Geology 481

Advanced Environmental Geology

Spring Semester 1999

The photo above (taken by Bert) shows the 1999 GEOL481 class, with a couple of stragglers,1500 feet below the Earth's surface in a salt dome way down in Cajun Country in Louisiana.

From left to right, and equipped with neato nuclear belts are:

Jeremy Kinman, Brendan Anslinger, Kelly Sanders, Ron Counts, Dawn Ison, Paul Doss, John Lutz, and Richie Hall

 

Look to the underlined links to see information on current student research projects, and our spring recess field trip to the Texas Gulf Coast!

Objectives: This course has several objectives including:

  • integrate the numerous subdisciplines of geology, and other fields, in focused inquiry
  • gain expertise in the critical review of research literature
  • experience with oral and written communication in the geosciences
  • satisfy the goals of the University Core Curriculum for synthesis

Format:

This course will be run in a seminar style with readings from the current and classical literature. Each week (almost) a selection of papers on a single topic (broad or specific) will be assigned. Wednesday class meetings will consist, generally, of discussion on the reading, with every student participating actively. The formal prerequisites for the course are Geology 162 and permission of the instructor. The course will use the content of GEOL161 and GEOL162 as point zero. You MUST have that background as WORKING knowledge. We will not have time nor take time to review introductory material.

Content:

The course, to a degree, will be tailored to the interests of the group. Each participant will be responsible for presenting brief, oral critiques on approved papers of her or his choice; any aspect of environmental geology is fair game. In addition to learning about each of the topics discussed, you should also gain insight into the critical review of the popular, technical and scientific literature. Examples of discussion topics for the course are attached. Each of you should immediately identify any potential discussion topics that interest you, and the related literature.

Semester Projects:

EVERY survey of potential employers, particularly in science and tech, indicates that the top three skills required of new employees are not specifically related to disciplinary content. In all cases, oral and written communication skills, and critical thinking ability, are identified as the most important job qualifications. Don't take this lightly!

Moreover, the knowledge of disciplinary content is inherent in these skills also, because if you think that you communicate well about a subject you don't know anything about...that's called BULLSH*#!

To these ends, we will, in Geology 481, work to be proficient at communicating about environmental geological topics.