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Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
The resources necessary for human society are extracted from the Earth, used as raw materials in our factories and refineries, and then returned to the Earth as waste. Geological processes produce resources humans depend on, and they also determine the fate of wastes in the environment. Understanding Earth's geologic processes provides us with the knowledge to mitigate many of our society's environmental impacts due to resource extraction and waste disposal. Additionally, economics frequently affects what energy sources power our society and how our wastes are treated. Earth sciences and economics are essential for our understanding of the many mechanisms, both physical and social, that affect Earth's environment.
This Domain includes the fundamentals of each discipline. Students learn of minerals, rocks, soils, and waters and how these materials interact with each other and with the atmosphere. Fundamental economic theory and the economic effects of public policy towards resource industries, methods of waste disposal, and the potential effects of global warming on the global economy are also explored.
For suggestions on courses to take in your first year (U1), you can consult the "MSE Student Handbook 2010-11" available on the MSE website (), or contact Kathy Roulet, the Program Advisor (kathy.roulet [at] mcgill.ca).
NOTE: Students are required to take a maximum of 34 credits at the 200-level and a minimum of 15 credits at the 400-level or higher in this program. This includes Core and Required courses.
Location Note: When planning your schedule and registering for courses, you should verify where each course is offered because courses for this program are taught at both 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ's downtown campus and at the Macdonald campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.
Location Note: Core Required courses are taught at both 9IÖÆ×÷³§Ãâ·Ñ's downtown campus and at the Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. You should register in Section 001 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the downtown campus, and in Section 051 of an ENVR course that you plan to take on the Macdonald campus.
Environment : A systems approach to study the different components of the environment involved in global climate change: the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. The interactions among these components. Their role in global climate change. The human dimension to global change.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: McCourt, George; Fyles, James W; Fabry, Frederic; Rhemtulla, Jeanine; Atallah, Eyad Hashem (Fall)
Environment : This course deals with how scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional and behavioural factors mediate society-environment interactions. Issues discussed include population and resources; consumption, impacts and institutions; integrating environmental values in societal decision-making; and the challenges associated with, and strategies for, promoting sustainability. Case studies in various sectors and contexts are used.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Badami, Madhav Govind; Bennett, Elena; Purdon, Mark; Kosoy, Nicolas (Fall)
Environment : Formation of the Earth and the evolution of life. How geological and biological change are the consequence of history, chance, and necessity acting over different scales of space and time. General principles governing the formation of modern landscapes and biotas. Effects of human activities on natural systems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: de Blois, Sylvie; McCourt, George; Wheeler, Terry A; Lechowicz, Martin J; Paquette, Jeanne; Chapman, Colin Austin (Winter)
Environment : Introduction to cultural perspectives on the environment: the influence of culture and cognition on perceptions of the natural world; conflicts in orders of knowledge (models, taxonomies, paradigms, theories, cosmologies), ethics (moral values, frameworks, dilemmas), and law (formal and customary, rights and obligations) regarding political dimensions of critical environments, resource use, and technologies.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Goodin, David; Johns, Timothy A (Fall) Sieber, Renee; Purdon, Mark; Hirose, Iwao (Winter)
Environment : Techniques used in design and completion of environmental research projects. Problem definition, data sources and use of appropriate strategies and methodologies. Principles underlying research design are emphasized, including critical thinking, recognizing causal relationships, ideologies and bias in research, and when and where to seek expertise.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Vaccaro, Ismael; Sengupta, Raja; Reyna Hurtado, Rafael Angel (Fall) Chapman, Colin Austin; Sengupta, Raja; Vaccaro, Ismael; Marshall, E Joan (Winter)
Environment : Students work in interdisciplinary seminar groups on challenging philosophical, ethical, scientific and practical issues. They will explore cutting-edge ideas and grapple with the reconciliation of environmental imperatives and social, political and economic pragmatics. Activities include meeting practitioners, attending guest lectures, following directed readings, and organizing, leading and participating in seminars.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Goodin, David; Isabel, Mariève (Fall) Goodin, David; Purdon, Mark; Hirose, Iwao; Mikkelson, Gregory Matthew; Isabel, Mariève (Winter)
Only 3 credits will be applied to the program; extra credits will count as electives.
Agriculture : Geared for solving real-world environmental problems related to water at the local, regional and international scale in Barbados. Projects to be designed by instructors in consultation with university, government and NGO partners and to be conducted by teams of 2 to 4 students in collaboration with them.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Alli, Inteaz (Fall)
Environment : Students work in an interdisciplinary team on a real-world research project involving problem definition, methodology development, social, ethical and environmental impact assessment, execution of the study, and dissemination of results to the research community and to the people affected. Teams begin defining their projects during the preceding spring.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Fabry, Frederic; McCourt, George; Roulet, Kathryn (Fall)
Environment : Research projects will be developed by instructors in consultation with Panamanian universities, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. Project groups will consist of four to six students working with a Panamanian institution. Topics will be relevant to Panama: e.g., protection of the Canal watershed, economical alternatives to deforestation, etc.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Economics (Arts) : The introductory course for Economics Major students in microeconomic theory. In depth and critical presentation of the theory of consumer behaviour, theory of production and cost curves, theory of the firm, theory of distribution, welfare economics and the theory of general equilibrium.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Cairns, Robert D; Engle-Warnick, James (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : See ECON 230D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Engle-Warnick, James (Winter)
Economics (Arts) : Topics include: Malthusian and Ricardian Scarcity; optimal depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources; exploration, risk and industry structure, and current resources, rent and taxation. Current public policies applied to the resource industries, particularly those of a regulatory nature.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Cairns, Robert D (Winter)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Crystal chemistry and identification of the principal rock-forming and ore minerals. Elementary crystallography. Optional 2-day field trip.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Paquette, Jeanne (Fall)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : A survey of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and the processes responsible for their formation. The laboratory will emphasize the recognition of rocks in both hand-specimen and thin section using optical microscopes.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Trzcienski, Walter Edward (Winter)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Basic concepts in geochemistry and the application of geochemical principles of chemistry to geological subdisciplines. Particular emphasis on origin of elements, controls on their distribution in Earth and cosmos, isotopes, organic geochemistry and water chemistry. Application of phase diagrams to geology.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Baker, Don (Fall)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : This course discusses the origin, diagenesis, classification and economic importance of sedimentary rocks. Students will learn about the physical properties of sedimentary rocks, including porosity and permeability, different techniques for analyzing those rocks (thin sections, hand specimens, wireline logs) and the types of sedimentary basins within which sediments accumulate.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
24 credits of Complementary Courses are selected as follows:
3 credits - statistics courses
9 credits - List A
12 credits - List B
One of the following statistics courses or equivalent.
Note: Credit given for statistics courses is subject to certain restrictions. Students in Science should consult the "Course Overlap" information in the "Course Requirements" section for the Faculty of Science.
Mathematics (Agric&Envir Sci) : Measures of central tendency and dispersion; binomial and Poisson distributions; normal, chi-square, Student's t and Fisher-Snedecor F distributions; estimation and hypothesis testing; simple linear regression and correlation; analysis of variance for simple experimental designs.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Dutilleul, Pierre R L; Bona, Kelly Ann (Fall) Dutilleul, Pierre R L (Winter)
Geography : Exploratory data analysis, univariate descriptive and inferential statistics, non-parametric statistics, correlation and simple regression. Problems associated with analysing spatial data such as the 'modifiable areal unit problem' and spatial autocorrelation. Statistics measuring spatial pattern in point, line and polygon data.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Berrang Ford, Lea (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Examples of statistical data and the use of graphical means to summarize the data. Basic distributions arising in the natural and behavioural sciences. The logical meaning of a test of significance and a confidence interval. Tests of significance and confidence intervals in the one and two sample setting (means, variances and proportions).
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Khalili Mahmoudabadi, Abbas; Correa, Jose Andres (Fall)
9 credits from:
*Note: you may take CHEE 430 or NRSC 437 but not both.
Agricultural Economics : The role of resources in the environment, use of resources, and management of economic resources within the firm or organization. Problem-solving, case studies involving private and public decision-making in organizations are utilized.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Thomassin, Paul (Fall)
Chemical Engineering : The power of technology to shape man's physical, economic and social environment: effects of technological transitions on culture and ecology; (TIA) methodologies, public participation, engineering contributions, regulations; implications of TIA on social and economic development.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Economics (Arts) : Macroeconomic and structural aspects of the ecological crisis. A course in which subjects discussed include the conflict between economic growth and the laws of thermodynamics; the search for alternative economic indicators; the fossil fuels crisis; and "green'' fiscal policy.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Naylor, Robin Thomas (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : The course focuses on the economic implications of, and problems posed by, predictions of global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Attention is given to economic policies such as carbon taxes and tradeable emission permits and to the problems of displacing fossil fuels with new energy technologies.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Galiana, Isabel (Winter)
Economics (Arts) : This course gives students a broad overview of the economics of developing countries. The course covers micro and macro topics, with particular emphasis on the economic analysis at the micro level.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Economics (Arts) : A course in cost benefit analysis for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Cairns, Robert D (Fall)
Natural Resource Sciences : Theories and procedures of assessing environmental impact. An examination of the environmental impact of existing programs and projects to examine their accuracy in predicting consequences and attenuating undesirable effects.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
12 credits from:
Agriculture : Management of soil and water systems for sustainability. Cause of soil degradation, surface and groundwater contamination by agricultural chemicals and toxic pollutants. Human health and safety concerns. Water-table management. Soil and water conservation techniques will be examined with an emphasis on methods of prediction and best management practices.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Clark, Grant (Fall)
Anthropology : Intensive study of theories and cases in ecological anthropology. Theories are examined and tested through comparative case-study analysis. Cultural constructions of "nature" and "environment" are compared and analyzed. Systems of resource management and conflicts over the use of resources are studied in depth.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Scott, Colin Hartley (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : The characteristics of the major groups of animals, their ancestry, history and relationship to one another. The processes of speciation, adaptive radiation and extinction responsible for diversity. Methods for constructing of phylogenies, for comparing phenotypes, and for estimating and analyzing diversity.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Bell, Graham; Larsson, Hans Carl; Millien, Virginie (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : Ecology revisited in view of tropical conditions. Exploring species richness. Sampling and measuring biodiversity. Conservation status of ecosystems, communities and species. Indigenous knowledge.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Potvin, Catherine (Winter)
Economics (Arts) : The course analyzes the structure, conduct, and performance of industries, particularly but not exclusively in Canada. Topics include effects of mergers, barriers to entry, product line and promotion policies, vertical integration, and R & D policies of firms.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Sutthiphisal, Dhanoos (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : Microeconomic theories of economic development and empirical evidence on population, labour, firms, poverty. Inequality and environment.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Kurien, John C; Chemin, Matthieu (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : Macroeconomic development issues, including theories of growth, public finance, debt, currency crises, corruption, structural adjustment, democracy and global economic organization.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Cortella Marone, Heloisa (Fall) Martens, André (Winter)
Economics (Arts) : Theoretical and empirical economic analysis of the public sector with an emphasis on public goods and government spending. Study of Canadian institutions in international perspective.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Watson, William (Fall)
Economics (Arts) : Theoretical and empirical economic analysis of the public sector with an emphasis on taxation. Study of Canadian institutions in international perspective.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Watson, William (Winter)
Economics (Arts)
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Interaction of minerals with electromagnetic radiation. Optical mineralogy on thin and polished sections. Demonstrations of other spectroscopic techniques applied to the identification of minerals and to the analysis of their composition and structure.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Two week field studies in selected branches of the geosciences.
Terms: Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Hall, Sarah (Winter) Hall, Sarah (Summer)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Two week field studies in selected branches of the geosciences to examine processes in geology.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Processes and products of modern and ancient carbonate and siliciclastic depositional environments. Sequence stratigraphy as a tool for studying the fundamental controls (sea level, tectonics, sediment supply, etc.) on stratigraphic architecture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Methods in geophysical surveying including gravity, magnetism, electromagnetism, resistivity and seismology; application to exploration and near surface environmental and hydrological targets are included, along with field applications of techniques.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : A systematic review of the nature and origin of the major types of metallic and non-metallic mineral deposits; typical occurrences; geographic distribution; applications to exploration. Emphasis on magmatic ores, massive sulfides, iron formations.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Williams-Jones, Anthony E (Fall)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Geochronology, the fractionation of the stable isotopes, and applications to petrology and mineral deposits.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Wing, Boswell (Fall)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : History of chemical oceanography. Seawater composition and definition of salinity/chlorinity. Minor and trace-element distribution in the ocean. Geochemical mass balance. Dissolved gases in sea water. CO2 and the carbonate system. Chemical speciation. Physical chemistry of seawater. Organic matter and the carbon cycle in the marine environment. Sediment geochemistry.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Mucci, Alfonso (Fall)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Introduction to groundwater flow through porous media. Notions of fluid potential and hydraulic head. Darcy flux and Darcy's Law. Physical properties of porous media and their measurement. Equation of groundwater flow. Flow systems. Hydraulics of pumping and recharging wells. Notions of hydrology. Groundwater quality and contamination. Physical processes of contaminant transport.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: McKenzie, Jeffrey (Winter)
Earth & Planetary Sciences : The use of chemical thermodynamics to study fluid-rock interactions with an emphasis on the aqueous phase. The course will introduce basic concepts and will discuss aqueous complexation, mineral surface adsorption, and other controls on crustal fluid compositions. Applications will range from considering contaminated groundwater systems to metamorphic reactions.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Earth & Planetary Sciences : Seminar course devoted to field case studies that illustrate the applications of geochemical principles to solving geologic problems. Each student will prepare and lead a class devoted to a geochemical subject of their own choosing.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Mucci, Alfonso; Baker, Don (Winter)
Geography : An ecological analysis of the physical and biotic components of natural resource systems. Emphasis on scientific, technological and institutional aspects of environmental management. Study of the use of biological resources and of the impact of individual processes.
Terms: Fall 2010, Summer 2011
Instructors: Meredith, Thomas C (Fall)
Geography : Quantitative, experimental study of the principles governing the movement of water at or near the Earth's surface and how the research relates to the chemistry and biology of ecosystems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Lehner, Bernhard (Winter)
Soil Science : Soil chemical principles are presented in a series of problem sets covering basic concepts as well as applications to environmental and agricultural situations.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.