Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Dean: Jeff Dozier
UC Santa Barbara's new Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, the first of its type in the western United States, focuses on the diagnosis and assessment of the environmental problems of today and the future. The Bren School currently offers the Masters of Environmental Science and Management (M.E.S.M.), a professional degree. The Bren School plans to offer a research-oriented Ph.D. program. The Bren School's guiding principle is that the analysis of environmental problems requires quantitative training in more than one traditional discipline, along with an awareness of the physical, biological, social, political, and economic consequences that arise from scientific or technological decisions. The interdisciplinary approach of the programs will go beyond mere course-taking to form a coherent, integrated program blending teaching, research, and real-world problems.
Today's environmental problems call for people who are educated in more than one discipline, highly trained in technical skills, and aware of the political, economic, and social dimensions of environmental decisions. Advances in observational methods, theories, and models in such fields as meteorology, oceanography, ecology, geochemistry, hydrology, economics, sociology, political science, and history have developed independently and remained unique. Present needs require that traditional disciplines be integrated in teaching and research to recognize the planet as a single, complex, integrated system. The Bren School will offer such integrated training and research. Built into the program is resource-sharing with expertise in the College of Letters and Science and the College of Engineering; the proposed curriculum includes many courses outside the Bren School.
The Bren School draws upon the skills and expertise of many UC Santa Barbara faculty of national and international stature who are on the forefront of this integrated approach to the study of the environment. In addition to current faculty, five new faculty members will join the Bren School by fall 1998. The Bren School will grow to seventeen faculty by academic year 2000-2001.
Frank Davis, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Professor (biogeography, plant ecology, remote sensing, information systems, conservation planning)
Jeff Dozier, Ph.D., University of Michigan, Professor (snow science, remote sensing, information systems, environmental optics, earth system science)
Tom Dunne, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Professor (geomorphology and hydrology: field and theoretical studies of drainage basin and hillslope evolution; sediment transportation and floodplain sedimentation; sediment budgets of drainage basins)
James Frew, Ph.D., UC Santa Barbara, Assistant Professor (systems for managing environmental information, information management, digital libraries)
Trish Holden, Ph.D., UC Berkeley, Assistant Professor (microbiology, transformations of pollutants in unsaturated systems)
Arturo Keller, Ph.D., Stanford University, Assistant Professor (environmental biogeochemistry, climate modeling, ground water contamination)
Charles Kolstad, Ph.D., Stanford University, Professor (environmental economics, environmental regulation, valuing environmental goods and services)
John Melack, Ph.D., Duke University, Professor (limnology of tropical, saline, and alpine lakes, phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology, biogeochemistry, wetland ecology, remote sensing)
Dave Siegel, Ph.D., University of Southern California,
Professor (optical oceanography and ocean color remote sensing, coupling
of physical processes in ocean biogeochemical fluxes, role of radiative
exchanges in air-sea interaction processes, data information systems)
Admission
Application materials are available from the Bren School and are accepted for fall quarter only. The application deadline is March 1 for primary consideration and for consideration for School-based financial support. Applications will be accepted until May 1, space permitting. Eligible students who want to be considered in the campuswide fellowship competition must apply no later than January 5. Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited institution of higher education and have achieved at least a B average (3.0 on a 4-point scale) since their junior year. All applicants are required to submit verbal, quantitative, and analytical Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, taken within five years of their application to UCSB. Applicants whose native language is not English must receive a score of least 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), taken within two years of their application to UCSB. Students who have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a U.S. college or university are exempt from this requirement.
Because of its interdisciplinary emphasis and lack of an equivalent undergraduate degree, the Bren School will admit students from varied undergraduate majors. However, we expect that most applicants will have undergraduate degrees in engineering, natural science, or economics. Students with other undergraduate degrees will be considered if they have met a significant portion of the minimum required undergraduate preparation. This includes one year of college-level math (calculus required; linear algebra and differential equations desirable), one course each in intermediate statistics and microeconomics, computer programming in one high-level language, and substantive coursework in natural science including at least one course each in biology, chemistry, physics, and physical geography (or equivalent).
In addition to departmental requirements, program applicants and candidates for graduate degrees must fulfill University requirements described in the chapter "Graduate Education at UCSB."
Master of Environmental Science and Management (M.E.S.M.)
