Geology 140: Tactics for Scientific Study of Societal Challenges

Human communities must adapt to gradual and abrupt changes in the physical environment. Sea-level rise, storm surge, flooding, and landslides are examples of hazardous environmental events requiring mitigation. While enhancing the infrastructure that copes with these physical changes, geoscientists ensure energy, water, and mineral resources and mitigate toxic legacy waste. Necessary first steps in associated geoscience investigations require identifying the scope and scale of a research question and evaluating which scientific instrument to implement during a project. This 1 credit course provides a science experience for incoming first-year students interested in pursuing any science major. The course is intended for students whose high school science had few hands-on science lab experiences. This course may include one or two half-day field trips to local county and city infrastructure and to local geologic features. The course also introduces scientific instrumentation including the imaging capabilities of electron microscopes, chemical analysis using X-Ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and/or laser analysis of particle sizes. Other activities include guest speakers, discussion of science articles written for the general public, and one short writing assignment. For first-year students only; participation pending approval of a short application. No distribution credit. This course does not count toward the Geology major. Graded credit/no credit.