Course Listings

The course guides students through the process of developing an individualized research project in close partnership with their faculty advisor. We focus on writing a research proposal, which prepares students to apply for competitive research funding and is required of all MESc/MFS students. In doing so, we cover critical reading of the literature, narrowing a broad topic of interest to a feasible research project, proposal writing, and a high-level introduction to the philosophy of science. Students engage in peer review throughout the course and present their completed proposals to the class at the end of the semester.

One of the most important aspects of scientific research involves the communication of research findings to the wider scientific community. Therefore, second-year M.E.Sc. and M.F.S. students are required to present the results of their faculty-supervised research as participants in the Master’s Student Research Conference, a daylong event held near the end of the spring term. Student contributors participate by delivering a fifteen-minute oral presentation to the YSE faculty and student body or by presenting a research poster in a session open to the YSE community. Students receive a score of satisfactory completion for this effort.

This workshop in audiovisual scholarship explores ways to present research through the moving image. Students work within a Public Humanities framework to make a documentary that draws on their disciplinary fields of study. Designed to fulfill requirements for the M.A. with a concentration in Public Humanities.

This course uses a race, class, and gender approach to examine the history of American environmental ideology and activism from the 1600s to the present.  The course is divided into three units.  The first unit examines environmental conditions in the city (health, sanitation, housing, overcrowding, occupational safety, and open space), the rise of urban American environmental consciousness, and activism related to urban issues.  Unit II examines the rise of the conservation and preservation movements.   It analyzes the relationship between hunting, wildlife extinction, and the rise of conservation ethics.  This unit also examines the role of the countryside, frontier, and wilderness in environmental thought and activism.  It examines conquest, conservation, primitivism, Transcendentalism, and Romanticism and the emergence of the preservation/conservation movement. Unit III focuses on contemporary environmental thought; it examines the birth of the modern environmental movement and the emergence of reform environmentalism.  The course also examines the way in which a person’s social class, race, gender, environmental, and labor market experiences influence their environmental perceptions and the kinds of environmental ideologies they develop.  The course examines the rise of major environmental paradigms and the factors that make them influential.

The operational aspects of managing forestland are taught, including topics essential to the professional practice of forest management. Operational aspects of regeneration, intermediate tending, and harvesting (planning, layout, implementation, and postoperation evaluation), best management practices, regulatory and wetlands considerations, and socioeconomic dimensions of field operations are the focus. The ethical and professional responsibilities of forest managers who are responsible for land-altering activities are also considered. The course includes considerable field time to help students utilize their existing knowledge about forests to rapidly assess stands and land parcels with respect to the planning and implementation of on-the-ground treatments. Classes feature local field trips to view forestry operations and to develop and refine field skills.

The course can be taken for 2 credits by any student at F&ES or combined with the 1-credit Southern Forest and Forestry Field Trip (F&ES 670b) for 3 credits.

There is growing recognition that reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions alone is not sufficient to mitigate catastrophic effects of global climate change. As GHGs accumulate in the atmosphere, it is increasingly important to draw down these emissions cost-effectively in large quantities via carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques–which can be broadly described as “carbon containment.” Recognizing the urgency of the problem at hand and the need for private and philanthropic action, many large companies, investors, and donors have stepped up commitments to stabilize the climate and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In addition to decarbonization strategies that reduce emissions, climate leaders are investing in and purchasing credits from negative emission carbon containment projects that reduce atmospheric levels of GHGs. Currently, the options for entities to credibly meet ambitious climate goals using carbon containment approaches are very limited. This goal of this course is to: (1) teach and engage students from a range of disciplines about the existing technologies and markets for carbon containment, (2) investigate nascent or neglected carbon containment mechanisms, and (3) develop case studies highlighting strategies and risks for moving promising pre-commercial ideas from concept to practice.

There are no prerequisites for this course, although familiarity with basic climate science, policy, carbon markets, and GHG emissions inventories is helpful.

