ESPM 201A:

              Research Concepts and Approaches in

              Environmental Science, Policy & Management

 

Link to Syllabus.

Link to Colloquium Schedule.

Review of Course Assignments, and associated Student Assignments.

 

Course schedule and supplemental materials

The schedule will evolve over the course of the semester and is subject to change.  Materials  can be viewed with free Acrobat Reader software.  Lecture notes below are the intellectual property of Dr. Boyer and other developers of this course, including Professor Nick Mills and other ESPM faculty; and seminar notes below are the intellectual property of their creators.  PDF documents of lecture notes and supplemental materials are available to enrolled students only and should not be distributed or reproduced.   The materials are distributed exclusively for educational use in accordance with the "fair use" principle expressed in U.S. copyright law. Students should print no more than one copy and should use this material only within the context of this course or their own research.

 

Monday August 27

•          No colloquium, first day of classes. 

 

Wednesday August 29

•          [PDF] Elizabeth Boyer, PhD.  ESPM-ES Assistant Professor of watershed sciences. “Welcome to ESPM, and Introduction to the Course.”

•          Due: 2-page information form to be filled out in class.

Some useful web sites:

•          [LINK] Department of ESPM

•         [LINK] Environmental Events Calendar at Berkeley

 

Monday September 3           

•          No colloquium, Labor Day holiday.

 

Wednesday September 5      

•          [PDF] The art of successful grant writing (led by EWB)

•          [PDF] J. Keith Gilless, PhD, Dean of the College of Natural Resources, and ESPM-SE&ES Professor of forest economics.  “Introduction to the Land Grant Mission of the University.”   [LINK to web site], [Article about Dr. Gilless].

•          Due: Sign up for assignment dates in class.

Readings for reference:

•          [PDF] Sources of general reading for graduate students in ESPM

•         [PDF] Potential sources of funding for ESPM grads – explore sites for current deadlines

•          [LINK] More links to funding sources from Berkeley Dissertation Proposal Workshop

•          [LINK] More links to funding sources, from Berkeley Research, Sponsored Projects Office

•         [PDF] Examples of successful ESPM graduate fellowship proposals

•         [LINK] Examples of successful UCB graduate fellowship proposals

•         [PDF] Przeworski A. and F. Salomon, 1995. The art of writing proposals. Social Science Research Council. 

•         [PDF] Friedland AJ and CL Folt, 2000.  Writing Successful Science Proposals (excerpts). 

Ch. 4 – Developing your conceptual framework and significance statement.

Ch. 7 – Objectives & hypotheses: an exhaustive list is exhausting.

Ch. 8 – Lay the foundation in the introduction

Ch. 9 – Experimental design & methods: what will you actually do?

Ch. 12 – References in detail: how many & how recent

Ch. 15 – The three R’s: rethink, revise, & resubmit

•         [LINK] *** NSF graduate fellowships information (style for your proposals)

 

Monday  September 10

•          [PDF] John Harte, PhD.  Professor of global change, ESPM-ES and Energy & Resources Group.  “Biotic Feedbacks to Local and Global Climate Change.”  [LINK to web site]

 

Wednesday September 12

•          Discussion with Dr. John Harte.

•         [PDF] Research planning and research questions (led by EWB)

•         [PDF] Student assignments for hosting, panels, and snacks

Readings for discussion:

•          [PDF] Ford, ED (2000). Scientific method for ecological research, Ch. 2 – Five processes of research planning

•          [PDF] Cresswell, JW (2003).  Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches, Ch. 1 – A framework for design

•          [PDF] Loehe, C (1990).  A guide to increased creativity in research – inspiration or perspiration? 

•         [PDF] [LINK] National Research Council (2001).  Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences, executive summary.

For reference:

•          [LINK] National Academies Press

•          [LINK] UC Berkeley, Office of Environment, Health & Safety

•          [LINK] UC Berkeley, Committee for Protection of Human Subjects

•          [LINK] UC Berkeley, Animal Care and Use Committee

•          [LINK] UC Berkeley, Dissertation Proposal Workshop

 

Monday September 17

•          [PDF] Michael Banner, PhD.  Professor of philosophy and theology, Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK.  ”Representing Animals: Problems for Environment and Public Policy -- A UK Perspective. “  Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Science, Technology and Society Center. Preliminary commentary by Dr. Charis Thompson, Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Women and Gender Studies, UC Berkeley.  

 

Wednesday  September 19

•          [PDF] Discussion with Dr. David Winickoff, ESPM-SE Assistant Professor of bioethics

•          [PDF] Panel 1 – Philosophy of science: Popper and Kuhn and importance of philosophy to research.

Readings for discussion:

•          [PDF] Thornton, S.  Karl Popper: Life and Demarcation.  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [LINK]

•          [PDF] Popper, K (1959).  The problem of induction.  The Logic of Scientific Discovery.  (1963) Science: conjectures and refutations.  Conjectures and refutations.

•          [PDF] Rorty, R (2000).  Kuhn.  A companion to the Philosophy of Science.

•          [PDF] Kuhn, T (1970).  The nature and necessity of scientific revolutions.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd edition.

•          [PDF] Graham, M & P Dayton (2002).  On the evolution of ecological ideas: paradigms and scientific progress.  Ecology 83: 1481-1489.

For reference:

•         [PDF] Gordon JC (2007).  Some useful views of science.  Ch 3 from Planning Research: A Concise Guide for the Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences.

