Undergraduate Course Listing
Below is a list of all the Environmental Science and Studies courses offered through the Institute in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences. Follow the hyperlinked course number to visit the course home page.
- ENST 051 First Year Seminars (3). The seminars are designed to enable first-year students to work closely with top professors in classes that enroll twenty students of fewer. Fall and Spring. Staff.
- ENST 111 Physical Geology for Science Majors (3). Introduction to geology, origin of minerals and rocks structure of the earth erosion, volcanoes, earthquakes, plate tectonics. Not open to students with credit in or currently enrolled in GEOL 101, 105, or 109. Three lecture hours and two lab hours a week. Fall. Staff. General College natural science perspective
- ENST 167 Advanced Functions of Temporal GIS (3). The course focuses on the development of advanced functions for field-based Temporal Geographical Information Systems (TGIS). These fields describe natural, epidemiological, economic, and social phenomena distributed across space and time. The course is organized around 4 main themes: constituents, mathematical framework, computer programs, and applications. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 191, Peoples of Siberia.
- ENST 198 Environmental Risk Assessment (3). Prerequisites, ENVR 403 and ENVR 430. Methods of environmental risk assessment, including hazard identification, exposure assessment, exposure-response assessment, and risk characterization, are developed and applied. Three lecture hours per week. Spring. Crawford-Brown.
- ENST 201 Introduction to Environment and Society (4). Human-environment interactions are examined through analytical methods from the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. The focus is on the role of social, political, and economic factors in controlling interactions between society and the environment in historical and cultural contexts. Three lecture hours and one recitation hour a week. Fall and Spring. Gangi. General College Social Science perspective
- ENST 202 Introduction to Environmental Science (4). The fundamental processes governing the movement and transformation of material and energy in environmental systems are examined. The focus is on the role of these processes in environmental phenomena, and on the ways in which society perturbs these processes. Methods from a wide range of scientific disciplines are integrated. Three lecture hours and one computer lab hour a week. Fall and Spring. Staff. General College Natural Science perspective
- ENST 203 Introduction to Environmental Science Problem Solving (3). Prerequisite, math 231;corequisite, math 232. A quantitative introduction to selected topics in environmental sciences with an emphasis on developing and solidifying problem solving skills. Spring. Shay.
- ENST 204 Environmental Seminar (variable). This course will provide an intellectual focus on the interface between environment and society by examining the relationship between science, policy and actual management practices on a chosen topic. Spring and Fall. Staff
- ENST 205 Environmental Practicum (variable).
- ENST 206 Internship in Environmental Studies or Science (1-3). Permission of instructor. In order to receive permission to sign up for ENST 206 a student must submit to the director of student affairs the completed Internship Program Approval Form (which may be obtained from the director). In order to receive credit a student must submit at the end of the internship a brief summary of the work conducted, to be judged by the faculty sponsor. Staff.
- ENST 207 Internship in Sustainability (3). This course provides an internship with a local organization on the topics of community sustainability, and explores the intellectual basis of public engagement.
- ENST 208 New Frontiers: Environment and Society in the United States (3-4). By employing a multidisciplinary approach, this class will give students a sense of the role that the environment has played in shaping U.S. society and the role that our society plays in producing environmental change at the national and global level. Gangi. Arts and Sciences Social Science perspective
- ENST 211 Environmental Geology (3). Prerequisites, one of the following introductory courses: GEOL 101, 103, 105, 109, or 111. Environmental and human problems connected with uses of earth materials and with geological processes, mineral resources, land-use planning, and engineering geology. Staff. Fall or Spring. Natural science perspective.
- ENST 213 Earth's Dynamic Systems (4). Prerequisites, one of the following introductory courses: GEOL 101, 103, 105, 109 or 111. Earth System Science approach to the study of planet Earth. Influence of earth processes on the environment, earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, and global climate change. Spring. Staff. General College natural science perspective
- ENST 222 Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science (4). Prerequisite, MATH 231, PHYS 104 or CHEM 101. Introduction to the marine environment: ocean basins, sedimentation patterns and processes, sea level changes, oceanic circulation, waves and tides, geochemistry, oceanic chemical cycles, ocean and nearshore ecology. Consideration given to human interaction with, and impact on, the world's marine systems. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 225 Water Resource Management and Human Rights (3). This course explores logistical, political, social, and economic challenges in supplying every human with adequate access to clean water, a most basic human right.
