Research & Teaching

This course covers theoretical basis for low-frequency seismology.  The topics covered include boundary conditions, eigenfunctions and frequencies of the Earth, normal-mode summations for synthetic seismogram calculations, surface waves, and model-ray duality.

A comprehensive introduction to how the principles of mineralogy, phase equilibria, and the compositions of terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials are used to understand the evolution of the Earth and its resources.

Statistical inference, deterministic and stochastic models of data, denoising and filtering, data, visualization, time series analysis, image processing, Monte Carlo methods.

Concepts and applications of chemical kinetics and thermodynamics for environmental science and engineering.

Notes: ESE 164 is also offered as E-PSCI 164. Students may not take both for credit.

Recommended Prep: Physical Sciences 11 or equivalent in general chemistry.

This seminar is a critical introduction to the history and historiography of energy, a field entangled with the history of fossil-fueled climate change.

What one thing is changing everything in your lifetime—and for generations to come? It’s changing what you eat; it’s changing buildings you live in; and it’s changing politics, the arts, and finance. The change is accelerating.

Non-fossil energy sources and energy storage are important for our future. We cover four main subjects to which students with a background in physics and physical chemistry could make paradigm changing contributions: photovoltaic cells, nuclear power, batteries, and photosynthesis.

Fundamental concepts and formalisms of conservation of energy and increase of entropy as applied to natural and engineered environmental and biological systems.

An overview of the Earth's energy and material resources, including conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons, nuclear fuels, alternative/renewable energy resources, metals, and other industrial materials.

Burning fossil fuels has powered 150 years of unprecedented economic growth, but doing so has left a legacy of high and increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The Physical Sciences hold the key to solving unprecedented problems at the intersection of science, technology, and an array of rapidly emerging global scale challenges.

Zero energy buildings, also known as net zero energy buildings, are buildings (or a community of buildings) which produce with on-site renewables the same, or more, amount of energy as they consume on an annual basis.

This seminar will explore a series of issues at the intersection of behavioral economics and public policy. Potential questions will involve climate change; energy efficiency; health care; and basic rights.

The seminar will provide a historical perspective on the development of the Chinese and Indian economies with emphasis on their energy sectors, including analysis of related environmental problems.

This course will examine future climate change in the context of Earth history, and then consider various strategies for what might be done to deal with it.