Syllabus - QUICK LINKS

[ Course Description ][ Course Objectives ] [ Introduction ]
[ Prerequisites ][ Grading Criteria and Assignments ][ Grading Rubric ]
[ Time and Location - Activity Due Dates ][ Procedures and Regulations ]
[ ESS (Earth System Science) Core Courses ] [ Notes on Communications ]
[ History of Remote Sensing and GIS ]
[ KEY ONLINE RESOURCES ][ Key Textbooks ]

SPECIAL TOPICS

Description

Catalog Description - ESSC 541-542:

Provide students fundamental knowledge and skills of modern remote sensing for environmental data acquisition and analysis as well as applications in related social, earth, health, social, and biosciences. Topics include GIS-based image interpretation and spatial data generation, satellite remote sensing applications, and case studies in sustainable development, social policy, health, and biosciences. Spatial analysis software tools used will include Clark labs IDRISI Andes and Leica-Geosystems ERDAS Imagine as well as ArcPAD/ArcGIS, GPS/Garmin.

In addition, the course introduces students to the concepts and methods of systems science as a methodology within the social, health, earth, and biosciences. Specifically focus on use of dynamic modeling tools such as STELLA or iThink (from Isee Systems) as well as spatial and non-spatial tools and datasets such as Spatial Analyst-ArcGIS, GeoNetweaver, EMDS, Criterion PLUS, and other tools as needed. Learn to apply systems thinking and analysis frameworks to specific interdisciplinary policy issues within sustainable development, forensic science, earth systems science, social and health policy, and other applied sciences.

Catalog Description - ESSC 575:

Students and teachers work together in the field to apply geospatial tools, Earth System Science methods and concepts, social policy analytical frameworks, and other conservation science methods to integrated place-based sustainability problems within a given ecosystem, community or region. The focus is on applying in practice the concepts and tools of sustainability science. Practice using in the field modern field analytical tools such as GPS, mobile GIS, varied ecological monitoring and assessment instruments (focused on ecosystems analysis, e.g. water, land, air, ecosystems), PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) as well as traditional ethnographic and socioeconomic qualitative research methods. Places studied will include both domestic and international, e.g. limnogeology in the Rocky Mountain province, biology of rattlesnakes in the US Southwest, as well as coastal zone management (CZM) and biodiversity conservation on the Coast of Honduras and Fiji , East Africa, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, as well as environmental health geographic problems such as air pollution or cancer risk in Southern California.

Prerequisites:

This is a senior undergraduate and graduate-level project-oriented course designed for pre-certification Education majors, Environmental Studies, Biology, Geology, Public Health, Computer Science, Nursing, Medicine, and Physical Sciences majors. Students must have completed the core sequence of ESSC (Earth System Science courses or their equivalent AND a basic sequence of courses in GIS (equivalent to the core courses of the Health Geoinformatics Certificate):

Earth Systems/Sustainability Core or equivalent:

  • ESSC 401/402 - Earth Systems and Global Change or an equivalent Physical Geography, Physical Geology OR one of the following:
  • SPOL 554 - Environment, Resources, and Development Policy
  • SPOL 624 - Nature/Society Thought and Social Policy

AND/OR equivalent = SPOL 665 - Information Technology and Decision Science

GIS Prerequisites:

Students who enter ESSC 541-542 must demostrate they have taken the equivalent of the following courses in the Health Geoinformatics Certificate or have equivalent experience. Waivers and permission by the instructor should be signed by both Dr. Robert Ford (SST) and/or Seth Wiafe or Samuel Soret of the Health Geoinformatics Lab.

Equivalent courses at LLU:

ENVH 521 Principles of GIS and Science (3)
ENVH 522 Cartography and Map Design (2)
ENVH 524 GIS Software Applications and Methods (3) - students may also show equivalence by taking the online ESRI Virtual Campus course = Learning ArcGIS 9

Return to Course Homepage

BACK TO TOP

ESS (Earth System Science) Core Courses:

The courses (ESSC 541-542, 575) are part of a sequence of active learning interdisciplinary senior undergraduate and graduate-level courses (ESSC 401-402, SPOL 665, SPOL 524, BIOL 549, SPOL 624, and ESSC 541-542) that provide the opportunity for students to experience how earth system and sustainability science is doneby active participation in analysis of real-world global change/sustainability science and social policy problems inherent in real places, ecosystems, regions, sociocultural or public policy institutional/community settings (urban or rural). The course expands experiences first encountered in foundation courses which are all part of the LLU ESSE21 Project (Earth Systems Science Education for the 21st Century).

The methods, tools, and concepts emphasize use of computer visualization, modeling, and other Geospatial Decision-Support-System (GDSS) tools besides traditional field methods from the social, behavioral, health, and biophysical sciences applicable to a diversity of integrated systems science and thinking situations encountered in both formal as well as applied science such as planning, marketing, and public policy.  The focus will be on use of Geographic Information Science (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Remote Sensing (RS), and other modeling tools ( STELLA , NetWeaver ) as well as qualitative methods such as PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) or collaborative decision-making.

Themes and issues chosen for analysis are by design inter-disciplinary and place-based--that is they focus on real places, regions, ecosystems, social policy problems and issues that lend themselves to ESS (Earth Systems Science) critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving.

A key goal is to promote team-research skills by providing a mechanism for linking students and faculty with local experts and the community at large in policy analysis and implementation, i.e. these will be real problems not just make-do classroom exercises and experiences.

Academic resources for the courses bring to bear expertise, networks, software/hardware, datasets, and field research linkages within the Loma Linda University (LLU) , School of Science and Technology and other partners (e.g. School of Public Health, Geoinformatics Unit) and well as with outside partners in the Inland Empire and globally including:

Problems and places studied include both domestic and international, e.g. limnogeology in the Rocky Mountain province, biology of rattlesnakes in the US Southwest, as well as coastal zone management (CZM) and biodiversity conservation on the Coast of Honduras and Fiji , East Africa, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, as well as environmental health geographic problems such as air pollution or cancer risk in Southern California.

Return to Course Homepage

BACK TO TOP

 


Introduction

This is a graduate-level course designed to introduce the student in an integrative manner to the exciting field of Remote Sensing and Systems Modeling within the broad arena of Sustainable Development Policy and Science--see Course Objectives.  The course will build on knowledge acquired about sustainability science as a concept and methodology in SPOL 554 Environment, Equity, Economics and Development Policy. In addition, it will explore how modeling and remote sensing can help operationalize research and application in the field.

We will see how the concept of sustainability has influenced real-world practice in various development sectors: health, knowledge management, agriculture, natural resource management, poverty reduction, and so on.  And, through hands-on activities and laboratories (much of it in a small-team setting). Students and faculty will work together on real problems that lend themselves to analysis with remote sensing tools and data, e.g. biodiversity and conservation, health risk assessment, land management, community-based natural resource management, disaster management.

Following is a brief introduction to some of the key sectoral, technical, and conceptual issues and themes within the overall field  (more will be presented in the course).

History of Remote Sensing and GIS

Return to Course Homepage

BACK TO TOP

Key Textbooks:

KEY ONLINE RESOURCES - General Resources (see also GIS/RS):

OVERVIEW Modules:

SPECIAL TOPICS: