Teaching

I teach in the Science track of the Environmental Analysis (EA) major  at the Claremont Colleges.  The EA Science major is designed to prepare students for careers in a range of environmental problem-solving fields, including law, policy, medicine, chemistry, conservation, global climate change, urban planning, and resource management. It also provides a solid background for careers in environmental education and community environmental action.

Courses

ECON90 CM: Modeling Climate Change: A deep understanding of climate change requires exploring the topic through an interdisciplinary lens. The course will explore how economists and natural scientists model the process of climate change and its implications for society, using the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a primary text. Topics include energy use, greenhouse effect, and earth’s radiative balance, global climate models, discounting, social cost of carbon, instrument choice, and adaptation and mitigation. Co-taught with Prof Mary Evans.

EA104 KS: Oceanography: Oceanography is a multidisciplinary science that applies physics, geology, chemistry, and biology to the study of oceans. Topics covered include the formation of the oceans, the interaction of the ocean with the atmosphere, the influx and distribution of chemical compounds, the carbonate system, and nutrient content.

EA100(L) KS: Global Climate Change: Introduction to the Earth Sciences with a focus on past and present global climate change. Topics include earth system science, climate change on geologic timescales, and recent climate change. Lectures include a discussion of primary journal literature about climate change and relevant topics in the media. Lab include an introduction to proxy methods used to reconstruct past climate variability.

EA52 PZ: Environmental Science, Policy, and Politics: There is a growing need for scientists and policy makers to communicate, collaborate, and translate scientific findings into viable policies and larger political action in the face of national and international gridlock on pressing environmental problems. This course seeks to bring together students concerned about the environment to engage in collaborate problem solving around contemporary environmental problems. To this end, this transdisciplinary course will engage students in connecting science with policy and politics to address a range of critical environmental problems. Co-taught with Prof Brinda Sarathy.

EA30L KS: Science and the Environment: This course is an introduction to the basic principles of environmental science with applications in chemistry, ecology, and geology, and is part of the core course requirements for the Environmental Science major. Topics covered include a discussion of ecosystems, climate change, energy and food production, land resources, pollution, and sustainable development. A full laboratory accompanies the course and will include an emphasis on introduction to Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping and analysis.

Scripps College Academy

I contribute  to the Scripps College Academy (SCA), an intensive, pre-college program for high-achieving young women with limited resources who seek to become the first generation in their families to attend college.   

In the past, my upper-level Oceanography students (EA 104 KS) gave a workshop for SCA scholars on oceanographic principles culminating an ROV race that demonstrated the importance of density. More recently, we worked with the SCA scholars on the processes causing ocean acidification and potential biological impacts.