Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

Bloomington

Co-Directors
Arthur F. Bentley Professor Elinor Ostrom and Rudy Professor Emilio Moran

Departmental E-mail
cipec@indiana.edu

Departmental URL
www.indiana.edu/~cipec

Core Graduate Faculty
Associated Graduate Faculty
Ph.D. Minor in the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Core Courses
Minor Elective Courses

Core Graduate Faculty

(An asterisk [*] denotes associate membership in University Graduate School faculty.)

Arthur F. Bentley Professor
Elinor Ostrom (Political Science, Public and Environmental Affairs)

Rudy Professor
Emilio Moran (Anthropology, Geography, Public and Environmental Affairs)

Professors
George Alter (History), J. C. Randolph (Public and Environmental Affairs)

Assistant Professors
Eduardo Brondízio (Anthropology), Tom Evans (Geography), Clark Gibson (Political Science), Phil Keating (Geography), Leah Van Wey (Sociology)

Associated Graduate Faculty

Professors
Randall Baker (Public and Environmental Affairs, International Programs), Jerome Busemeyer (Psychology), Dennis Conway (Geography), Hendrik Haitjema (Public and Environmental Affairs), Jeffrey Hart (Political Science), Dan Knudsen (Geography), J. Scott Long (Sociology), John Odland (Geography), David Parkhurst (Public and Environmental Affairs), Rob Robinson (Sociology), Barry Rubin (Public and Environmental Affairs), Jeanne Sept (Anthropology), James Walker (Economics), Richard Wilk (Anthropology)

Associate Professors
Kerry Krutilla (Public and Environmental Affairs), Vicky Meretsky* (Public and Environmental Affairs), Scott Robeson (Geography)

Assistant Professors
Elizabeth Armstrong* (Sociology), Chris Craft* (Public and Environmental Affairs), Hugh Kelley* (Economics), Heather Reynolds* (Biology)

Academic Advisors
Arthur F. Bentley Professor Elinor Ostrom, (812) 855-9297 or (812) 855-0441; Rudy Professor Emilio Moran, (812) 855-6181; Associate Professor Jon Unruh (812) 855-5182 or (812) 855-5760

Ph.D. Minor in the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

The graduate minor will instruct students in theories and methods that combine the physical and social sciences on human dimensions of global environmental change (HDGEC). The curriculum, as described below, will familiarize students with (1) the major issues of the field through exploration of the available approaches to this kind of interdisciplinary work and creation of a research proposal; (2) institutional analysis and design; and (3) forest and institutions research methods. Students will be expected to become familiar with GIS and/or remote sensing as tools in the analysis of global environmental change through both formal courses and hands-on apprenticeship as part of team research projects.

Course Requirements
The Minor in Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change requires 12 credit hours of approved courses. The core courses G515, Y673, and Y773 are required, unless explicitly approved otherwise by the directors of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change and the University Graduate School. Students who have (1) completed the required credit hours in good standing and (2) presented a dissertation to their research committee, at least one member of which must be a core faculty member associated with the program, will complete the minor.

Core Courses

Graduate School

GRAD G515 Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (3 cr.) Examines the research agenda on global environmental change. It aims to facilitate student participation in ongoing and future research through development of research proposed for dissertation work. Topics include deforestation, pollution, population, land use, and remote sensing. Offered spring semester every other year.

Political Science

Y673 Empirical Theory and Methodology (3 cr.) Will count toward Minor when topic is "Institutional Analysis and Development: Micro." This research seminar addresses how and why fallible individuals achieve and sustain self-governing entities and self-governing ways of life. It seeks to understand how individuals affect the rules that structure their lives. This seminar provides the theoretical foundations for Y773.

Y773 Empirical Theory and Methodology (3 cr.) Will count toward Minor when topic is "Research Seminar International Forestry Resources and Institutions." This research seminar is designed for graduate students in diverse disciplines and visiting scholars interested in learning about multimethod data collection techniques that combine rigorous measures of social science concepts and those related to forest conditions.

Minor Elective Courses

These courses fulfill the fourth course for the minor, and they may in some rare circumstances replace one of the three core courses with the approval of the academic advisors and the University Graduate School.

Graduate School
Anthropology
Geography
School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Graduate School

GRAD G513 Topics Seminar in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (3 cr.) Topical courses related to the study of institutions, population, and environmental change will be arranged in light of recent scientific developments and student and faculty interests. Analysis of human roles in environmental change is contextualized by attention to biophysical and ecosystematic relationships.

GRAD G514 Fieldwork Practicum in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (12 cr.) P: approval from directors of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change. Gives students the opportunity to practice research methods in an individually designed project. The project must address a specific issue in the study of institutions, populations, and environmental change.

GRAD G517 Seminar in Cultural Ecology: The Amazon in Crisis: Ecology and Development (3 cr.) Provides an introduction to the ecology of the Amazon Basin of South America, focusing on its habitats, the use and conservation of the environment by its native inhabitants, and examining the forces of development that threaten its very existence.

GRAD G590 Seminar/Colloquium in Population Analysis (3 cr.) P: graduate status or consent from instructor. Topic varies. Elective status depends on topic and approval by the academic advisors.

GRAD G591 Methods of Population Analysis and Applications (3 cr.) P: an undergraduate course in statistics. This is a course about methods of measuring and projecting population dynamics. We focus on describing the three basic demographic processes (mortality, fertility, and migration) and showing how each one affects population size and age structure. An understanding of these basic processes is fundamental for studying behavioral aspects of population change.

