Course Descriptions for July 15 - August 3, 2012

Chemistry of the Environment Course Description (Professor Hollingsworth)

Earth is an amazingly complex coupled system of many things and can be understood on scales from local to global drawing on tools from biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. In this class, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to study environmental issues spanning all the way from local  to global while still emphasizing the basic chemical principles that explain specific transformations among specific molecules in the water and air. Examples of issues to be addressed include air and water pollution, acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion, and greenhouse warming and climate change. Although the actual topics and activities may change based on the questions of the specific group, you could expect to address some of the following questions:

*Light energy from the sun drives the world. What are the fundamental ways that light and matter interact?

*What are the time scales that apply to different processes in the atmosphere and oceans?

*How can volcanic emissions affect environmental issues?

*Why do some very scarce species in water or air (such as ozone) have such important effects?

*What other gases besides carbon dioxide are implicated in the greenhouse effect?

*What are specific ways to respond to greenhouse warming?

*What are sources and sinks of various pollutants?

Make sure and bring plenty of your questions to see how big a list we can generate!

Geoscience Course Description  (Professor Davidson)

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to some of the key concepts and contributions geoscientists make to science and society.  This one-week course will consist of a mix of lecture, hands-on activities, and problem sets.  Below is a general outline of the main topics we will cover.

1.  Deep Time

- Big Bang and age of the Earth

- geologic time scale

- major events in Earth history including Greenhouse and Icehouse events

- sidewalk chalk exercise

2.  Plate Tectonics

- structure of the Earth

- earthquakes

- plate exercise

3.  Energy and the Environment

- US and global energy flow

- greenhouse gasses

- climate forcing: natural and human

- Daisyworld and CO2 data exercise

Neuroscience Course Description  (Professor Jaramillo)

The course will focus on the fundamentals of nervous system organization and function.  Students will gain experience with a variety of experimental preparations including the vertebrate neuromuscular junction, the lateral line and nervous system of zebrafish, the nematode nervous system, and the vestibular system in amphibians.  The course will emphasize current areas of research and future trends.

Course Descriptions for July 22 - August 10, 2012

Animal Behavior (Biology) Course Description  (Professor Bosacker)

In this course, we will be studying the ecology and evolution of animal behavior. We will learn about how scientists who study animal behavior develop questions about how and why animals display such a diverse array of often complex behaviors. We will also delve into the processes animal behaviorists use to gather data in order to address these questions. Focal topics may include foraging, dispersal, migration, and social behavior.

Chemistry of Materials Course Description  (Professor Drew)

Chemistry of Materials: Understanding Matter at a Molecular Level

Chemistry makes a unique contribution to scientific inquiry through its ability to understand the properties of matter on a microscopic level.  This allows chemists to “arrange” the building blocks of matter into new molecules and materials with interesting and useful characteristics.  Many examples of useful materials developed by chemists can be found in everyday life including plastics, metals, pharmaceuticals, fuels, semiconductors, liquid crystals, and food preservatives, just to name a few.  This course will focus on developing an understanding of the properties of materials and solid-state structure.  Specific topics to be covered are listed below:

1.  Properties of elements

2.  Properties of materials

3.  The solid state

4.  Crystalline structure

5.  Chemical bonds

6.  Molecular shape 

Neuroscience Course Description  (Professor Moore)

The course will introduce the fundamentals of nervous system organization and function through an integration of classic scientific literature and modern media content.  In addition to emphasizing current understanding of neurodegenerative diseases and neurological disorders, course topics will include discussion on the impact of neuroscience findings in other disciplines (e.g. education, economics).   Students will gain experience in behavior observation, neuroanatomy, brain imaging techniques, and clinical study evaluation.