ESE 1. Introduction to Environmental Science and Engineering.
9 units (3-0-6); third term. Prerequisites: Ph 1 ab, Ch 1 ab, and Ma 1 ab. An introduction to the array of major scientific and engineering issues related to environmental quality on a local, regional, and global scale. Fundamental aspects of major environmental problems will be addressed with an overall focus on the dynamic interplay among the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. Underlying scientific principles based on biology, chemistry, and physics will be presented. Engineering solutions to major environmental problems will be explored. Not offered on a pass/fail basis. Instructor: Hering. Satisfies the menu requirement of the Caltech core curriculum.
ESE 90. Undergraduate Laboratory Research in Environmental Science and Engineering. Units by arrangement; any term. Approval of research supervisor required prior to registration. Independent research on current environmental problems; laboratory or field work is required. A written report is required for each term of registration. Graded pass/fail. Instructor: Staff.
ESE 100. Special Topics in Environmental Science and Engineering. 6 or more units as arranged. Prerequisite: instructor’s permission. Special courses of reading, problems, or research for first-year graduate students or qualified undergraduates. Graded pass/fail. Instructor: Staff.
ESE 101. Current Problems in Environmental Science and Engineering. 3 units; first term. A discussion course that focuses on current research by ESE faculty, and open research questions in the field. Required for first-year ESE graduate students. Instructor: Leadbetter.
ACM/ESE 118. Methods in Applied Statistics and Data Analysis. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Prerequisite: Ma 2 or another introductory course in probability and statistics. Introduction to fundamental ideas and techniques of statistical modeling, with an emphasis on conceptual understanding and on the analysis of real data sets. Multiple regression: estimation, inference, model selection, model checking. Regularization of ill-posed and rank-deficient regression problems. Cross-validation. Principal component analysis. Discriminant analysis. Resampling methods and the bootstrap. Instructor: Schneider.
ESE 142. Aquatic Chemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); first term. Prerequisite: Ch 1 or instructor’s permission. Principles of inorganic and physical chemistry applied to natural and engineered aquatic systems. Biogeochemical processes controlling the major ion composition of aquatic systems and the behavior of the trace inorganic constituents of such systems are examined. Fundamental aspects of thermodynamics and quantitative description of the composition of natural waters are stressed. Instructor: Hering.Ge/ESE 143. Organic Geochemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); first term. Prerequisite: Ch 41 a or equivalent. Introduction to the properties and cycling of natural organic materials. The course follows the global cycle of organic matter, from production in living organisms to burial in sediments and preservation in the rock record. Specific topics include lipid biochemistry and stereochemistry, factors controlling preservation in sediments, methanogenesis, diagnetic alterations of carbon skeletons, fossil fuel production and degradation, life in the deep biosphere, and biomarkers for ancient life. Instructor: Sessions.
ESE 144. Applications of Aquatic Chemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Prerequisite: ESE 142. Case studies are used to illustrate the effects of biogeochemical processes on the composition of ground and surface waters. Systems to be examined include natural waters subject to varying levels of perturbations as a result of human activities, and engineered systems, such as constructed wetlands or water treatment systems. Quantitative equilibrium and kinetic modeling are emphasized. Instructor: Staff.
ESE/Ge 148 abc. Global Environmental Science. 9 units each term. Prerequisites: Ch 1, Ma 2, Ph 2, or equivalents. Global change on timescales of years to centuries.a. Climate Change. (3-0-6); first term. Radiative transfer and the greenhouse effect. Scattering and absorption by gases, clouds, and aerosols. Feedbacks due to water vapor, clouds, ice, and vegetation. Chemistry of greenhouse gases. Climates of the past. Ice ages. The global-warming debate. Economic and political aspects of climate change. Instructor: Wennberg.
b. Atmosphere-Ocean Circulations. (3-0-6); second term. Largescale motions in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Effects of planetary rotation and density stratification. Observing systems and data assimilation. Numerical weather prediction. Climate modeling. Parameterizations. Dynamical aspects of El Niño, global warming, and the ozone hole. Instructor: Ingersoll.
