.

: William Vance : William Vance

592 Documentary Film Workshop :

This workshop in audiovisual scholarship explores ways to present research through the moving image. Students work within a Public Humanities framework to make a documentary that draws on their disciplinary fields of study. Designed to fulfill requirements for the M.A. with a concentration in Public Humanities.

: Charles Musser : Charles Musser

595 Yale Environment Review : : Matthew J. Kotchen : Matthew J. Kotchen

598 Documentary and the Environment : : : Charles Musser

606 Methods in Climate Change and Health Research : Climate change is recognized as one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. This course will take multidisciplinary approaches to identify, assess, quantify, and project public health impacts of climate change and of measures to address climate change. It will first introduce the fundamental principles of health impact assessment and give a brief overview of the public health approaches to address climate change. Then it will apply advanced data analysis methodologies in environmental epidemiology, including time-series analysis, spatial epidemiology, and vulnerability assessment, to characterize the present climate-health (exposure-response) relationships and to identify vulnerable populations. This course will discuss key concepts of scenario-based climate projections and their applications in projecting future health impacts, evaluating health co-benefits of climate mitigation polices, and assessing climate change adaptation measures. Emphasis will be placed on hands-on computer lab excises with real-data examples and R scripts. : TBD Faculty : TBD Faculty

613 Writing as a Public Scholar : : Stephanie Hanes Wilson : Stephanie Hanes Wilson

619 Philosophical Environmental Ethics : This is a philosophical introduction to environmental ethics. The course introduces students to the basic contours of the field and to a small number of special philosophical problems within the field. No philosophical background is required or expected. Readings are posted on Canvas and consist almost entirely of contemporary essays by philosophers and environmentalists. The total reading load averages about three philosophy papers weekly—roughly sixty pages. Course avoids avoid environmental ethics topics that are treated in other Yale courses: e.g., religion and ecology, and all but a very little bit of indigenous views of ecology. : Stephen Latham : Stephen Latham

623 The Role of Methane in Global Climate Disruption: The Search for Solutions : In this course students will develop methane literacy reviewing evidence from primary literature to understand the methane cycle and how it impacts the global climate system. Students will read primary scientific literature, contribute questions/topics for discussion, and map the provenance of research. Meeting time will be used for presentations and discussions. : Sparkle Malone :

625 Writing Workshop (half semester class, TBD) : This is a practical course aimed at helping students improve their writing. The goal is to help students develop their writing skills and make them better able to communicate their work and ideas through writing that is clear, accessible, and free of jargon. Students are required to write short pieces each week and to write one longer article. The class is organized as a workshop, with students reading and commenting on each other’s work. The instructor is available for weekly meetings with students to discuss their writing. There are regular readings of articles or short book selections, but the focus is on improving the students’ own writing. Students are evaluated on the completion of all assignments on time; the quality of their work; the progress their writing shows over the course of the term; and participation in discussions. : Roger Cohn : Roger Cohn

626 Writing for Publication in the Natural Sciences : This course will give students insights into the process of writing manuscripts for publication in the natural sciences. The seminar will guide students through the stages of writing a paper and end the semester with a submitted manuscript. We will also consider various strategies for writing, accountability, time management, and productivity. The course is aimed at students in the natural sciences with cleaned and analyzed data that they want to write up for publication. : Simon Queenborough : Simon Queenborough

634 Ecology of Global Drylands : This course explores the controls on the geographic distribution, community and ecosystem structure, and functioning of drylands globally. Lectures, writing, and student-led discussions. : William Lauenroth :

651 Seminar in the Biosphere: History, Development, and Consequences : This seminar traces the history and development of the biosphere concept and its consequences: biological, social, and cultural. The course will start with a discussion of four major contributors: Eduard Suess, a paleontologist/geologist who coined the term; Vladimir Vernadsky, who amplified the concept; Arthur Tansley, who coined the term ecosystem; and G. Evelyn Hutchinson, who amplified  and quantified the ecosystem concept.  Energy flow in the biosphere will also be discussed.  Students will be required to give seminars and present a term paper on topics of their choice.  : Graeme P. Berlyn : Graeme P. Berlyn