The Bren School offers a two-year program leading to a professional master's degree, the Master's of Environmental Science and Management (M.E.S.M.). It is intended for students who are going to enter or re-enter the workforce when they finish. The M.E.S.M. is not designed as an intermediate degree leading to the Ph.D., though some students will be well prepared to apply to a Ph.D. program in the Bren School or elsewhere. The program combines a scientific, problem-oriented curriculum with policy and management. Students' programs of study will be designed so that they develop a expertise within one of the Bren School's four broad areas of strength: Applied Ecology, Environmental Biogeochemistry, Earth System Science, and Environmental Economics, Policy, and Management.
Advising
An advisory committee consisting of two Bren School faculty members will be established for each incoming student. Students and their advisory committee jointly design a program of study that addresses the student's interests, needs, and level of preparation on the one hand, and meets departmental and University requirements on the other.
Degree Requirements
Students are required to complete a minimum of 74 units of coursework and an acceptable group project that serves as the equivalent of a master's thesis. To this end, students complete the following curricular components: (1) an ongoing multidisciplinary colloquium (ESM 200) every quarter; (2) a three-quarter capstone Group Project (ESM 401A-B-C) in which a small number of students tackle an environmental problem with both scientific and management challenges; (3) six core lecture courses in environmental science, economics, computation, and data analysis (ESM 201-205 and PSTAT 233B); (4) a set of four coherent elective courses which allow the students to develop a specialized area of expertise; (5) three cross-disciplinary elective courses to ensure that students acquire a solid education in both science and management; and (6) three courses in supporting technology and applications which equip students to model environmental and social processes as well as acquire, manage, and analyze information. Admitted students that do not have all of the required undergraduate preparation outlined in "Admission" above may be required to take more courses than necessary to meet the minimum 74-unit requirement to fulfill course prerequisites.
Applied Ecology. Students interested in applied ecology will be trained to analyze and solve environmental problems within the appropriate ecological framework by studying ecological systems, especially the dynamics of biological populations, communities, and ecosystems. They will be prepared to propose, design, evaluate, oversee, analyze, and interpret the results of environmental programs and activities using the techniques and methods of both applied ecology and quantitative analysis. Graduates will be responsible for: (1) environmental impact assessment-the detection and measurement of the impacts of human activities on living resources of interest to society; (2) quantitative prediction of short- and long-term ecological effects arising from human activities; (3) development of ecologically sound methods for preventing or mitigating environmental impacts; and (4) management of populations and ecosystems. Students may choose to develop a specialized area of expertise focusing on a particular type of environment (e.g. the ocean) or a particular type of ecological problem (ecological effects of pollutants).
Environmental Biogeochemistry. Many environmental problems involve alteration of our air, water, or soil by introduced chemicals. This pollution may affect climate, natural communities, and human health. Anthropogenic activity also influences the fluxes of some naturally occurring substances such as macronutrients, radiatively active gases, and exotic and toxic substances. These chemical perturbations, introduced by human activities and error, cause serious problems, such as eutrophication, acidic deposition, stratospheric ozone depletion, greenhouse warming, smog and toxic wastes, oil spills, and nuclear accidents. Students who concentrate their electives in this area will be prepared to deal with these problems using innovative, creative techniques and policies. The curriculum in this area includes specialized courses in contaminant fate and transport, hydrology, modeling, analytical techniques, limnology, biological treatment of wastes, risk assessment, oceanography, atmospheric chemistry, soil science, terrestrial ecology, and policy formation. Graduates will leave the Bren School as competent professionals in the science of biological and chemical processes in the environment.
Earth System Science. Earth system science is a new, integrative discipline appropriate for the analysis of environmental problems. The primary focus is on studies that contribute to the multifaceted understanding of terrestrial or aquatic environments through study and understanding of linkage and interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Because of UCSB's special strengths in aquatic biology, hydrology, geomorphology, and oceanography, the Bren School emphasizes aquatic ecosystems. Students wishing to concentrate their electives in this area will be advised to take specialized courses in the analysis of global scale systems-scientific computing and simulations, numerical methods, applied mathematics, statistics, fluid dynamics, optics, remote sensing, and geographic information systems-as well as courses dealing with environments and processes in the atmosphere, oceans, land, and inland waters.
Environmental Economics, Policy, and Management.
Issues related to the environment and to the management of natural resources
involve a complex array of institutional, legal, economic, and policy factors.