c. Biogeochemical Cycles. (3-0-6); third term. Prerequisite: ESE/Bi 166. Global biogeochemical cycles, fluxes, and chemical reservoirs in the solid earth, atmosphere, and oceans. Regulation of atmospheric composition by photosynthesis and microbial processes. Variability in biogeochemical cycles during the Pleistocene and recent modification by human activity. Constraints on fluxes from remotesensing data, isotope sampling, and models. Instructor: Sessions.Ge/ESE 149. Marine Geochemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Introduction to chemical oceanography and sediment geochemistry. We will address the question "Why is the ocean salty?" by examining the processes that determine the major, minor, and trace element distributions of seawater and ocean sediments. Topics include river and estuarine chemistry, air/sea exchange, nutrient uptake by the biota, radioactive tracers, redox processes in the water column and sediments, carbonate chemistry, and ventilation. Instructor: Adkins.
ESE 150 abc. Seminar in Environmental Science and Engineering. 1 unit (1-0-0); each term. Seminar on current developments and research within the field of environmental engineering science, with special consideration given to work at the Institute. Graded pass/fail. Instructor: Leadbetter.
ESE/Ge 152. Atmospheric Radiation. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Prerequisite: ESE/Ge 148 a or instructor’s permission. The basic physics of absorption and scattering by molecules, aerosols, and clouds. Theory of radiative transfer. Band models and correlated-k distributions and scattering by nonspherical particles. Solar insolation, thermal emission, heating rates and applications to climate. Instructors: Yung.
ESE/Ge 153. Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); third term. Prerequisite: ESE 148 b or an introductory fluid dynamics course. Fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans, beginning with linear wave dynamics and wave–mean flow interaction theory and leading to theories of the maintenance of large-scale circulations. Topics include barotropic Rossby waves, flow-over topography; shallow-water dynamics and potential vorticity; quasi-geostrophic theory; barotropic and baroclinic instability; wave–mean flow interaction; maintenance of the global-scale circulation of the atmosphere; structure of wind-driven ocean circulation. Instructor: Ingersoll.
Ge/ESE 154. Readings in Paleoclimate. 3 units (1-0-2); second term. Prerequisite: instructor’s permission. Lectures and readings in areas of current interest in paleoceanography and paleoclimate. Instructor: Adkins.
Ge/ESE 155. Paleoceanography. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Evaluation of the data and models that make up our current understanding of past climates. Emphasis will be placed on a historical introduction to the study of the past ten thousand to a few hundred thousand years, with some consideration of longer timescales. Evidence from marine and terrestrial sediments, ice cores, corals, and speleothems will be used to address the mechanisms behind natural climate variability. Models of this variability will be evaluated in light of the data. Topics will include sea level and ice volume, surface temperature evolution, atmospheric composition, deep ocean circulation, tropical climate, ENSO variability, and terrestrial/ocean linkages. Instructor: Adkins.ChE/ESE 158. Aerosol Physics and Chemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Open to graduate students and seniors with instructor’s permission. Fundamentals of aerosol physics and chemistry; aerodynamics and diffusion of aerosol particles; condensation and evaporation; thermodynamics of particulate systems; nucleation; coagulation; particle size distributions; optics of small particles. Instructor: Seinfeld.
ESE 159. Environmental Analysis Laboratory. 9 units (1-6-2); third term. Prerequisite: any 100-level ESE course or instructor’s permission. Introduction to modern laboratory techniques and basic sampling principles in environmental water, air, and biological analysis. Modular experiments will address sampling, measurement, and data analysis based around a region of local environmental interest. Regions may include the Arroyo Seco watershed, San Gabriel Mountains, or Caltech campus. Principles of basic experimental design, laboratory technique, elementary statistics, and scientific writing will be emphasized. Instructors: Adkins, staff.
