Sustainability Course Repository

What is cancer, what causes it, and what can you do about it? In this course, we will explore the basics of cancer biology, the link between genetics, environment, and cancer, and the many treatments for cancer. Along the way, we will discuss issues surrounding environmental and social justice, and the impact of lifestyle on cancer risk.

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Cancer in the 21st Century

This course will address the issue of global climate change. We will discuss the science behind how humans can affect the global climate--covering the major greenhouse gasses, how they impact the climate, and how the current and projected changes compare to previous climactic and atmospheric shifts. Students will dig into the science behind the 'climate controversies,' and explain the various lines of evidence for how we know the global shift is already underway.

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Confronting Climate Change

Courses in the natural sciences that explore important global issues through the lens of a specific discipline in the natural sciences. Each course focuses on a particular issue/challenge and course content assists students in understanding key disciplinary knowledge and approaches that provide insight into the issue. Students explore ways to productively think about and address the issue. These courses help students increase their understanding of complex global issues, develop knowledge of a n...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Cyber Security

The production of energy that powers human society presents one of the most critical and complex challenges facing the world today. Increasing amounts of energy will be needed as the world's population grows and as the standard of living for billions of the world's poorest people improves. Meanwhile, many energy sources we rely on today are limited, and many cause environmental harm in the form of pollution, hazardous waste, and global warming. Students in this course learn skills to evaluate cu...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Energy and Society

This course examines the field of global health through the theoretical and methodological lens of medical anthropology. The field of global health is defined by its commitment to understanding the manifestations and patterns of illness around the world as well as the social, political, and economic forces that place certain individuals and populations at increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The course stresses the need to conceptualize health problems and their proposed solutions in terms...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Global Health

This course explores the impact of human population growth on the quantity and quality of water resources. It includes the fundamental aspects of the hydrologic cycle, human water demand and water conservation. Water pumping and storage systems are Introductionduced. The course also examines the technologies used for drinking water and wastewater treatment with a particular focus on those appropriate for the developing world.

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Global Water Supply

Why did the dinosaurs die out 65 million years ago, yet small mammals survived? What caused the other four great mass extinctions in Earth history? Is there any relation of these past events to current global climate change, which will affect all nations, cultures, and ecosystems? Students in this course will study methods and results from geoscience and physics to learn about the science of climate change, past, present, and future, and the global effects of this change.

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Mass Extinctions

In this course you will investigate the geologic causes, environmental impacts, and societal impacts of global natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, flooding, coastal erosion, and weather-related hazards. The course will focus on the physical processes that cause natural hazards as well as risk factors, prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. Since natural hazards affect all parts of the world, we will be able to compare the effects of similar hazards i...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Natural Hazards

Courses in the natural sciences that explore important global issues through the lens of a specific discipline in the natural sciences. Each course focuses on a particular issue/challenge and course content assists students in understanding key disciplinary knowledge and approaches that provide insight into the issue. Students explore ways to productively think about and address the issue. These courses help students increase their understanding of complex global issues, develop knowledge of a n...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : Newborn Screening

Are we on a path to destruction of the planet or is the media reporting hyperbolic claims influenced by hidden agendas? This course will examine 'green' lifestyle choices from two perspectives: the more cerebral understanding facilitated by traditional classroom meetings to discuss the biology behind environmental sustainability and the more visceral understanding afforded by reaching out beyond the classroom to experience first-hand some of the sustainability issues that affect our day to day l...

Read more about UCOR-3800 : The Science of Sustainability