Students interested in this area will want to gain a basic understanding
of natural science aspects of environmental systems and provide an in-depth
understanding of human systems that guide environmental decisions. This
knowledge is critical for such activities as writing laws and regulations,
creating new domestic or international institutions, supervising environmental
organizations, corporate environmental management, and operating environmental
protection programs and resource management efforts. Electives in microeconomics,
economics decisions, natural and resource economics, cost benefit analysis,
valuation, risk assessment, data management and statistics, public policy,
environmental accounting, and environmental law and regulation are important
components of the program of study designed for students choosing this
specialization.
Environmental Science and Management Courses
120. Microbiology for Engineers
(3) Holden
Prerequisite: upper-division standing in Mechanical
or Chemical Engineering, or ESM 202, or consent of instructor.
Introduction to microbiology and microbial ecology with
emphasis on quantitatively describing microbial processes in natural and
engineered systems. Applications of microbiology to environmental engineering
will be emphasized.
200. Colloquium in Environmental Science and Management
(1) Staff
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM. May be repeated
for credit.
Ongoing colloquium on special topics and case studies
in environmental science and management.
201. Ecological Principles
(4) Staff
Prerequisites: MCDB 4A, and MCDB 4B or EEMB 4B, or
equivalent. Graduate standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Principles of population ecology, community ecology,
ecosystem ecology, and ecological theory.
202. Biogeochemical Principles
(4) Keller, Melack
Prerequisites: Chemistry 1A-B-C or equivalent. Graduate
standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Biogeochemical processes, kinetics and chemical thermodynamics
as applied to the Earth's atmosphere, ecosystems, oceans, and watersheds.
203. Earth System Science
(4) Dunne, Dozier
Prerequisites: Geography 3 or equivalent. Graduate
standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Energy and mass transport as applied to the atmosphere,
oceans, and land and models of the Earth's climate and hydrology.
204. Economics of Environmental Management
(4) Staff
Prerequisites: Economics 1 or equivalent. Graduate
standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Basic principles of economic analysis, decision making,
policy formation, and environmental regulation under uncertainty in static
and dynamic contexts. Introduction to regulatory assessment.
205. Computing and Simulation in Environmental Science
and Management
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: Geography 210 or equivalent. Knowledge
of one high-level programming language. Graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Numerical modeling of the physical and human environment.
Structured programming, software design and documentation. Use of packages,
Simulation, statistical methods, and operations research.
207. Environmental Law and Policy
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Basic elements of the legal system as it specifically
relates to environmental issues. Study of the different stages and different
institutions involved in environmental policy making.
208. Environmental Regulation
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
The administrative law system as applied to environmental
problems using specific examples such as the Administrative Procedure Act,
NEPA (and state versions), Clean Air Act, and others. Administrative rule
making, implementation, enforcement, and judicial review.
209. Environmental Accounting and Financial Management
(4) Nisbet
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Environmental accounting and its role in the financial
management of corporations. Corporate financial reporting and assessing
an entity's risk and return. Management and control of enterprises. Long-term
investment decisions. Amendment of techniques to include environmental
impacts and cash flows.
210. Management of People, Money, and Projects
(3) Dozier, Keller
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Life cycle approach to the organization, implementation,
control, and termination of projects. Topics include project initiation
and leadership, setting an agenda, proposal writing, planning, activity
scheduling and delegation, time management, budget preparation, project
and cost control, and oral presentation.
211. Management of Populations and Ecosystems
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: ESM 201; graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Population dynamics and management of fish, terrestrial
wild animals (including rare and endangered species), and plant communities
and forests, including the influence of soil and atmosphere processes.
Maintenance of biodiversity, preservation of genetic diversity within populations.
212. Biodiversity Inventory and Ecological Assessment
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: ESM 201; graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Principles, criteria, and methods used to evaluate the
ecological value of an area. Selection of evaluation criteria (e.g., species
rarity, richness, and ecological representativeness) and spatial scales;
as well as design, implementation and analysis of inventory and assessment
projects.
213. Ecological Effects of Pollutants
(4) Holden
Prerequisites: ESM 201 and 202; graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Case study-oriented course examining the effects of pollutants
in natural and human-dominated ecosystems. Topics include identification
and quantification methods, contaminant sources and effects, predictive
methods and restoration.
214. Principles of Biological Mitigation and Remediation
(4) Holden
Prerequisites: ESM 218 and graduate standing in ESM
or consent of instructor.
