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2026-2027 Academic Year

Fall 2026

ENST 355 Green Infrastructure
The majority of the global population lives in urban areas; therefore, studying ways to create more sustainable and resilient communities is a crucial part of environmental science. In Green Infrastructure, students will learn about and investigate concepts and challenges of urban design through an environmental lens by drawing on concepts from the natural sciences and urban planning/design. This interdisciplinary course examines different types of green infrastructure systems and how the components of each system work together to provide intended benefits. Topics may include rainwater harvesting, permeable pavements, bioswales/bioretention, green streets and parking, and green roofs. There will be an added focus on components of the water cycle within these systems including precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration. Prerequisites: 162 or BIOL 131.

ENST 406 Urban Sustainability SR Sem
The United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Some critics argue that urban sustainability is a contradiction within itself. With the current climate crisis, it is becoming increasingly critical for cities to rethink urban planning, development, and management to ensure sustainable use of natural resources. In this senior seminar we will explore the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable urbanism. We will discuss a range of student led topics throughout the semester, which may include components of urban form, transportation, green space, buildings and energy, or flows of water, food, and waste. Recent journal articles and student led topics will be the focus of class discussions. As a class we will analyze these topics collaboratively and we will use this class as a space to learn from one another and to engage in civil discourse.

Spring 2027

ENST 305 Urban Ecology
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has recently reported that 55 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas and this proportion is projected to increase to 68 percent by 2050. Major land transformations and shifts in land use practices have created unique urban ecosystems that differ fundamentally from their rural surroundings and regional "in-tact natural areas." Urban ecosystems have a tendency to be hotter, more polluted, less biodiverse, more fragmented, and contain a greater proportion of nonnative species than their rural surroundings. Urban Ecology is an emerging integrative field of research that studies the ecosystems in cities and urbanized landscapes to enhance our understanding of how organisms and the environment interact in these human-dominated landscapes. In this course we will examine the ecology in cities, the ecology of cities, and ecology for cities. We will discuss factors such as nutrient cycling, organismal behaviors and phenology, disease, and patterns/drivers of biodiversity of urban areas.