653 Maple: From Tree to Table : This course covers the cultural, industrial, and sustainable practices of non-timber forest products through the lens of maple sap and syrup. Maple sugar is a forest product unique to northeastern North America, and it has seen a resurgence in interest as global consumers seek nutritious, natural, and sustainably produced foods. This course covers the booming industry and culture around maple syrup, from backyard operations through modern 100,000-tap investment operations. Maple producers are on the front lines of climate change and forest health threats. The course provides students with the knowledge of how challenges related to forest health and climate change are directly impacting maple producers and how these producers are learning to adapt in ways that are environmentally friendly, ecologically sound, and financially competitive in a global market. : Joseph Orefice : Joseph Orefice

704 Workshop on Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry with Drones : : : Xuhui Lee

750 Writing the World :

This is a practical writing course meant to develop your skills as a writer. But its real subject is perception and the writer’s authority—the relationship between what you notice in the world around you and what, culturally speaking, you’re allowed to notice. What you write during the semester is driven entirely by your own interest and attention. How you write is the question at hand. We’ll be exploring the overlapping habitats of language—present and past—and the natural environment. And, to a lesser extent, we’ll be exploring the character of  persuasion in environmental themes. Every member of the class will write every week, and we will all read what everyone writes every week. It makes no difference whether you’re a would-be journalist, scientist, environmental advocate or policy-maker. The goal is to rework your writing and sharpen your perceptions, both sensory and intellectual. Application for interested students will be avaiable in August.

: Verlyn Klinkenborg : Verlyn Klinkenborg

757 Data Exploration and Analysis : In introduction to the R computing language, statistical plots and transformations, a review of introductory statistics techniques, and an extension into more advanced topics including multiple regression, ANOVA and ANCOVA, binary and multinomial logistic regression, and non-parametric techniques such as the bootstrap and permutation tests.  This course also covers data types, data cleaning, and web scraping. This course is designed to follow a prior introduction to statistics course such as ENV 728.  Weekly problem sets, two exams, and a final project.  Three hours lecture.

Follows Yale College Calendar : TBD Faculty : Jonathan Reuning-Scherer

777 Water Quality Control : : : Jaehong Kim

782 Globalization Space: International Infrastructure and Extrastatecraft : : : Keller Easterling

796 Biopolitics of Human-Nonhuman Relations : Seminar on the “post-humanist” turn toward multispecies ethnography. Section I, introduction to the course.  Section II, the ontological turn: multispecies ethnography; and ecology and human consciousness; Section III, fauna: human-animal conflict?; hunting and politics; and the bushmeat ‘crisis’.  Section IV, flora: ‘weedy/invasive/pest’ species; and ethnobotany.  Section V, the long and broad view: the history of natural history; and the classics.  Section VI, class contributions: student-selected readings; student presentations of seminar papers; and lecture by teaching fellow.  Enrollment capped. : Michael R. Dove :

805 Seminar on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics :

This seminar is based on outside speakers and internal student/faculty presentations oriented toward original research in the field of environmental and natural resource economics and policy. Presentations are aimed at the doctoral level, but interested master’s students may enroll with permission of the instructors.

: Kenneth Gillingham : Kenneth Gillingham : Matthew J. Kotchen

822 Strategic Communication: Presenting Effectively in a Virtual World (see description for section times and dates) : Must get permission from Instructor to enroll in course - Cannot add this course to online worksheet

Enrollment cap of 5 YSE students per section.
YSE students are asked to submit a statement of interest to Professor Reich.