- ENST 253 Introduction to Atmospheric Processes (4). Prerequisite, MATH 231, PHYS 104 or CHEM 101. Atmospheric processes including radiation, dynamics and thermodynamics are emphasized. Circulations across a range of temporal and spatial scales are described. Links between environmental problems and the atmosphere are explored. Spring. Staff.
- ENST 254 International Environmental Politics (3). Covers the politics of environmental issues, with a focus on issues that have become internationalized. It focuses on the special problems that arise in creating rules for environmental management and regulation when no single government has authority to enforce those rules. Spring. Staff
- ENST 259 Coral Reef Ecology and Management. This course will provide an intellectual focus on the interface between environment and society by examining the relationship between science and management practices on a given topic. Students will receive classroom lecture and then will journey out into the field in order to see what role the ideas and theories they studied in the classroom actually have in management practices. Students will also have the opportunity to learn first hand from active professional working inthe chosen topic area. Spring. Gangi.
- ENST 261 Biodiversity Conservation.
- ENST 262 (BIOL 262) Global Ecology: An International Perspective on Ecological and Environmental Problems (3). Prerequisite, BIOL 201. Ecological basis of global environmental problems and their solutions. Topics include: human population growth; food and water shortages; biodiversity loss, deforestation; desertification; emerging diseases and climate change. These are elements in an interconnected ecological system at aglobal scale. Reice.
- ENST 263 Siberian Field Studies.
- ENST 270 Global Environment: Policy Analysis and Solutions (3). Course discusses global environmental problems and review several international environmental treaties. Reviews the U.S. position on these issues, in comparison to other nations. Suggests ways for students to voice their support for international environmental protection to the U.S. government, through voting, activism, and conscientious purchases. Rabindran. Arts and Sciences Social Science perspective
- ENST 305, Data Analysis and Visualization of Social and Environmental Interactions (4). Prerequisites, ENST 201; MATH 231; or ECON 400. Principles of spatial and temporal data analysis are applied to issues of the role of society in producing environmental change. Methods include statistical analysis, model development and computer visualization. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Spring. Staff.
- ENST 306 Business and the Environment (3). Introduction to the methods for selecting management practices in business and industry in ways that optimize environmental quality and economic prosperity. Three lecture hours a week. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 307 Energy and Material Flows in the Environment and Society (3). Prerequisites, MATH 231; ENST 201 and ENST 202 or permission of instructor. Examination of the regional to global flow of materials and energy through materials extraction, processing, manufacturing, product use, recycling and ultimate disposition including its relevance in policy development. Includes a review of the natural cycles in the environment, basic physics and the technology of energy production, distribution, and utilization - conventional, nuclear, and alternative sources. Spring. McNelis.
- ENST 308 Environmental History (3). Historical development of the system of beliefs, values, institutions, etc, underlying societal response to the environment in different cultures is analyzed. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on methods from history, philosophy, psychology, etc. Three lecture hours a week. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 309 Environmental Values and Valuation (3). Introduction to the methods for assigning value to aspects of the environment and to interhuman and human-environment interactions. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on methods from philosophy, ecology, psychology, aesthetics, economics, religion, etc. Three lecture hours a week. Spring. Staff.
- ENST 312 Risk-based International Environmental Decisions (3). A Web-based course on the methods and roles of risk assessment in the international setting with a primary focus on US-EU applications in environmental policy decisions. Fall, Spring, Summer. Staff.
- ENST 330 Principles of Sustainability (3). An overview of science, social science and humantities perspectives on community sustainability.
- ENST 350 Environmental Law and Policy (3). This course focuses on the constitutional, statutory, and common-law landscape within which environmental policies and practices take shape, mixing a hands-on introduction to the environmental lawyering enterprise with broader inquiries into the principal environmental laws and ways in which environmental law both affects and is affected by economics, science, philosophy, and politics. Spring. Law School Professor Donald Hornstein.
- ENST 351 Coastal Law and Policy (3). Fall (only at AEFS).
