SPRING 2011
ANT 435 Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management
Instructor: Samuel Haynes
MWF 9 - 9:50 a.m.
This class explores shifting paradigms guiding natural resource management. The class will survey a variety of influential ideasdriving debates over natural resources, including the following: 1.) debatesover property rights and management approaches in common pool resources, 2.)complex adaptive systems theory and its role in the debate over adaptive management and area-based management as alternatives to single-species management, 3.) the ideal of efficiency in the formative era of professional natural resource management and new approaches that seek to move beyond it, 4.) ideas of progress, modernism, and optimism, including debates over the limitsto growth, and 5.) debates over uncertainty and the precautionary principle.Students will study how these paradigms affect natural resource management byexamining case studies from fisheries, climate change, industrial pollution,forestry and public land management.
No prerequisites. 3cr.
ANT 490 Climate Change and Culture
Instructor: Paul Roscoe #7362
Thursdays 6:00 - 8:30pm, South Stevens Room 232A
In 2007, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (known as the IPCC), an international gathering of the premier specialists in climate science, concluded that there was now “unequivocal” evidence that the climate of the planet was warming. In addition, they were at least 90% confident that human activity was contributing significantly to this warming. Given these levels of certainty, only the rashest of policy makers would continue to ignore climate change or fail to consider how this warming might be mitigated and its consequences managed. If we do nothing, those of you in your teens and twenties now will have to grapple with some significant consequences before you reach old age. Global warming affects people, but people and their decisions cause climate change. It is a problem, moreover, that is global in its causes but local in its effects; indeed, some of the nations least responsible for creating it are projected to suffer some of its worst consequences. To manage the problem, then, we must understand human interactions with the climate and comprehend the cultural—that is, the international as well as the national—dimensions of these interactions and their consequences. With the aid of guest lecturers from the Climate Change Institute, recent publications on climate change, and a survey of what we know about humans and the cultures and social systems they create, this course surveys the relationships between culture and climate and investigates their implications for mitigating, and adapting to, climate change.
Pre-requisites: ANT101, ANT102, or by permission.
If you need permission to enroll, please contact Paul Roscoe on FirstClass. To register, please contact Shelley Palmer.
BIO 597 Advanced Statistics for the Environment (4 cr)
Instructor:
Brian McGill
This course surveys advanced statistical techniques including Generalized Linear Models, random effect/repeated
measures/phylogenetic/autocorrelated errors, modern regression, multitvariate, spatial/temporal, bayesian vs. Monte Carlo vs. frequentist, experimental design/power analysis. We also read/discuss primary literature that use advanced statistical techniques. The student will also learn to use the R software package. The main goals are to: 1) learn a sophisticated, nuanced research appropriate view of how statistics are used; 2) be able to intelligently read papers that are statistically intense, and 3) identify which tools are most appropriate for your research questions so that you may pursue them through advanced courses or self study. Prerequisites: a prior course (undergraduate or graduate level) in statistics that covers ANOVA and regression.
CMJ 498 Science & the News Media
Instructor: Catherine Schmitt, Maine Sea Grant
COS 598: (topics) Cyberinfrastructure for Climate-Change Research
Instructor:
Sudarshan S. Chawathe
BGSC 307
Tue. Thu. 8:00-9:15am (likely to change based on student/ instructor schedules)
This topics course focuses on cyberinfrastructure relevant to research in climate-change and related fields of study, interpreted broadly, with an emphasis on managing large volumes of diverse datasets. Students typically engage in a study of datasets related to their primary research interests using the tools and techniques as studied in this course. Computer programming experience is NOT required.
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
ECO 405 Sustainable Energy Economics & Policy
Instructor:
Gary Hunt #12692
ECO 572 Advanced Environmental and Resource Economics II
Instructor:
Jonathan Rubin #7565
ECO 581 Sustainable Resource Systems and Public Policy
Instructor:
Stewart Smith #2648
ECO 590 Advanced Topics in Economics - Ecological Economics
Instructor:
Mark Anderson #10567
ECO 515 Advanced Microeconomics
will also be offered as:
ECO 590: Seminar in Survey Research
Instructor: Mario Teisl
1 credit, Wed. 3:10-5:40 from 1/1/- 2/14
The main goal of this course is to introduce you to the formulation and conduct of social science research. The course attempts to define and illustrate the philosophical and practical underpinnings and general process of social science research – particularly on the data collection front. This is NOT a research statistics course but a course to help you frame research and understand how to collected data so it is of higher quality. Given the 5 week time frame, some topics on the schedule will be examined in depth while some will be briefly surveyed. The goal is to not make you a survey expert in 5 weeks, but to give you the preparation to become one. Topics may also include proposal writing, performing literature reviews, and reporting of results.
