Technology and the Environment Minor

An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Minor at the University of Virginia.


General Description

The increasing prevalence of technology has affected the environment in complex and often unforeseen ways. Society is now demanding that all disciplines of engineering be environmentally aware. Furthermore, those that use and distribute technology need to appreciate its far-ranging impacts. For a more sophisticated understanding of the relationships between technology and the environment, engineers and managers require inter-disciplinary expertise.

The Technology and the Environment (TE) minor addresses these concerns with an interdisciplinary course of studies. A corner stone of the TE minor is basic knowledge of technologies that directly impact environmental systems. This technological foundation will allow students to build a more sophisticated understanding of how technology and the environment are inter-related. According to the interests of a student, courses from the areas of environmental planning and policy, history of the environment and technology, and management may be selected to complete the TE minor. Thus, students from across the university may participate in the Technology and the Environment minor. Students interested in completing the minor should contact the minor coordinator Teresa Culver (TBC4E@VIRGINIA.EDU, 924-6375).

Minor Curriculum

The minor will be composed of six courses. No more than two of these courses may be from a student’s own department. Thus, a student will be required to add breadth to their program through the completion of at least 4-courses outside of their major department.

All students are required to complete at least two courses in the environmental technology area, including one lower-level course (1000- or 2000-level) and at least one higher-level course (3000-level or higher). Each student must then choose an emphasis, by completing three courses, in one of three areas: Environmental Planning and Policy, Technology, the Environment, and Society or Management and Economics. The sixth course may be selected from any of the four areas listed below. A student may petition the minor supervisory committee to include courses not specifically listed below.

Courses

  • Environmental Technology Courses

    Lower-Level Courses (choose one course)

    CE 2100 Introduction to Environmental Engineering

    ENGR 2050 Introduction to Sustainable Energy Systems

    EVSC 1010 Introduction to Environmental Sciences

    EVSC 1080 Resources and the Environment

    EVSC 1450 Climate Change, You, and CO2

    EVSC 1600 Water on Earth

    EVSC 1762 Water: Understanding our Essential Natural Resource

    EVSC 2010/MSE 2010 Materials that Shape Civilizations

     

    Higher-Level Courses (choose at least one course)

    ARCH 3230 Building and Climate

    ARCH 3260 Building Matters

    ARCH 5300 Evaluating Eco-MOD

    ARCH 5301 Eco-MOD Seminar

    ARCH 5310 Learning Barge

    CE 3050 Introduction to Green Engineering

    CE 3100 Water for the World

    CE 3200 Water Resources Engineering

    CE 4100 Water Chemistry for Environmental Engineers

    CE 4120 Experimental Analysis in Environmental Engineering

    CE 4160 Environmental Microbiology for Engineers

    CE 4270 Hydraulics of Rivers, Streams, and Channels

    CE 5020 Intro to Geographic Info Systems

    CE 5240 Ground-Water Hydrology and Contaminant Transport

    CHE 4450 Energy Science and Technology

    ECE 3250 Electromechanical Energy Conversion

    EVSC 3020 GIS Methods

    EVSC 3810 Earth Processes as Natural Hazards

    EVSC 3880 Watersheds of Lewis and Clark

    EVSC 4010 Introduction to Remote Sensing

    EVSC 4040 Climate Change: Science, Markets, and Policy

    EVSC 4070 Advanced GIS

    EVSC 4090 Instrumental Methods for Analysis of Environmental Samples

    EVSC 4240 Restoration Ecology

    EVSC 4440 Climate Change

    EVSC 4490 Air Pollution

    EVSC 4660 Hydrological Field Methods and Data Analysis

    EVSC 4830 Geological Field Methods in Envi Sci

    EVSC 4840 Engineering Geology

    MAE 4630 Energy Systems Design I

    MAE 4640 Energy Systems Design II

    MSE 3080 Corrosion, Batteries, and Fuel Cells

    MSE 4055 Nanoscale Science And Technology

    PLAC 5860 Green Cities/Green Sites

  • Environmental Planning and Policy

    Emphasis Areas (choose at least three courses from one of the following areas)

    ARCH 2150 Global Sustainability

    COMM 3880 Global Sustainability

    COMM 4824 Sustainable Development Practicum

    ETP 4010 Environmental Decisions

    EVSC 2030/ETP 2030 Introduction to Environmental Policy

    EVSC 4030 Environmental Policymaking in the U.S.