2 Sections available in Fall-2  
Section -01: T/Th 10:10-11:30 - Evans Hall
Section -02: T/Th 1:00-2:20 - Evans Hall 

Class attendance is mandatory, including the first day - students are required to attend the first class session in order to remain enrolled or to bid for the course.  There are four sections to choose from - two sections offered in fall-2 and two sections offered in spring-2.  They are all the same half semester course, just offered at different times in the semester.  The focus of this course is to increase one's competencies in oral communication and presentation. Developing and executing effective communication strategies is essential in a variety of business settings. Business leaders are often expected to present their message with confidence and clarity to employees, clients, partners, investors and the public. This highly interactive, practical course will help students develop confidence in public speaking through weekly presentations and assignments, lectures and discussions, guest speakers, simulated activities, and filmed feedback. Students will be given the opportunity to present both individually and as part of a team. We will explore the essentials of communication strategy and persuasion: audience analysis, message construction, communicator credibility, and delivery. Students at all levels of mastery of public speaking will benefit from this course.  Enrollment is limited to 36.  Students are required to attend the first class session in order to remain enrolled or to bid for the course.  : Taly Reich : Taly Reich

852 Food Systems and US Environmental Law (follows Yale law calendar) : We eat food every day.  The food system, from agricultural production to processing and distribution to consumption and waste, shapes our lives.  Less well known, but of equal or greater impact, the food system profoundly affects our environment, climate, and public health.  This course takes the food one eats in a day and uses those to demonstrate the environmental impact of modern agriculture and the U.S. laws that attempt to reduce those harms.


 
Today’s industrial food system bears little relation to the bucolic family farms we imagine – and that were in Congress’s mind when it passed most modern environmental laws.  Since the 1970’s when most environmental laws were enacted, U.S. agriculture has grown increasingly concentrated and industrial.  In terms of output of cheap food, the system is a success: we now produce about 60% more food than we need, food is about one-third less expensive today than in 1980; and less than 2% of U.S. employment is in agriculture.  In addition, agriculture now also produces about 10% of the nation’s vehicle fuel.


 
On the other hand, the increased industrialization, without the environmental safeguards applicable to other industries, has led to agriculture being a major source of environmental and health harm.  Agriculture occupies approximately 60% of the country’s contiguous land and thus is the main driver of loss of native habitats.  Almost 800 million acres of U.S. land are used for pasture or range for livestock, which often destroy habitat, imperil native species, and pollute waters.  Most row crops are monocultures dependent on high doses of fertilizers and pesticides that pollute waters and endanger workers, surrounding communities, and downstream consumers.  The vast majority of our meat is produced in industrial-scale “concentrated animal feeding operations” that house thousands or even millions of animals producing more waste than many cities, yet without sewage treatment systems, and thus cause significant water and air pollution.  Agriculture is responsible for about 20 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and the food system as a whole contributes over a third of total greenhouse gas emissions.  At the end of the system, approximately 35 percent of food is wasted and most of that ends up in landfills where it releases methane.


 
US environmental law directly and indirectly seeks to reduce these harms, although often in partial, ineffective, or unenforceable ways.  While there are alternative production systems that have been demonstrated to produce sufficient food with much less environmental impact, the law rarely encourages, and often discourages such approaches.  This course studies existing US environmental law and its strengths and weaknesses, and explores alternative approaches to environmental and public health protections.  We start and end with climate change – its impact on agriculture and agriculture’s impact on climate – and address other impacts and statutes between.  Several short papers and in-class presentations, as well as a final paper are required for all students. Students who write a longer paper for Substantial Paper credit may earn a third unit.  Paper required.  Enrollment limited to eighteen.  Application required : Peter Lehner :

860 Understanding Environmental Campaigns and Policymaking: Strategies and Tactics : This course is about the strategies and tactics used by successful environmental campaigns, taught from a practitioner's perspective. It is also a course about environmental policymaking. Policy doesn’t just happen the way it’s described in grade school civics textbooks. And it isn’t just policymakers who make it. Corporate and civic interests play an influential role at all levels of policymaking. As future participants in the policy process, whether you come at it from a perch in government, business, as an advocate, or as a private citizen, you can jumpstart your ability to participate and respond by understanding how policy campaign advocacy impacts policymaking. Though this topic is neither well documented nor regularly taught, there is a toolkit that can be learned. Most environmental campaigners and policymakers learn about policy campaigning on the job. This course attempts to advance understanding of the policy making process by exposing YSE students to case examples from the environmental policy making world of the past decade. The course examines selected case examples of successful policy campaigns, and seeks to tease out lessons and best practice. No single environmental campaign is the same, and strategies and tactics are always evolving, but there are key lessons about campaign practices that can be learned.Some of the Case studiesexamined in this course in the past have includedcampaigns enacting anti-toxic legislation in Washington State; stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline; shuttingcoal fired power plantsacross the U.S., protecting the Great Bear Rainforest and the Boreal Forest in Canada; stopping water privatization in Bolivia; banning the use of high Sulphur fuels in the Arctic; securing an international ban on Arctic ocean fishing; catalyzing the decarbonization of supply chain emissions at Levis; and encouraging banks and insurers to commit to Paris aligned lending and financing. Campaigners who have played leadership roles in thecampaigns we examinewill join us for class. We will examine each case, seek a practical understanding of strategies and tactics used by each campaign, and attempt to synthesize lessons and best practice. : Michael Northrop : Michael Northrop