Concepts and approaches to correct and alleviate the
effects of environmental pollution using biological processes. Biochemical,
ecological and physicochemical aspects of remediation and mitigation. Assessing
and monitoring applicability/efficacy of biological treatment. Natural
and engineered methods.
215. Landscape Ecology
(4) Davis
Prerequisites: ESM 201. Graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Relationships between spatial patterns in landscape structure
(physical, biological, and cultural) and ecological processes. Role of
ecosystem pattern in mass and energy transfers, disturbance regimes, and
species' persistence, and applications of remote sensing and GIS for landscape
characterization and modeling.
216. Conservation Biology
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: ESM 201 or equivalent. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Application of ecological principles to conserving biological
diversity. Overview of extinction processes, the ecology of rarity, factors
affecting the distribution of biological diversity, and ecosystem loss
and fragmentation.
218. Environmental Biotechnology: Science, Economics,
and Policy
(4) Holden
Prerequisites: ESM 201, 202, 204 and graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Current and future roles of biotechnology from scientific,
economic and policy perspectives. Overview of science and common applications
of biotechnology. Use of biotechnology in environmental preservation and
restoration. Economic drivers and societal implications of biotechnology.
219. Environmental Microbiology
(4) Holden
Prerequisite: Chemistry 1A, Mathematics 34A or 3A,
MCDB 4A, or equivalents; graduate standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Diversity, habitat, distribution, and processes of microbes
in the environment.
221. Management of Air Quality
(4) Keller
Prerequisite: ESM 222 recommended. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Processes involved in the generation, transport, and
degradation of air pollutants. Application of numerical models to predict
and manage air pollutant concentrations. Review of control devices for
major processes that generate air pollutants.
222. Fate and Transport of Pollutants in the Environment
(4) Keller
Prerequisite: Geography 116 recommended. Graduate
standing in ESM or consent of instructor.
Transport and biogeochemical transformation of pollutants
in the environment. Review of pollutant properties and media characteristics
that affect transport, accumulation, and degradation of pollutants. Basic
tools for managing pollutants in the environment, including prevention,
detection, and remediation.
223. Management of Soil and Water Quality
(4) Keller
Prerequisite: ESM 222. Graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Characterization of contaminated sites. Detection and
sampling techniques. Risk assessment. Remediation and site management strategies:
monitoring, containment, in-situ remediation, ex-situ treatment. Commercial
software is used to evaluate sites and determine probable course of action
based on risk analysis.
231. Global Climate and Climate Change: Science and
Simulation
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Physics of the Earth's climate including radiation, atmospheric
and ocean dynamics, and the hydrologic cycle. Interaction between subsystems.
Climate simulation. Recent results from GCMs. Strengths and weaknesses
of GCMs as a policy tool.
232. Transport Processes
(4) Staff
Prerequisites: ESM 205; graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Transport of pollutants and other substances in air and
water, with emphasis on mathematical description and prediction using numerical
models. Advection, diffusion, and turbulence in fluid media. Parameterization
of transport in large-scale models.
234. River Systems
(4) Dunne
Prerequisites: one year of calculus and one quarter
of mechanics. Geography 112, Geology 117, or equivalent recommended. Graduate
standing in ESM or consent of instructor. Not open for credit to students
who have completed ESM 233A-B.
Hydrologic and geomorphic basis of environmental management
problems concerning large river systems. Analysis of the processes of flooding,
sedimentation, and morphological change in channels, floodplains, deltas,
and alluvial fans. Effects of climate, land use, and engineering.
235. Watershed Analysis
(4) Dunne
Prerequisites: one year of calculus, one quarter of
mechanics. Geology 117, or equivalent recommended. Graduate standing in
ESM or consent of instructor.
Hydrologic and geomorphic basis of environmental management
problems concerning land surfaces and channels in small drainage basins,
including the effects of land use and engineering. Emphasis placed on the
use of theory and field methods.
242. Natural Resource Economics and Policy
(4) Staff
Prerequisites: ESM 204 or equivalent. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Economic principles and policy issues of the use of exhaustible
and renewable resources including fossil fuels, water, minerals, fisheries,
forests, and biodiversity. Management of resource markets on regional and
international scale.
243. Public Policy Analysis
(4) Kolstad
Prerequisites: ESM 204 and 245. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Assumptions, goals, content, and consequences of domestic
and international policy related to the environment. Oriented toward quantitative
analysis of policy.