- ENST 368 (PHIL 368), Environmental Ethics (3). Introduction to the methods for analyzing the philosophical foundations of interactions between humans and the environments, and between humans through the environment. Three lecture hours a week. Spring. Staff.
- ENST 375 Environmental Advocacy (3). Rhetorical means of citizen influence of practices affecting our natural and human environment. Three lecture hours a week. Spring. Staff.
- ENST 395, Research in Environmental Science and Studies for Undergraduates (variable). Permission of a member of the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Research in an area of Environmental Science or Environmental Studies. Fall and Spring. Staff.
- ENST 396 Directed Readings (1-4). Permission of instructor. A specialized selection of readings from the literature of a particular environmental field supervised by a member of the Carolina Environmental Faculty group. Written reports on the readings, or a literature review paper will be required. Cannot be used as a course towards the major.
- ENST 403 Environmental Chemistry (3). Presents important environmental topics and issues from an environmental chemistry perspective. General topics to be discussed are: global warming, stratospheric ozone, fine particles in the atmosphere, photochemical smog, acid rain, toxic chemicals in ground water, and wastewater and soil. Fall. Kamens.
- ENST 404 Mountain Biodiversity (3). An introduction to the new field of biodiversity studies, which integrates approaches from systematics, ecology, evolution and conservation. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 405 Mountain Preservation (3). Introduces students to approaches used to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Southern Appalachians. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 406 Atmospheric Processes in Environmental Systems (4). Prerequisites: MATH 231; CHEM 102; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117; GEOG 253 or permission of instructor. Principles of analysis of the atmosphere are applied to the analysis of environmental phenomena. The link between the atmosphere and other environmental compartments is explored through case studies of environmental issues. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Fall. Robinson, Konrad.
- ENST410 Earth Processes in EnvironmentalSystems (4). Prerequisites: MATH 231; CHEM 102; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117; GEOL 111 or GEOL 213; or permission of instructor. Principles of geological and related earth systems sciences are applied to the analysis of environmental phenomena. The link between the lithosphere and other environmental compartments is explored through case studies of environmental issues. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Spring. Benninger.
- ENST411 Oceanic Processes in Environmental Systems (4). Prerequisites: MATH 231; BIOL 101; CHEM 102; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117; ENST 222; or permission of instructor. Principles of analysis of the ocean, coast and estuarine environments, and the processes that control these environments, are applied to the analysis of environmental phenomena. The link between the hydrosphere and other environmental compartments is explored through case studies of environmental issues. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Spring. Shay.
- ENST 415 Environmental Systems Modeling (3). Prerequisites: MATH 383; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117 (may be taken concurrently) or permission of instructor. Methods for developing explanatory and predictive models of environmental processes are explored. Includes discussion of the relevant scientific modes of analysis, mathematical methods, computational issues, and visualization techniques. Two lecture hours and one computer lab hour a week. Spring. William Gray.
- ENST 417 Geomorphology (3).
- ENST 450 Biogeochemical Processes (4). Prerequisites, MATH 231; BIOL 101; CHEM 251 or CHEM 261; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117; GEOL 111 or GEOL 213 or permission of instructor. Principles of chemistry, biology and geology are applied to analysis of the fate and transport of materials in environmental systems, with an emphasis on those materials that form the most significant cycles. The course examines these processes in systems that contain the hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 460 Historical Ecology (3). Historical ecology is a framework for integrating physical, biological, and social science data with insights from the humanities to understand the reciprocal relationship between human activity and the Earth system. Crumley.
- ENST 461 Fundamentals of Ecology.
- ENST 468 (ENVR 468) Advanced Functions of Temporal GIS (3). Prerequisites math 233. Advanced functions of temporal geographical information systems (TGIS). These fields describe natural, epidemiological, economic and social phenomena distributed across space and time.
- ENST 470 Risk Assessment.
- ENST 471 Human Impacts on Estuarine Ecosystems (4).Prerequisites: MATH 231; CHEM 102. A cohesive examination ofthe human impacts on biological processes in estuarine ecosystems. Lab/rec/field work is included and contributes 2 credit hours to the course. Noble, Paerl, Luettich.
