2011-12 Catalog

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2011-12 Undergraduate Index A-Z

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Title   Offering Standing Credits Credits When F W S Su Description Preparatory Faculty Days Multiple Standings Start Quarters Open Quarters
Bret Weinstein
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter Nearly all of the complexity in the observable universe is due to one process: Selection-natural, sexual and otherwise. And though the basics of evolutionary selection can be summarized in a single phrase ("survival of the fittest"), the details are surprising in the extreme, raising profound questions at every juncture. Why, for example, has a simple, shared drive to increase 'reproductive success' taken aardvarks and spruce trees in such different directions? And why would a peahen choose to burden her sons with a giant handicap to their movement by mating with a male carrying genes for massive tail? We will take a broad approach to selection, studying what is known, but focusing on that which remains mysterious. The adaptive interplay between genetic, epigenetic (regulatory) and cultural traits will be of particular interest. We will also place special emphasis on understanding the tension between selection exerted by mates, and that exerted by environmental factors. Fall quarter will be spent constructing a basic toolkit for evolutionary analysis: What is an adaptation and how can it be recognized? How can we infer function? What is the relationship between a trait's short and long-term adaptive value? We will scrutinize structures; behaviors and patterns found in the wild, and refine our ability to understand them through the language of game theory. During the winter quarter, we will focus on pushing our model of selection to its limits, and beyond, by applying it to the most complex and surprising adaptive patterns in nature, with a special emphasis on adaptive patterns manifest in We will read, have lecture, and detailed discussions. Discussions will be central to our work. Students will be expected to generate and defend hypotheses and predictions in a supportive and rigorous environment. We will go out and look at nature directly when conditions are right. Each quarter, we will take a multi-day field trip to observe thought-provoking patterns in unfamiliar environments. There will be assignments, but the program will be primarily about generating deep predictive insight, not about producing a large volume of work. It is best suited to self-motivated students with a deep commitment to comprehending that which is knowable, but unknown. biology, medicine, psychology, and public policy. This program will focus on how to think, not what to think. As such, it will be useful to in any career in which critical thinking is important. Bret Weinstein Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter
Dennis Hibbert
  Course SO–SRSophomore - Senior 4 04 Weekend F 11 Fall There are so many people — and environmental problems — because we control our food supply. Population growth accelerated as the last ice age waned and agriculture emerged separately in the Middle East, East Asia, southern Mexico, and the Amazon basin. We will study the world at that time and the evidence for agriculture's beginnings, drawing on archaeology, geology, palaeobotany, geochemistry, and climatology. We will then watch the project we began come to be today's world. Dennis Hibbert Sat Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Lalita Calabria
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day W 12Winter The Pacific Northwest supports one of the greatest diversities of bryophytes- mosses, hornworts and liverworts - in the world. These terrestrial, epiphytic, and rock-dwelling taxa perform critical ecological roles in our forests, prairies, and urban areas. They intercept and retain nutrients and moisture from rainwater and mist, provide habitat and nesting material for invertebrates and vertebrates, and are important bioindicators of ecosystem health and global climate change.This program focuses on bryophyte taxonomy, ecology and biology. Field trips will emphasize the recognition of ecological life forms and morphological growth forms of bryophytes as well as proper collection methods. Lab activities will involve identifying collected specimens using dichotomous keys and developing proficiency in techniques for the identification of mosses such as dissection, slide-making techniques and use of compound and dissecting microscopes. Lectures will focus on readings from a bryophyte ecology textbook as well as current topics in bryophyte biology and taxonomy. Seminar readings will include a variety of essays, books and scientific papers on the economic, medicinal and aesthetic value of bryophytes. Students will conduct quarter-long group research, which may include herbaria-based taxonomic studies, moss propagation experiments, field-based floristic studies or installation of moss rooftop teaching garden on campus. Students will also contribute to the ongoing curation and databasing of the Evergreen Herbarium Bryophyte Collection. Lalita Calabria Mon Tue Thu Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter
Frederica Bowcutt, Gaku Mitsumata and Jeff Antonelis-Lapp
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter As a learning community our central question will be: how can ordinary citizens assist in the important work of shifting society to more sustainable relations with the natural world? We will begin by examining what it means to be ecoliterate.In the fall we will focus on the natural history of the Puget Sound region and contrast that to eastern Washington’s high desert. In October the learning community will visit the sagebrush steppe of Sun Lakes State Park to gain field experience in linking plant and animal distribution patterns with environmental conditions. Through this work, students will learn how to read topographic and geologic maps, and basic mapmaking skills. Students will gain experience in conducting biodiversity assessments in the park and on campus, including vascular plants, birds, mammals and insects. The learning community will explore how ecoliterate citizens can serve as citizen scientists, for example, by helping to monitor plant and animal responses to climate change. To support their work in the field and lab, students will learn how to maintain a detailed and illustrated nature journal. In the winter we will examine the relationship between people and gardens through the disciplines of garden history, children’s literature, and environmental and place-based education. Special attention will be given to urban horticulture that fosters socially just communities and an ecoliterate citizenry. Students will learn how to link scientific knowledge about soils, plants and animals with the pragmatic realities of installing and maintaining educational gardens in public settings. Lectures and labs in soil science, botany, ecology and environmental/place-based education will support this learning. Students will learn to develop K-12 curriculum for the teaching gardens on campus, and pursue opportunities to lead activities in them and the surrounding woods with local school groups. During both quarters, a significant amount of time will be dedicated to honing our ability to write an expository paper. Credit may be awarded in natural history, environmental education, expository writing, children’s literature, horticulture, garden history and botany (with a lab). This program is appropriate not only for students with interest in the natural sciences, but also for students who would not normally select academic programs in the sciences. K-12 teaching, environmental education, horticulture, natural history and ecology. Frederica Bowcutt Gaku Mitsumata Jeff Antonelis-Lapp Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Peter Impara
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring Most people think of a disturbance as disturbing--upsetting the natural balance, throwing into disorder, or interfering--yet disturbances are a common, regular characteristic of many eco systems. Disturbance is an important ecological process affecting ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. As disturbance plays such an important role in such processes as vegetation community patterns, successional trajectories, and other ecological patterns, understanding disturbance and its ecological influences is vital to developing a basic understanding of significant controls of ecosystem function and composition. In this program we will investigate the role of disturbance as it relates to existing, and historic, ecological conditions. We will examine how the principles of pattern – process interactions and scale are applied to the study and understanding of disturbance processes. We will also relate disturbance to historic and contemporary human resource and land use issues to study the interactions between humans and disturbance over time.Important questions for the study of disturbance include: what is the disturbance regime for a given disturbance? At what spatial and temporal scales do disturbances operate? How do disturbances affect ecological patterns and processes ? How do humans respond to, and try to control, disturbances? To address these questions we will explore disturbance by using field, class and lab approaches. We will visit several disturbance sites as well as learn methods to map and analyze disturbance patterns and the variables related to those processes. Lecture and seminars will address recent research and approaches to characterizing and studying disturbance. Students will be expected to carry out a project investigating a disturbance process and its influence on the local ecology as well as human responses to that disturbance type. Students interested in upper division science credit should be aware that upper division science credit will be awarded only for upper division work. Peter Impara Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Lucia Harrison and Abir Biswas
  Program FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter This program offers an introductory study of the Earth, through geology and art. What makes the earth a habitable planet?  What forces have shaped the geology of the Pacific Northwest?  These questions have fascinated people for centuries.  Both scientists and artists rely heavily on skills of observation and description to understand the world, and to convey that understanding to others. Geologists use images, diagrams and figures to illustrate concepts and communicate research. Artists take scientific information to inform their work, and seek to communicate the implications of what science tells us about the world. They also draw on scientific concepts as metaphors for autobiographical artworks. In the fall, we will use science and art to study basic concepts in earth science such as geologic time, plate tectonics, earth materials and how they are formed, the hydrological cycle and stream ecology. Case studies in the Cascade Mountain Range and Nisqually Watershed will provide hands-on experience.  In the winter, we further this study to include soil formation, nutrient cycling, ocean basin sand currents, and climate change. Field studies will include a trip to the Olympic Peninsula where we will observe coastal processes. Geologic time and evidence of the Earth's dynamic past are recorded in rocks on the landscape. Students will learn basic techniques in observational drawing and watercolor painting.  They will learn the discipline of keeping illustrated field journals to inform their studies of geological processes.  They will also develop finished artworks ranging from scientific illustration to personal expression. geology, environmental studies, education and visual arts. Lucia Harrison Abir Biswas Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Fall Fall Winter