244. Valuing Environmental Quality
(4) Kolstad
Prerequisites: ESM 204 and PSTAT 233B. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Methods for valuing a variety of types of environmental
goods, including pollution and natural environments. Approaches covered
include hedonic prices, averting/defensive expenditure methods, travel
cost, contingent valuation, and experimental markets.
245. Cost-Benefit Analysis
(4) Staff
Prerequisites: ESM 204. Graduate standing in ESM or
consent of instructor.
Complement to ESM 244 by comparing values for environmental
costs and benefits of projects and policies. Case studies of ecosystem
protection, pollution control, and other topics are used to illustrate
analytical tools and address distributional aspects, discounting, uncertainty
and other issues.
250. Analytical Methods
(4) Michaelsen, Siegel
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor. Same course as Geography 210.
Introduction to analytical methods used to solve geographic
and environmental problems. Topics include: calculus, linear algebra, vector
analysis, differential equations, Fourier transforms, least-squares estimation,
and map projections.
258. Marine Resources
(4) Siegel
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
Introduction to marine resources with emphasis on those
off the California coast. The interplay of oceanographic, climatic, biogeochemical
and geologic factors and their influences of humankind. Topics include:
climate, circulation, biogeography, fisheries, marine mammals, petroleum,
pollution, and exploration history.
261. Management of Scientific Data
(4) Frew
Prerequisite: basic computer literacy. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Theory, techniques, and tools for managing heterogenous
scientific information. Database architectures and data models. Metadata
standards and data characterization. Design and use of relational databases.
Aspects of the science data life cycle: collection, storage, search, retrieval,
analysis, presentation.
262. Distributed Scientific Information Systems
(4) Frew
Prerequisites: ESM 261 and graduate standing in ESM
or consent of instructor.
Impacts of computer networks, both local and global,
on scientific information. Architecture and implications of the World Wide
Web. Electronic publishing and digital libraries. Theory, techniques, and
tools for networked information discovery and retrieval.
263. Geographic Information Systems
(4) Frew
Prerequisites: ESM 261 and graduate standing in ESM
or consent of instructor.
Advanced introduction to geographic information system
(GIS) theory and technology, emphasizing spatial analysis and cartographic
presentation. Typical algorithms and data structures. Role of GIS in environmental
information management. Integration of GIS with other analytical tools.
270. Habitat Conservation Planning
(4) Staff
Prerequisite: ESM 201 or equivalent. Graduate standing
in ESM or consent of instructor.
Review and synthesis of available information on existing
HCP's. Analysis of representative HCP's. Ecological theory and methods
applicable to the design, management, and monitoring of HCP areas.
290. Theoretical Hydrology
(4) Dunne
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor.
A review of the main theoretical principles that describe
the current understanding of the hydrologic cycle.
291. Fluvial Geomorphology
(4) Dunne
Prerequisites: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor. One year of calculus, one quarter of physics (mechanics),
Environmental Studies 144.
Review of theoretical and empirical studies of landscape
evolution by stream erosion and deposition. Hydraulic, sedimentologic,
and morphological characteristics of streams and valley floors.
292. Hillslope Geomorphology
(4) Dunne
Prerequisites: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor. Geology 117 (or equivalent), one year of calculus, one quarter
of physics (mechanics).
Review of theoretical and empirical studies of hillslope
evolution. Hydrologic and geotechnical aspects of hillslope erosion.
401A. Group Project in Environmental Science and Management
(3) Staff
Group study of environmental problems with scientific
and management challenges.
401B. Group Project in Environmental Science and Management
(4) Staff
Group study of environmental problems with scientific
and management challenges.
401C. Group Project in Environmental Science and Management
(4) Staff
Group study of environmental problems with scientific
and management challenges.
595AA-ZZ. Group Studies
(2-4) Staff
Prerequisite: graduate standing in ESM or consent
of instructor. May be repeated for credit provided letter designations
are different.
A critical review of research in selected fields of environmental
science and management.
A. Hydrology and Geomorphology: Dozier; Dunne; Melack
B. Snow Science: Dozier
C. The Carbon Cycle: Denning
D. Sustainable Development: Fernandez
E. Environmental Problems-Science and
Solutions: Denning
F. Advanced Topics in Pollution Prevention: Keller
G. Advanced Topics in Applied Ecology: Davis
H. Human Dominated Ecosystems: Melack
I. El Niño and its Implications: Siegel
596. Directed Readings and Research
(1-8) Staff
Individualized reading and research. A written proposal
for each tutorial must be approved by the school.