HR: 0800h
AN: ED41B-0485    [Abstracts]
TI: Environmental Earth System Science/Engineering Within an Earth Systems Curriculum at City College of the City University of New York
AU: * Rudolph, E
EM: lizrud@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
AF: Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering, City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, United States
AU: * Rudolph, E
EM: lizrud@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
AF: NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center, City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, United States
AU: Steiner, J
EM: steiner@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
AF: Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering, City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, United States
AU: Steiner, J
EM: steiner@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, United States
AU: Steiner, J
EM: steiner@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
AF: NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center, City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031, United States
AB: The Science Division of City College (CCNY) has implemented a joint undergraduate program with the Grove School of Engineering at CCNY that allows for both a Bachelors of Science and a Bachelors of Engineering using a synergistic Earth System Science (ESS) curriculum . The Science Core uses creative new courses that include ESS: Systems Analysis of the Earth, ESS: Modeling/Databases, Geographic Information Science, and Remote Sensing to expand the spatial science consideration. The Engineering Core supplies background fundamentals in instrumentation design and operation through courses such as Computer- aided Analysis Tools, Basics of Electrical Circuits and Introduction to Satellite Remote Sensing. This represents a dramatic broadening of a classical earth science degree and a shift to a global resource paradigm. The original geology course is now reconstructed to reflect the new points of emphasis. The Freshman level course, ESS: Introduction to Earth System Science and Engineering contains a dramatically modified set of laboratory exercises and exercises with an entirely new focus that incorporate experimental design, and an application of engineering skills. The new laboratory exercise utilize optical benches with light sources and photovoltaic solar cells to study optical phenomena. From a scientific standpoint, students locate the theoretical sun position, and estimate atmospheric light scattering properties, and then use the solar cell information to construct design plans for renewable energy installations. Laboratory simulations are linked to issues such as global warming and satellite data recovery systems. Laboratory exercises also simulate data streams recovered at CCNY using LIDAR and other information published at CCNY on AERONET. The effectiveness of the exercises, including qualitative student responses, is measured to estimate the impact of exercises on student comprehension. We are specifically interested in the manner in which students apply these newly acquired skills to real-world environmental engineering situations.
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting