CIPEC - Graduate Program Information

Co-Directors
Associate Professor Tom Evans and Distinguished Professor Emilio Moran

Associated Departments

Funding Opportunities

Core Graduate Faculty

Associated Graduate Faculty

Academic Advisors

Course Requirements

The Minor in Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change requires 12 hours of approved courses. The core courses G515, Y673, and Y773 are required, unless explicitly approved otherwise by the directors of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change and the University Graduate School. Students who have (1) completed the required hours in good standing and (2) presented a dissertation to their research committee, at least one of which must be a core faculty member associated with the program, will receive the Minor.

Core Courses

Grad G515 Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (3 cr.) Examines the research agenda on global environmental change. It aims to facilitate student participation in ongoing and future research through development of research proposed for dissertation work. Topics include deforestation, pollution, population, land use, and remote sensing. Offered spring semester every other year.

Y673 Empirical Theory and Methodology (3 cr.) Will count toward Minor when topic is "Institutional Analysis and Development: Micro." This research seminar addresses how and why fallible individuals achieve and sustain self-governing entities and self-governing ways of life. It seeks to understand how individuals affect the rules that structure their lives. This seminar provides the theoretical foundations for Y773.

Y773 Empirical Theory and Methodology (3 cr.) Will count toward Minor when topic is "Research Seminar International Forestry Resources and Institutions." This research seminar is designed for graduate students in diverse disciplines and visiting scholars interested in learning about multimethod data collection techniques that combine rigorous measures of social science concepts and those related to forest conditions.

Minor Elective Courses

Grad G513 Topics Seminar in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (3 cr.) Topical courses related to the study of institutions, population, and environmental change will be arranged in light of recent scientific developments and student and faculty interests. Analysis of human roles in environmental change is contextualized by attention to biophysical and ecosystematic relationships.

Grad G514 Fieldwork Practicum in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change (12 cr.) P: approval from directors of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change. Gives students the opportunity to practice research methods in an individually designed project. The project must address a specific issue in the study of institutions, populations, and environmental change.

Grad G517 Seminar in Cultural Ecology: The Amazon in Crisis: Ecology and Development (3 cr.) Provides an introduction to the ecology of the Amazon Basin of South America, focusing on its habitats, the use and conservation of the environment by its native inhabitants, and examining the forces of development that threaten its very existence.

Grad G590 Seminar/Colloquium in Population Analysis (3 cr.) P: graduate status or consent from instructor. Topic varies. Elective status depends on topic and approval by the academic advisors.

Grad G591 Methods of Population Analysis and Applications (3 cr.) P: an undergraduate course in statistics. This is a course about methods of measuring and projecting population dynamics. We focus on describing the three basic demographic processes (mortality, fertility, and migration) and showing how each one affects population size and age structure. An understanding of these basic processes is fundamental for studying behavioral aspects of population change.

Grad G593 International Perspectives on Population Problems (3 cr.) International trends in population growth, characteristics, and structure with attention to major social, environmental, economic, and political implications. Comparisons between industrially advanced economies and less developed countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Special emphasis will be placed on local and national circumstances affecting fertility, mortality, migration, and emerging roles of population policies in development planning.

E427 Cultural Ecology (3 cr.) Surveys the major environmental studies in anthropology, the basic principles of ecological theory, and human adaptation as manifested in major ecosystems.

E600 Topic Seminar: Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (3 cr.) This course focuses on the relationship between land-use systems, human settlement pattern, and their impact on land cover and landscape structure. It aims to link the theoretical and methodological approaches that human ecology and landscape ecology bring to land use and production system analysis. The link between production system, land use, land cover, and landscape structure will be discussed in the context of contemporary problems, such as deforestation, agriculture intensification, and human dimensions of global environmental change.

E600 Topic Seminar: Remote Sensing for Social Scientists (3 cr.) This course combines a historical review on the use of remote sensing in the social sciences, conceptual discussions on applications of remote sensing to social science problems, and a formal introduction to remote sensing techniques based on hands-on laboratory sessions. The course will consist of a conceptual and a laboratory session each week.

E600 Topic Seminar: People and Forest: Contemporary Issues on Deforestation, Forest Management, and Agroforestry (3 cr.) The main goal of this seminar is to provide a semester-long "environment" in which the student's individual research interest (research paper, proposal, etc. related to "people and forest") can be "nurtured" and discussed with an interdisciplinary group of graduate colleagues. Your goal is to work on a single research paper or dissertation proposal or dissertation chapter during the whole semester while interacting with colleagues in class.