891 Biology of Insect Disease Vectors : : : Brian Weiss

892 Introduction to Planning and Development :

This course demonstrates the ways in which financial and political feasibility determine the design of buildings and the character of the built environment. Students propose projects and then adjust them to the conflicting interests of the financial institutions, real estate developers, civic organizations, community groups, public officials, and the widest variety of participants in the planning process. Subjects covered include housing, commercial development, zoning, historic preservation, parks and public open space, suburban subdivisions, planned communities, and comprehensive plans.

: Alexander Garvin : Alexander Garvin

897 Environmental and Occupational Exposure Science : : : TBD Faculty

900 Doctoral Student Seminar and Responsible Conduct of Research :

This course provides the foundation for doctoral study at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. As a major part of the course, students will learn what it means to do scholarly research as well as become adept with philosophy of science and research methodology and proposal writing, as a basis for exploring diverse approaches to formulating and addressing research questions. Students will work with their advisers to put these concepts and principles into practice to develop the basis for their dissertation research (including building bibliography, identifying and crafting research questions, formulating research hypotheses and drafting a research proposal).  Students will further learn about funding opportunities and procedures for submitting grants. The course will also cover professional ethics and responsible conduct of research, including ethical approaches to inquiry and measurement, data acquisition and management, authorship and publication, peer review, conflicts of interest, mentoring, collaborative research, and animal and human subjects research.  Finally, the course will explore ethical ways to advocate for the application of scholarly knowledge in the interest of environmental problem solving.  Weekly assigned readings will support concepts and issues addressed in class. Students will present their embryonic research ideas in class and use feedback from the group to further develop their ideas

: Peter A. Raymond : Peter A. Raymond

902 Environmental Anthropology Colloquy :

1 course credit/credit/fail. A biweekly seminar for Dove doctoral advisees and students in the combined YSE/Anthropology doctoral program. Presentation and discussion of grant proposals, dissertation prospectuses, and dissertation chapters; trial runs of conference presentations and job talks; discussion of comprehensive exams, grantsmanship, fieldwork, data analysis, writing and publishing, and the job search; and collaborative writing and publishing projects.

: Michael R. Dove : Michael R. Dove

905 Doctoral Seminar in Environmental and Energy Economics :

This course is designed to bring doctoral students up to speed on the latest developments in the literature on environmental and energy economics. Key papers are presented, and associated mathematical and empirical methods are covered. Topics to be covered include uncertainty and climate change policy, estimating energy demand, electricity markets, and behavioral economics and the environment. A focus is on identifying areas that deserve future research attention. Open to advanced master’s students with permission of the instructor.

: Kenneth Gillingham :

907 Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainable Laboratory Seminar : This course is only open to graduate students. The course examines food insecurity; inequities in access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods; and disparate impacts arising from exposure to environmental hazards. Students also examine issues such as energy and health justice, as well as the distribution of and access to environmental amenities such as parks and open space.