ESE/Bi 166. Microbial Physiology. 9 units (3-0-6); first term. Recommended prerequisite: one year of general biology. A lecture and discussion course on growth and functions in the prokaryotic cell. Topics covered: growth, transport of small molecules, protein excretion, membrane bioenergetics, energy metabolism, motility, chemotaxis, global regulators, and metabolic integration. Instructor: Leadbetter.
ESE/Bi 168. Microbial Metabolic Diversity. 9 units (3-0-6); second term. Prerequisites: ESE 142, ESE/Bi 166. A lecture and discussion course on the metabolic diversity of microorganisms. Basic thermodynamic principles governing energy conservation will be discussed, with emphasis placed on photosynthesis and respiration. Students will be exposed to genetic, genomic, and biochemical techniques that can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of cellular electron transfer underlying these metabolisms. Instructor: Newman.
Ge/ESE 170 Microbial Ecology. 9 units (3-2-4); third term. Prerequisite: ESE/Bi 166. Structural, phylogenetic, and metabolic diversity of microorganisms in nature. The course explores microbial interactions, relationships between diversity and physiology in modern and ancient environments, and influence of microbial community structure on biogeochemical cycles. Introduction to ecological principles and molecular approaches used in microbial ecology and geobiological investigations. Instructor: Orphan.
ESE/Ge/Ch 171. Atmospheric Chemistry I. 9 units (3-0-6); third term. Prerequisite: Ch 1 or equivalent. A detailed course about chemical transformation in Earth’s atmosphere. Kinetics, spectroscopy, and thermodynamics of gas- and aerosol-phase chemistry of the stratosphere and troposphere; sources, sinks, and lifetimes of trace atmospheric species; stratospheric ozone chemistry; oxidation mechanisms in the troposphere. Instructors: Seinfeld, Wennberg.
ESE/Ge/Ch 172. Atmospheric Chemistry II. 3 units (3-0-0); first term. Prerequisite: ESE/Ge/Ch 171 or equivalent. A lecture and discussion course about active research in atmospheric chemistry. Potential topics include halogen chemistry of the stratosphere and troposphere; aerosol formation in remote environments; coupling of dynamics and photochemistry; development and use of modern remote-sensing and in situ instrumentation. Instructors: Seinfeld, Wennberg.
ESE/Ge 173. Topics in Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics. 9 units (3-0-6); first term. Prerequisite: ESE/Ge 153 or equivalent. A lecture and discussion course on current research in atmosphere and ocean dynamics. Topics covered vary from year to year and may include geostrophic turbulence, atmospheric convection and cloud dynamics, wave dynamics and large-scale circulations in the tropics, middle-atmosphere dynamics, dynamics of El Niño and the southern oscillation, maintenance of the ocean thermocline, and dynamics of the southern ocean. Instructor: Schneider.
ESE/Ch/Ge 175 ab. Environmental Organic Chemistry. 9 units (3-0-6); second, third terms. A detailed analysis of the important chemical reactions and physico-chemical processes governing the behavior and fate of organic compounds in the surface and subsurface aquatic environments. The course is focused on physical organic chemistry relevant to natural waters. Fundamental aspects of thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanisms, and transport are stressed. Instructors: Hoffmann, Dalleska.
ESE 200. Advanced Topics in Environmental Science and Engineering. Units by arrangement, any term. Course to explore new approaches to environmental problems. The topics covered vary from year to year, depending on the interests of the students and staff.
ESE 250. Advanced Environmental Seminar. Units by arrangement, not to exceed 4 units (2-0-2); each term. Prerequisite: instructor’s permission. A seminar course for advanced graduate students and staff to discuss current research and technical literature on environmental problems. As the subject matter changes from term to term, it may be taken any number of times.
ESE 300. Thesis Research.
For other closely related courses see listings under Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biology, Geology, Economics, and Social Science. Graduate students may also enroll in graduate courses offered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography under an exchange program. Graduate students majoring in environmental science and engineering, who may take a subject minor in oceanography for the Ph.D. degree, should consult the executive officer for more information.
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