This is a practical writing course meant to develop your skills as a writer. But its real subject is perception and the writer’s authority—the relationship between what you notice in the world around you and what, culturally speaking, you’re allowed to notice. What you write during the semester is driven entirely by your own interest and attention. How you write is the question at hand. We’ll be exploring the overlapping habitats of language—present and past—and the natural environment. And, to a lesser extent, we’ll be exploring the character of  persuasion in environmental themes. Every member of the class will write every week, and we will all read what everyone writes every week. It makes no difference whether you’re a would-be journalist, scientist, environmental advocate or policy-maker. The goal is to rework your writing and sharpen your perceptions, both sensory and intellectual. Application for interested students will be avaiable in August.

This seminar is based on outside speakers and internal student/faculty presentations oriented toward original research in the field of environmental and natural resource economics and policy. Presentations are aimed at the doctoral level, but interested master’s students may enroll with permission of the instructors.

This course provides the foundation for doctoral study at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. As a major part of the course, students will learn what it means to do scholarly research as well as become adept with philosophy of science and research methodology and proposal writing, as a basis for exploring diverse approaches to formulating and addressing research questions. Students will work with their advisers to put these concepts and principles into practice to develop the basis for their dissertation research (including building bibliography, identifying and crafting research questions, formulating research hypotheses and drafting a research proposal).  Students will further learn about funding opportunities and procedures for submitting grants. The course will also cover professional ethics and responsible conduct of research, including ethical approaches to inquiry and measurement, data acquisition and management, authorship and publication, peer review, conflicts of interest, mentoring, collaborative research, and animal and human subjects research.  Finally, the course will explore ethical ways to advocate for the application of scholarly knowledge in the interest of environmental problem solving.  Weekly assigned readings will support concepts and issues addressed in class. Students will present their embryonic research ideas in class and use feedback from the group to further develop their ideas

1 course credit/credit/fail. A biweekly seminar for Dove doctoral advisees and students in the combined YSE/Anthropology doctoral program. Presentation and discussion of grant proposals, dissertation prospectuses, and dissertation chapters; trial runs of conference presentations and job talks; discussion of comprehensive exams, grantsmanship, fieldwork, data analysis, writing and publishing, and the job search; and collaborative writing and publishing projects.

This course is designed to bring doctoral students up to speed on the latest developments in the literature on environmental and energy economics. Key papers are presented, and associated mathematical and empirical methods are covered. Topics to be covered include uncertainty and climate change policy, estimating energy demand, electricity markets, and behavioral economics and the environment. A focus is on identifying areas that deserve future research attention. Open to advanced master’s students with permission of the instructor.

What is EPC:

The EPC offers an interdisciplinary experience that brings together law students and students from the Yale School of the Environment to work on cutting-edge environmental issues in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other public interest organizations. This year's clinic will also include projects that were previously in the Climate, Animal, Food, and Environment Law and Policy Lab (CAFE). 

The EPC is a project-based clinic, in that EPC students are assigned to work on a specific project for the semester based on their interests. You can find descriptions of our projects in the project guide. There are opportunities to work on matters addressing environmental justice, energy justice, climate change, international development, tribal rights and sovereignty, and more. The projects also cover a wide range of advocacy approaches, including litigation support, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and direct community engagement. 

How should YSE Students apply:

We encourage you to apply to EPC! This is a great opportunity to gain exposure to an unexplored field or to hone previous experience. 

To apply, complete the EPC bidding form by July 11, 4:30 p.m. ET. On the bidding form, we ask you to rank the projects you are interested in working on. More information on the application process is included in the project guide.

Zoom Office Hours

The EPC teaching team will be holding two drop-in Zoom sessions to answer questions about the clinic, our projects, or the bidding process:

·                     Thursday 6/27, 4-5 pm ET: Zoom link

·                     Tuesday 7/9, 4-5 pm ET: Zoom link

You should also feel free to email Rebecca Ramirez ([email protected]) and/or me ([email protected]) with any questions or to set up a time to talk.  

Warmly,

Stephanie