- ENST 472 Coastal and Estaurine Ecology (4). Prerequisites: MATH 231; CHEM 102. A field intensive study of the ecologyof marine organisms and their interactions with their environment, including commercially important organisms. Lab/rec/fieldwork is included and contributes 2 credit hours to the course. Peterson, Bruno, Marko, Lindquist.
- ENST 474 Sustainable Coastal Management (3). This course explores the environmental history of the Albemarle estuary and its larger watershed and explores ways in which humans can utilize this region in a more sustainable manner. (Only at the AEFS Field Site)
- ENST 479 Landscape Analysis (3). This course utilizes GIS, GPS, and remote sensing technologies to gather data on geology, watersheds, soils, integrated moisture indices. The class also develops habitat maps and derives diversity indices. (Only at the Highlands Field Site)
- ENST 480 Environmental Decision-Making (3). Introduces factors shaping environmental decision making by individuals, businesses, governments, advocacy groups, and international institutions, and explores public policy incentives and action strategies for influencing them. Spring. Andrews.
- ENST 489 Ecological Processes in Environmental Systems (4). Prerequisites: MATH 231; BIOL 101; CHEM 102; PHYS 105 or PHYS 117; BIOL 201; or permission of instructor. Principles of analysis of the structure and function of ecosystems are applied to the analysis of environmental phenomena. The link between the biosphere and other environmental compartments is explored through case studies of environmental issues. Three lecture hours and one lab hour a week. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 490 Special Topics in Environmental Science and Studies (3). Advanced topics from diverse areas of environmental science and/or environmental studies are explored. Three lecture hours aweek. Fall and Spring. Staff.
- ENST 510 Policy Analysis of Global Climate Change (3). Reviews policies to deal with global climate change, including the development of assessment models and team-based role-playing projects. This course provides a real-world and relevant case study in which to apply material from multiple other courses, including public policy, economics, environment science and international studies. Fall. Staff.
- ENST 511 Stable Isotopes.
- ENST 520 Environment and Development (3). Review environmental problems in developing countries, analyze proposed solutions such as legal remedies, market instruments, corporate voluntary approaches, international agreements and development policies. Also to be discussed is the link between trade and environment, environmental cases from the World Trade Organization, and sustainable development. Fall. Rabindran.
- ENST 522 ECOHEALTH.
- ENST 562 Statistics for Environmental Scientists.
- ENST 563 Statistics for Ecology and Evolution.
- ENST 567 Ecological Analyses and Application
- ENST 569 Current Issues in Ecology (3). Prerequisites, previous course work in ecology and permission of the instructor required. Topics vary but focus on interdisciplinary problems facing humans and/or the environment. Staff.
- ENST 585 American Environmental Policy (3). Prerequisite, ENVR 100. Intensive introduction to environmental management policy, including environmental and health risks, policy institutions, processes, and instruments, policy analysis, and major elements of American environmental policy. Lectures and case studies. Fall. Andrews.
- ENST 608 CONT MECH EARTH SCI.
- ENST 675 Environmental Communication in the Public Sphere (3). This course explores the different forums and discursive practices that inform public debates over environmental policy in the U.S. These forums differ widely: public hearings, TV news, environmental advocacy campaigns, citizen advisory panels, and scientific risk communication. In this class, we'll look at the symbolic and ideological resources (language, images, and ideas) that frame the debate in these spaces. Fall, Spring. Cox.
- ENST 686 Policy Instruments for Environmental Management (PLCY 686, ENVR 686, PLAN 686) (3). Prerequisite, one course in economics. Design of public policy instruments as incentives for sustainable management of environmental resources and ecosystems, and comparison of the effects and effectiveness of alternative policies.
- ENST 694H Honors Project in Environmental Science and Studies (variable). Permission of Director of Student Affairs. Independent project leading to the honors designation includes weekly research seminar. Fall and Spring. Staff.
- ENST 698 Capstone: Analysis and Solution of Environmental Problems (3). Interdisciplinary, team-based analyses of environmental phenomena are performed and applied to problems of the selection of effective environmental strategies. Students may select from a wide range of examples and venues. Three lecture hours a week. Fall and Spring. Staff.
