IGERT Courses
First Year Course Framework
Communication across disciplines requires a common language and appreciation for the other fields. Graduate students
will be recruited from core disciplines and thus need preparation to effectively communicate across disciplinary
boundaries. For instance, incoming graduate students in the life sciences often have a good understanding of biological
processes but lack quantitative skills and knowledge in physical processes; whereas the reverse is often true for
engineering students. To equip students with the skills to contribute new knowledge within our research themes and to
bridge intellectual differences, a one-year, comprehensive, team-taught course will immerse all first year students to the
participating scientific core disciplines. The course will integrate physical, chemical, geomorphological, and biological
processes in a common theoretical framework. It will lead students through data collection at different spatial scales to
analysis and model building. Data collection will be supported through instrumentation that will allow studies ranging
from the microscopic examination of trace elements and microorganisms to the field scale examination of chemical
transport processes and vegetation patterns across the landscape. Case studies will complement the conceptual framework.
An integral part will be collaborative projects that will culminate in a one-week, working group retreat.
The fall semester portion of the First Year Course is divided into two parts. The first consists of an introduction to the IGERT program, and to the disciplines it brings together. The second is a detailed analysis of four case studies that illustrate the challenges and opportunities inherent in interdisciplinary problem solving in environmental science. The course meets for three hours per week: Friday 1:20-3:20 pm and journal club (to be scheduled). Weeks 3-10 contain introductory lectures, and weeks 11 -14 consider case studies. The course is team taught. The course coordinator is (jfinlay@umn.edu) and the TA is Bethany Brinkman (mcra0019@umn.edu).
2008-09 First Year Course Topics
| Week |
Dates |
Topic |
People |
Where |
Time |
| 2 |
9/5 |
IGERT Introduction |
Shashi Shekhar |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 3 |
9/12 |
Civil Engineering |
Heinz Stefan |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 4 |
9/19 |
Civil Engineering |
Heinz Stefan |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 5 |
9/26 |
Computer Science |
Shashi Stefan |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 6 |
10/3 |
Computer Science |
Shashi Shekhar |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 7 |
10/10 |
Ecology |
Sarah Hobbie, Jacques Finlay |
Ecology 200 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 8 |
10/17 |
Ecology |
Sarah Hobbie, Jacques Finlay |
Ecology 200 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 9 |
10/24 |
Geology |
Lesley Perg |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 10 |
10/31 |
Geology |
Leslie Perg |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 11 |
11/7 |
Mercury |
Jim Cotner, Pat Brezonik |
200 Ecology |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 12 |
11/14 |
Urban Waters case study |
Jim Kang, Ray Hozalski |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 13 |
11/21 |
Estrogen/Pharmaceuticals |
Bill Arnold |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 14 |
12/5 |
Global Change case study |
Sarah Hobbie, Paige Novak |
200 Ecology |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
| 15 |
TBD |
Assessment |
Shashi Shekhar |
EECS 5212 |
1:20 - 3:20 pm |
2007-08 Courses and Seminars
2006-07 Courses and Seminars
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