    GSVS 3110 Sustainable Communities

    PLAC 5720 Transportation and Land Use

    PLAC 5740 Transportation Planning and Policy

    PLAC 5800 Green Lands

    PLAC 5863 Climate Adaptation Planning

    PLAN 3060 Land, Law, and the Environment

    PLAN 3810 Toward the Resilient City

    PLAN 3840 Ethics of Cities and Environment

    PLAN 3860 Cities and Nature

    PLAN 5600 Land Use and Growth Management

    PLAN 5650 Brownfields Redevelopment

    PLAN 5810 Sustainable Communities

    PLAN 5830 Environmental Policy and Planning

    PLAN 5840 Environmental Ethics and Sustainability

    PLAN 5890 Global Environmental International Development

    PLAP 4800/ETP 4800 Politics of the Environment

    PLAP 4810/ETP 4810 Class Race and the Environment

    STS 2620 Science and Technology Public Policy

  • Technology, the Environment, and Society

    ANTH 2291 Global Culture and Public Health

    ANTH 2375 Disaster

    ANTH 3340 Ecology and Society

    ANTH 3710 Cities in History

    HIEU 2051 Economic History of Europe

    HIEU 3321 Scientific Revolution

    HIEU 3322 Science in the Modern Age

    HIEU 3772 Science in the Modern World

    HIST 2062 Global Environmental History

    HIST 2201 Technology in World History

    HIST 3111 Technology and Cross Cultural Exchanges in Global History

    HIUS 2061 American Economic History

    HIUS 2070 American Power and Energies

    HIUS 2081 Technology in American Society 1890-1990

    HIUS 2711 American Environmental History

    HIUS 3131 Emergence of Modern America

    HIUS 3161 Viewing America

    HIUS 3401 Development of American Science

    HIUS 3411 American Business

    HIUS 3451 American City 1700-1900

    HIUS 3452 American City after 1900

    PLAP 4810/ETP 4810 Class, Race, and the Environment

    SOC 3470 Sociology of Development

    SOC 3490 Cities and Culture

    SOC 4640 Urban Sociology

    STS 2010 Thomas Jefferson’s Interest in Science and Technology

    STS 2020 History of Technology and Innovation

    STS 2060 American Environmental History

    STS 2071 American Powers and Energies

    STS 2100 Techn. and Social Change in the 19th Century America

    STS 2201 Technology in World History

    STS 2760 Technology and Policy

  • Management and Economics

    ARCH 5340 Construction Practice Management

    CE 4110 Environmental Systems Management

    CE 5000 Management Large-Scale Construction Projects

    COMM 4821 Managing Sustainable Development

    COMM 4822 Invest in Sustainable Future

    ECON 2010 Microeconomics

    ECON 3010 Intermediate Microeconomics

    ECON 3110 Mathematical Microeconomics

    ECON 3430 Economics of Sustainability and Environment

    ECON 4430 Environmental Economics

    ENGR 4880 Business and Technical Leadership in Engineering

    ETP 3860/COMM 3860 The Business of Saving Nature

    EVSC 2070 Earth Systems Technology and Management

    PLAN 5870 Environment and Economy

    STS 4510 Business of New Product Development

    STS 2740 Earth Systems Technology and Management

    SYS 2001 System Engineering Concepts

    SYS 3001 Art and Science of Systems Modeling

    SYS 3034 System Evaluation

    SYS 3060 Stochastic Decision Models

    SYS 4000 Financial Aspects of Engineering