Ecology & the Environment (BIOL/ENVI 170)
Fundamental concepts of Ecology are taught with an emphasis on four ‘lenses’: Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, and Land Use Change. Students learn through lab and field activities, group case study investigations on globally diverse systems, real data interpretation, and guided reading of primary literature. The design of this course prioritized inclusion, community-building, and application of theory in a rapidly changing world.
- Syllabus from Spring 2023
- Spring 2019, 2020, 2023
- Fall 2020, 2021, 2022 (FYC), 2023
Arctic Ecology (BIOL/ENVI 364)
An upper-level seminar that applies a ‘systems science’ approach to studying the Arctic – integrating climate science, paleoecology, anthropology, plant ecology, animal physiology, soil science, conservation biology, and other disciplines. Weekly discussions of primary literature, and emphasis on writing and science communication.
- Syllabus from Fall 2022
- Spring 2019, Spring 2021, Fall 2022
Plant Ecophysiology (BIOL/ENVI 362)
Upper-level lecture and lab course that examines plants’ role and function in ecosystems. We scale from cell to globe, with topics including: photosynthesis, respiration, water transport, nutrient uptake, and growth. This course emphasizes measurements through weekly labs and data analysis, and reflects regularly on the intersection of climate change and environmental justice.
- Syllabus (from Fall 2019)
- Fall 2018, Fall 2019
- Planned Fall 2023!
Big Data in Ecology (BIOL/ENVI 359)
Upper-level seminar on the organization, management, analysis, and visualization of real, messy environmental and ecological data in R/RStudio. Team-based active learning covering three data-based modules: water quality in agricultural landscapes; climate change and human livelihoods; forest carbon cycling; and global change experiments. Students write up short data-driven narratives alongside code and analysis, and complete semester with an independent project. Student complete independent projects on data of their choosing on diverse ecological topics.
- Syllabus from Spring 2023
- Fall 2019; Spring 2021, 2023
Plants, Environment, & Society
All-majors introductory course that introduces basics of plant biology, and covers topics including GM foods and science literacy, global agriculture, urban greenspace & environmental inequities in cities, and biodiversity of our ecosystems and in our diets.
- Syllabus
- Spring 2020
Teaching Materials & Resources – Please use & Share!
Mentoring & Support Map for undergraduates. This is based off of a mentoring map I love made by the Earth Science Women’s Network, which is based off a mentoring map made by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge & Conservation (online/remote adaptable, made Spring 2020): https://qubeshub.org/qubesresources/publications/1939/1
Redlining and Climate Change (online/remote adaptable, made Spring 2020): https://qubeshub.org/qubesresources/publications/1938/usage?v=1
Phenology and carbon cycling with PhenoCams and eddy covariance in R: https://github.com/mheskel/PhenoCam-Lab-368
Site comparisons of greenness using MODIS NDVI and EVI: https://github.com/mheskel/MODISTools-Lab-368