Permission of Instructor needed : Dorceta Taylor : Dorceta Taylor

909 JEDSI Seminar II: Advancements in Environmental Justice Research : This course is only available to students who have successfully completed, ENV 907

The seminar focuses on three broad areas of environmental justice research: food insecurity, green infrastructure, and environmental disparities. Each week students will discuss topics related to these broad thematic areas. In addition, students will participate in workshops to help them learn spatial analytical skills. These will include two workshops on flood mapping, five ArcGIS workshops, and five remote sensing workshops. All students will do the flood mapping workshops. However, first students will do the ArcGIS workshops, while second-year students will do the remote sensing workshops. At least one field trip is being planned for the course.
 
Class participants will use the seminar to (1) develop their thesis ideas – first-year thesis students; (2) prepare their thesis research article – second-year thesis students, and (3) prepare a research article from their dissertation – doctoral students. MEM students will either be assigned an article to write or prepare an article for publication based on a chosen topic.
 
All students will complete the assignments outlined in the syllabus. Class attendance, participation in workshops, and class presentations are also graded.  : Dorceta Taylor :

910 Survival Skills for Doctoral Students : credit/fail. This course is aimed at preparing advanced doctoral students for successful and rewarding careers in ecology and environmental science. Students learn about academic and non-academic careers from readings of and presentations by scientists in those positions. Students identify important steps toward planning and launching their career paths, and skills for being effective in these positions; and they develop their own career plan, curriculum vitae, teaching and research plans, and critiques of professional web pages. Finally, the course exposes students to resources and opportunities for continuing to apply and polish their skills.  : William Lauenroth : : Indy Burke

957 Field Skills in Land Stewardship : See ENV 954 for description.

Must register for both ENV 954 & 957 at the same time. : Mark S. Ashton : Mark S. Ashton

968 Grand Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development : The formidable task of “living in harmony with nature by 2050” demands grand strategies at all scales, from local to global. A strategy is the management of resources to achieve the desired outcomes stipulated and sought by a policy goal. A grand strategy enables us to see how concerted efforts by a community of practice, whether undertaken by an individual, a group, an organization, a state, or an international institution, can combine to realize an ambitious goal in the common interest. This capstone seminar course is integrative via interdisciplinary in an explicit, systematic sense. It aims to help students develop grand strategic thinking and planning skills. Students will practice how to develop workable grand strategy to deal with three kinds of interrelated problems (ordinary/technical, systematic/governance, constitutive/cultural) manifested in any conservation and natural resource management challenge. The seminar will meet once weekly for discussions, guest presentations, and exercises. Students will also go on a field trip to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including Yellowstone National Park during the spring break : Susan G. Clark :

971 Land Use Clinic : Land use control exercised by state and local governments determines where development occurs on the American landscape, the preservation of natural resources, the emission of greenhouse gases, the conservation of energy, and the shape and livability of cities and towns. The exercise of legal authority to plan and regulate the development and conservation of privately owned land plays a key role in meeting the needs of the nation’s growing population for equitable housing, energy, and nonresidential development as well as ensuring that critical environmental functions are protected from the adverse impacts of land development. This course explores the multifaceted discipline of land use and urban planning and their associated ecological implications. Numerous land use strategies are discussed, including identifying and defining climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, including affordable housing, community revitalization, energy development and siting, equitable community engagement, transit-oriented development, building and neighborhood energy conservation, distressed building remediation, jobs and housing balance, coastal resiliency, and biological carbon sequestration. The course also explores how recent events impact these planning issues. The focus is on exposing students to the basics of land use and urban planning, especially in the United States but also internationally, and serving as an introduction for a YSE curricular concentration in land use. Guest speakers are professionals involved in sustainable development, land conservation, smart growth, renewable energy, and climate change management. : Jessica Bacher : Jessica Bacher

972 Advanced Environmental Protection Clinic (Follows Law School Calendar) : Follows Law School Calendar

Open only to students who have successfully completed the Environmental Protection Clinic (ENV 970). No statement of interest required. Attendance at clinic seminar is optional, except for several dates during the semester (see syllabus).For all questions, please e-mail samuel.whillans@yale.edu : Douglas Kysar : Douglas Kysar : Elizabeth Suatoni : TBD Faculty

991 Advanced Climate, Animals, Food, and Environment Law and Policy Lab : : : Douglas Kysar : TBD Faculty