Opportunity:

•          [PDF] UC Berkeley Workshop for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Applicants, September 28 at 11:30 am

 

Monday September 24

•         Patrick O’Grady, PhD.  Assistant Professor of population genetics, ESPM.  “A Comparative Approach to Understanding Adaptive Radiation in Hawaiian Diptera.”  [LINK to web site]

 

Wednesday September 26

•          Discussion with Dr. Patrick O’Grady. 

•          [PDF] Panel 2 - Approaches to Environmental Research 1: society & environment

Readings for discussion:

•         [PDF] Everyone reads: Walker, P. A. (2005). Political ecology: where is the ecology? Progress in Human Geography, 29(1), 73-82.

•          [PDF] Balan through Fernandez read: Davis, G. E. (2005). Science and society: Marine reserve design for the California Channel Islands. Conservation Biology, 19(6), 1745-1751.

•          [PDF] Forrestel through Kausch read:  Peluso (1993).  Coercing conservation: The politics of state resource control.

•          [PDF] Kelly through Risk read: Merenlender, A. M., Huntsinger, L., Guthey, G., & Fairfax, S. K. (2004). Land trusts and conservation easements: Who is conserving what for whom? Conservation Biology, 18(1), 65-75.

•          [PDF] Romanek through Zhao read: O'Rourke, D. (2005). Market movements - Nongovernmental organization strategies to influence global production and consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 9(1-2), 115-128.

Readings for reference:

•          [PDF] Mayer, J. D. (2000). Geography, ecology and emerging infectious diseases. Social Science & Medicine, 50(7-8), 937-952.

•          [LINK] (Berkeley internal) ISI Web of Science, Science Citation Indexes

•          [LINK] (Berkeley internal) ISI Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports, including information about impact factors of journals.  Look up a journal in your field, to see how it compares to others in your field.

•          [LINK] Google Scholar, including citation counts

Opportunity:

•          [PDF] UC Berkeley Workshop for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Applicants, September 28 at 11:30 am

 

Monday October 1

•          Miguel Altieri, PhD.  Professor of agroecology, ESPM. “Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Agriculture in the 21st Century.”  [LINK to web site]

 

Wednesday October 3          

•          Discussion with Dr. Miguel Alteri

•          Due: Landmark Paper assignment.

 

Monday October 8

•          Vince Resh, PhD.  Professor of aquatic ecology, ESPM.  “The Dammed Mekong.”  [LINK to web site].  [PDF] Resh, V (2007).  Multinational, freshwater biomonitoring programs in the developing world: lessons learned from African and Southeast Asian river surveys.  Environ Manage, 39:737–748; DOI 10.1007/s00267-006-0151-8.

 

Wednesday October 10

•         [PDF] Discussion with Dr. Vince Resh.

•         [PDF] Panel 3 - Approaches to Environmental Research 2: organisms & environment

Readings for discussion:

•         [PDF] Composite readings O&E group.  Instructions from panelists: Read the first three papers (about two pages each); Look at the IUCN red list; and read the introduction and discussion of invasional 'meltdown' on an oceanic island.

 

Monday October 15  

•          [PDF] John Helms, PhD.  Professor Emeritus of forestry, ESPM, and Past President, Society of American Foresters.  “Why Forests and Forest Management Matter in California and the US.”

 

Wednesday October 17        

•          Discussion with Dr. John Helms. 

•          [PDF] Critical Analysis & Peer Review (EWB)

•          Due: Complete draft of your grant proposal for peer review (one copy for EWB and two copies for colleague reviewers).

•          New for your review: [PDF] Instructions for review of class fellowship proposals

•          New for your review: [PDF] NSF rating sheet

Readings for discussion:

•          [PDF] Knight, J (2003). Clear as mud.  Nature 423: 376-378.

•          [LINK] Anon. (2005).  Peer review.

•          [PDF] Katzer, J, KH Cook & WW Crouch (1997).  Applications: a step-by-step guide for evaluation and questions to ask.  Evaluating Information.

•          [PDF] Greenhalgh, T & R Taylor (1997). Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research). British Medical Journal 315: 740-743.

•          [LINK] Guidelines for reviewers, Ecological Society of America.

•          [LINK] Gropp, RE (2004).  Scientific peer review in policy making.   American Institute of Biological Sciences.

 

Monday October 22

•          Jeff Romm, PhD.  Professor of natural resource policy, ESPM.  “Reservations: Are environmental institutions racially discriminatory?” [LINK to web site]

 

Wednesday October 24

•          Discussion with Dr. Jeff Romm. 

•          Dr. Maggi Kelly, ESPM Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist of GIS and remote sensing.  “Geospatial Tools for Environmental Sciences Policy and Management, and introduction to the GIIF” 

•          Due: Peer reviews of two colleagues’ grant proposals (one copy for EWB and one anonymous copy for author).

 

Monday October 29

•          Peter Maas, Journalist and UC Berkeley Regents Lecturer; contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.  "The Amazon v. Big Oil.”

 

Wednesday October 31

•          No class today.

•          Due: Final Draft of your grant proposal.  Send by email attachment to EWB by 5pm on November 1st.

 

Monday November 5

•          [PDF] Hayley Hesseln, PhD.  Associate Professor, Dept of Agricultural Economics; and Director, Centre for Studies in Agriculture, Law and the Environment, University of Saskatchewan.  “Fire policy in Canada: adapting to change.”

 

Wednesday November 7

•          Discussion with Dr. Scott Stephens, Associate Professor of fire and ecosystems, ESPM. 

•          [PDF] Panel 4: Approaches to Environmental Research 3:  ecosystem science.

Readings for discussion:

•          [PDF] ESPM-ecosystem sciences