GRAD G593 International Perspectives on Population Problems (3 cr.) International trends in population growth, characteristics, and structure with attention to major social, environmental, economic, and political implications. Comparisons between industrially advanced economies and less developed countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Special emphasis will be placed on local and national circumstances affecting fertility, mortality, migration, and emerging roles of population policies in development planning.

Return to Minor Elective Courses

Anthropology

E427 Cultural Ecology (3 cr.) Surveys the major environmental studies in anthropology, the basic principles of ecological theory, and human adaptation as manifested in major ecosystems.

E600 Topic Seminar: Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (3 cr.) This course focuses on the relationship between land-use systems, human settlement patterns, and their impact on land cover and landscape structure. It aims to link the theoretical and methodological approaches that human ecology and landscape ecology bring to land use and production system analysis. The link between production system, land use, land cover, and landscape structure will be discussed in the context of contemporary problems, such as deforestation, agriculture intensification, and human dimensions of global environmental change.

E600 Topic Seminar: Remote Sensing for Social Scientists (3 cr.) This course combines a historical review on the use of remote sensing in the social sciences, conceptual discussions on applications of remote sensing to social science problems, and a formal introduction to remote sensing techniques based on hands-on laboratory sessions. The course will consist of a conceptual and a laboratory session each week.

E600 Topic Seminar: People and Forest: Contemporary Issues on Deforestation, Forest Management, and Agroforestry (3 cr.) The main goal of this seminar is to provide a semester-long "environment" in which the student's research interest (research paper, proposal related to "people and forest") can be "nurtured" and discussed with an interdisciplinary group of graduate colleagues. The goal is to work on a single research paper or dissertation proposal or dissertation chapter during the whole semester while interacting with colleagues in class.

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Geography

G425 Africa: Contemporary Geographic Problems (3 cr.) The course examines contemporary geographic problems confronting the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The primary focus is on migration; agriculture; food security; the environment; and environmental change, wildlife, and health.

G520 Migration and Population Redistribution (3 cr.) P: G314 and G320, or consent of instructor. Study of international regional and intra-urban migration using micro- and macro-level approaches, and the impacts of population redistribution on origin and distination. Topics include illegal immigration to the United States, rural-to-urban migration in LDCs, international migration and refugees, and gender differences in migration behavior.

G535 Introduction to Remote Sensing (3 cr.) Principles of remote sensing of the earth and its atmosphere, emphasizing satellite data in visible, infrared, and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Emphasis on practical applications and digital image analysis. A satellite data analysis project is required.

G536 Advanced Remote Sensing: Digital Image Processing (3 cr.) P: G535. Advanced remote sensing theory and digital image processing techniques with an emphasis on environmental science applications. Hands-on computer exercises provide significant experience in digital image processing techniques for extraction of qualitative and quantitative information about Earth's terrestrial and aquatic environments.

G538 Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) Overview of the principles and practices of geographic information systems (GIS). Spatial data models, database design, introductory and intermediate GIS, operations and case studies of real-world GIS applications. Laboratory exercises will provide significant hands-on experience. Lecture and laboratory. Taught every semester.

G539 Advanced Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) P: G538 or consent of instructor. Intermediate and advanced topics in geographic information science and spatial analysis techniques using GIS software. This advanced course is for students who seek a greater understanding of this rapidly developing field and to learn how to construct, manage, and analyze their own GIS data and models. Taught once per year.

G639 Seminar in Geographic Information Science (3 cr.) Applications of geographic information science principles in the collection and analysis of spatial data. Integration of GIS, remote sensing, and/or GPS technologies. Review of current literature on techniques, theory, technology, and applications with an emphasis on environmental issues. Discussions, laboratory, and research project. Taught every third semester.

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School of Public and Environmental Affairs

E465 Environmental Management in the Tropics (3 cr.) Historical examination of land use in tropical, non-Western cultures. Resource use in physical and cultural settings is explored through an interface with ecology, economics, and policy analysis. Common principles of analysis are used to help the students understand the cultural and historical dimensions of how people relate to their environment.

E518 Vector-Based Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) Geographic information systems using vector data structure. Vector GIS capabilities and uses. Data structure and file management of spatial data. Laboratory exercises use ARC/INFO software.

E527 Applied Ecology (3 cr.) P: one introductory-level ecology course. Ecosystem concepts in natural resource management. Techniques of ecosystem analysis. Principles and practices of ecological natural resource management.

E528 Forest Ecology and Management (3 cr.) P or C: E538 or V506. Field and laboratory exercises in quantitative analysis of forest ecosystems. Sampling and data collection methodologies. Data analysis and interpretation. Concepts in forest ecology and forest management.

E555 Field Techniques in Ecology (3 cr.) P: one course in statistics. This is an introductory field science course for those without a current background in field work. The course is designed to introduce field skills and to provide an understanding of how ecological data are collected and analyzed. In the field, we will cover mapping techniques including global positioning systems (GPS, often used to collect data for GIS databases), population estimation techniques, habitat measurement techniques, an introduction to soils, and a comparative ecosystems trip.

E555 Restoration Ecology (3 cr.) The course will cover basic concepts of ecosystem restoration, including development of energy flow and nutrient cycles, soil formation, mechanisms of species dispersal, and colonization and mutualistic relationships. Restoration of specific terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, forests, lakes, rivers and streams, and wetlands, will be covered.

E557/E457 Conservation Biology (3 cr.) P: one ecology course. Ecological principles associated with rare species and with biodiversity, laws and statutes used to conserve biodiversity, and land species management practices. Our aim is to understand scientific and political complexities of conservation biology and to study different methods used to conserve living resources and resolve conflicts associated with conservation.

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