This course is offered jointly by the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES) of Columbia University.

This page is for students enrolled in the section to U4735.

• Section instructor: Richard Katz, Graduate Student Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science
• email: katz@ldeo.columbia.edu
• office phone: (845) 365-8462 (on campus: 95-8462)
• office hours: Thursdays,  11:15 AM, see below (Also after lecture, by request, when possible, etc.).

 
• Credit, grades: This section is worth 1 credit.  The grade will be part of your lecture grade, however. See the section FAQ

• Course meeting times:  Thursdays at 10:00 AM.   We will be meeting once a week at a time the accomodates the largest number of people.

• Course meeting location:  IAB ROOM 902.

 

Syllabus

Final Project

Web Resources

• Office hours:  I will tenatively be holding office hours  Thursdays at 11:15 in the DEES graduate student lounge.  To get to this room, go in the main entrance of Schermerhorn, up the stairs, turn right, through the doors and follow the hallway around until you enter the hallway with the Earth Science themed decorations.  The lounge is through the first door on the left.  If it turns out that most people don't like these office hours then I will change them.  However, you can also meet with me by appointment---just drop me an email.

• Required Text: Harte, John; Consider a Spherical Cow, A Course in Environmental Problem Solving, University Science Books, Mill Valley, CA,1988, 283 pp. paperback.  Used as text on quantitative examination of natural systems, excellent resource for tabulated scientific data (appendix) and methods of first-order calculations.

• Homework: There will be weekly graded homework assignments.

• Final Project: During the last three weeks a final project will be completed instead of problem sets. The project will be research based and will hopefully be chosen by the student to fit her interests.

• Lamont Friday Colloquiums:  Attendance at these talks is optional, however they are very interesting and offer a glimpse 'state-of-the-art' Earth science, aimed at a general scientific audience.  Colloquiums start at 3:30 every Friday, and are preceded by a 30 minute Q&A session  with the speaker for graduate students.  They are held in Monell Hall.  Here is the colloquium schedule, and here you can find info on the Lamont shuttle and a map of LDEO.