ECO 593: Seminar in Game Theory
Instructor: Mario Teisl #13349
2 credits, Wed. 3:10-5:40 from 2/14-end of semester
Prereq will be ECO350 or better, or permission.
This course requires a small amount of economics which students should be able to pick up with a little reading - some of the applications will be economics driven [e.g. market behavior, auctions (e.g., pollution permit auctions), contributions to environmental public goods, management of environmental commons, business strategies/research and investment decisions] but other applications are more general (e.g., negotiations of treaties, sports, managing environmental resources, animal behavior, battlefields, voting etc.). Most of the course does not need much economic knowledge except toward the end when we do some decision making under risk and uncertainty. For those a little short on the economics - readings will be provided before that section of the course.
FTY 444 Forest Resource Economics
Economics of domestic and international forest resources production, processing and distribution. Contributions of forest resources to local, regional, and national economies. Fundamentals of financial analysis. Evaluation of priced and unpriced forest resources for acquisition, taxation, management, and disposal.
FTY 446 Forest Resources Policy and Ethics
Mechanisms involved in, and influences on the evolution of national, state and private forest policies in the United States and other nations. Development of professional codes of ethics in forestry and examination of professional, private business, environmental, and public sector ethical challenges, particularly in the formation of forest policies.
FTY 617 -Survey Design and Analysis. Forest Policy Problems, Section 002
1 credit, Wednesday, 1:00-1:50pm
Instructors: Jessica E. Leahy and Laura Lindenfeld
This course is designed to be a self-directed graduate seminar in applied social science statistics and SPSS. Each week students will learn: which common statistical tests to use in applied social science research situations, how to complete the analysis in SPSS, and how to interpret and report the output/results. This will be done through group-based problem solving and shared teaching. Course flyer available.
HED 677 – Doctoral Seminar in Research
Instructor: Elizabeth Allan #7557
This seminar is designed for in-depth exploration of the question: “How do we come to know what we know?” More specifically, we will examine theories of knowledge formation and distribution and consider implications for U.S. higher education. We will also address the broader social context and its epistemological implications in light of how the global economy and the information/electronic age may influence knowledge production and approaches to inquiry. In so doing, we will draw upon perspectives of interdisciplinary scholars as we consider how our own social positioning and personal experiences weave together to shape learning and approaches to scholarly inquiry.
IMD 530 (#3564) - Advanced Documentary Workshop
Monday & Wednesday, 6:00 – 7:45 PM
Instructor: Bill Kuykendall
Graduate students who understand basic media making skills (you don't have to be an expert) could benefit from this IMD 530 Advanced Documentary Workshop class. Studies include a four-day immersion workshop at the Schoodic Education and Research Center on Schoodic Point. Although most in the class will be pursuing "people" projects, there's no reason that natural scientists can not incorporate documentation of activities in their specialty. Contact Bill with questions.
SMS 552: An Introduction to Complex Adaptive Systems (Coupled Natural and Human Systems)
Instructor: Jim Wilson
SMS 598: Knowledge and Participation in the Fisheries Science Policy Process
Instructor: Teresa Johnson
3 credits
Legal mandates require policy decisions be based on the best available information, while at the same time the process must also allow for adequate public input. In addition, stakeholder engagement in science and management is increasingly promoted to improve the credibility and legitimacy of policy-making. This seminar will explore the role of participation and knowledge in the science policy process, with particular focus on the social aspects of knowledge production in the context of marine fisheries management. Through readings of the primary literature and case studies, the course will explore topics such as the social construction of scientific knowledge, science communication, and the role of stakeholder engagement, public participation, and local ecological knowledge in the science policy process. The class should be of interest to students concerned broadly with the role of stakeholder engagement and science in policy-making.
WLE 445/545 Management of Threatened and Endangered Species
Mon 11:00-11:50am; Wed 10:00-11:50am
3 credits
Focus on state, federal and international endangered species biology, policy and management. Course includes lectures and discussions with guest lecturers from state, federal and non-profit agencies
Contact Judith Rhymer at judith.rhymer@umit.maine.edu or 581-2863 for more information
Course offerings at University of Southern Maine
Students interested in these courses should contact Charlie Colgan before December 1 as video-conferencing arrangements will need to be made. Final details for registration for these courses is being finalized. Please let Ruth Hallsworth know if you are planning to register so she can let you know once registration arrangements are confirmed.