Geog G425 Africa: Contemporary Geographic Problems (3 cr.) The course examines contemporary geographic problems confronting the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The primary focus is on migration, agriculture, food security, the environment and environmental change, wildlife, and health.

Geog G520 Migration and Population Redistribution (3 cr.) P: G314 and G320, or consent of instructor. Study of international regional and intra-urban migration using micro- and macro-level approaches, and the impacts of population redistribution on origin and destination. Topics include illegal immigration to the USA, rural-to-urban migration in LDCs, international migration and refugees, and gender differences in migration behavior.

Geog G535 Introduction to Remote Sensing (3 cr.) Principles of remote sensing of the earth and its atmosphere, emphasizing satellite data in visible, infrared, and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Emphasis on practical applications and digital image analysis. A satellite data analysis project is required.

Geog G536 Advanced Remote Sensing: Digital Image Processing (3 cr.) P: G535. Advanced remote sensing theory and digital image processing techniques with an emphasis on environmental science applications. Hands-on computer exercises provide significant experience in digital image processing techniques for extraction of qualitative and quantitative information about Earth's terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Geog G538 Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) Overview of the principles and practices of geographic information systems (GIS). Spatial data models, database design, introductory and intermediate GIS, operations and case studies of real-world GIS applications. Laboratory exercises will provide significant hands-on-experience. Lecture and laboratory. Taught every semester.

Geog G539 Advanced Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) P: G538 or consent of instructor. Intermediate and advanced topics in geographic information science and spatial analysis techniques using GIS software. This advanced course is for graduates who seek a greater understanding of this rapidly developing field and to learn how to construct, manage, and analyze their own GIS data and models. Taught once per year.

Geog G639 Seminar in Geographic Information Science (3 cr.) Applications of geographic information science principles in the collection and analysis of spatial data. Integration of GIS , remote sensing, and/or GPS technologies. Review of current literature on techniques, theory, technology, and applications with an emphasis on environmental issues. Discussions, laboratory, and research project. Taught every third semester.

E465 Environmental Management in the Tropics (3 cr.) Historical examination of land use in tropical, non-Western cultures. Resource use in physical and cultural settings is explored through an interface with ecology, economics, and policy analysis. Common principles of analysis are used to help the students understand the cultural and historical dimensions of how people relate to their environment.

E518 Vector-Based Geographic Information Systems (3 cr.) Geographic information systems using vector data structure. Vector GIS capabilities and uses. Data structure and file management of spatial data. Laboratory exercises using ARC/INFO software.

E527 Applied Ecology (3 cr.) P: one introductory-level ecology course. Ecosystem concepts in natural resource management. Techniques of ecosystem analysis. Principles and practices of ecological natural resource management.

E528 Forest Ecology and Management (3 cr.) P or C: E538 or V506. Field and laboratory exercises in quantitative analysis of forest ecosystems. Sampling and data collection methodologies. Data analysis and interpretation. Concepts in forest ecology and forest management.

E555 Field Techniques in Ecology (3 cr.) P: one course in statistics. This is an introductory field science course for those without a current background in field work. The course is designed to introduce field skills and to provide an understanding of how ecological data are collected and analyzed. In the field, we will cover mapping techniques including global positioning systems (GPS, often used to collect data for GIS databases), population estimation techniques, habitat measurement techniques, an introduction to soils, and a comparative ecosystems trip. During the last few weeks, the students will be inside, analyzing data using SPSS. Graphical techniques, introductory statistical analyses (parametric and non-parametric), and selected advanced analyses (e.g., multiple regression, logistic regression) will be used. (May not be taken for credit by students in SPEA's MSES program.)

E555 Restoration Ecology (3 cr.) The course will cover basic concepts of ecosystem restoration, including development of energy flow and nutrient cycles, soil formation, mechanisms of species dispersal, and colonization and mutualistic relationships. Restoration of specific terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, forests, lakes, rivers and streams, and wetlands, will be covered.

E557/457 Conservation Biology (3 cr.) P: one 300-level ecology course. Ecological principles associated with rare species, biodiversity, laws and statutes used to conserve biodiversity, and land and species management practices. Our aim is to understand scientific and political complexities of conservation biology and to study different methods used to conserve living resources and resolve conflicts associated with conservation.

The Office of Research and University Graduate School

408 North Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47408-3799
Phone: (812) 855-2230
TDD: (812) 855-7654
Fax: (812) 855-2634

Last Updated: 5 April 2007
Comments: cipec@indiana.edu
Copyright 2005, The Trustees of Indiana University.