Alison Styring, Steven Scheuerell and George Freeman
  Program FR ONLYFreshmen Only 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter S 12Spring The word environment encompasses multiple meanings, from the natural to the built, from the interiors of our minds to the spiritual. In each case there is a constant interface of environments with one another and with other creatures, each defining and circumscribing our experience of the world. Some of our essential questions revolve around how we define the environment and how we are shaped by as well as how we shape the environment, both natural and built. For example, does the concept of wilderness include humans? Is the ecological niche of a human essentially different from that of other living things? We will explore the habitats we occupy along with other creatures in those environments. We will explore dichotomies that foster dynamic tensions, such as the dichotomy between concepts of "natural" versus "human".  We intend to investigate these tensions through our study of psychology, personal biography, biology, environmental studies, ornithology and cultural studies. In fall quarter we will develop the foundational skills in environmental studies and psychology needed to understand and critique the writings and current research in community ecology, animal behavior and conservation biology, and to examine the conscious and unconscious, and the theories of perception and cognition in psychology. We will examine parallels and linkages among disciplines in terms of methods, assumptions and prevailing theories. In winter we'll continue building on this foundation and move ourselves from theory to practice through an emphasis on methodologies, analyses, and their underlying assumptions. In spring quarter we'll implement the skills and knowledge we've developed through specific student-directed projects and our optional field trip. The faculty will foster creativity, experimentation and imaginative processes as means of discovering and bringing a new awareness to our extraordinary world. The students will respond to the themes of the program through individual and collaborative projects. To build our learning community we will use experiential collaboration activities such as Challenge and Experiential Education as a means to develop a sense of commitment and group citizenship. We will use multicultural discussion opportunities such as Critical Moments to explore the politics of identity and meaning. We will develop our observational skills via field workshops and field trips. We will have writing and quantitative reasoning workshops to further develop students' current skills and to develop advanced skills in these areas. Students completing this program will come to a stronger understanding of their personal lives as situated in a variety of contexts. They will develop strategies for engaging in a range of settings to promote social change, in-depth personal development, increased self-awareness, critical commentary and analyses, and practices that promote stewardship of our personal lives, our immediate environment and global communities. psychology, behavioral sciences and environmental science. Alison Styring Steven Scheuerell George Freeman Mon Tue Thu Fri Freshmen FR Fall Fall Winter
Cheri Lucas-Jennings
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall This program will explore the broad conditions that shape environmental health, both for humans and within the ecosystem context. We will be moving across and between questions of science, public policy (from municipal to international) and social justice: examining the workings of non-governmental organizations.  With the use of regularly scheduled lecture, seminar, work shops and field trips, we will dedicate ourselves to bridging the understanding among scientific, policy and social perspectives. The program goals is to examine emerging strategies and solutions for ecological sustainability - from regional, community-based monitoring to UN negotiations. By means of a small group, quarter-long research project on a topical issue the chemical, biologic and physical risks of modern life will be considered, with an emphasis on industrial pollutants. We will examine models, evidence and debates about the sources, causal connections and impacts of environmental hazards. We will be learning about existing and emergent regulatory science in conjunction with evolving systems of law, regulation and a broad array of community response. This introductory, core program considers problems related to public and environmental health in a broader context of the key frameworks of population/consumption and sustainability. Throughout the program, students will learn from a range of learning approaches: computer-based analysis and collaboration with regional experts, officials and activists.     :  ? Website: public policy; communications; political science; planning; public health; law; social welfare; environmental and natural resources Cheri Lucas-Jennings Tue Wed Fri Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Sean Williams, Heather Heying and Eric Stein
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall W 12Winter In addition to the landscape of the map, there are also landscapes of the mind. How humans conceptualize where and how they (and others) live is an elemental process that has started wars, led to new forms of cross-cultural communication, and given rise to hybridization of both populations and ideas. Our focus in this two-quarter program is to take a particular area of the world -- the equator -- and explore how various groups of people (local and foreign) have come to understand it over time. Through our work in science, the performing arts and anthropology, we will collectively engage the ways in which people connect to the natural world, the arts, and each other.Each quarter divides into sections in which we highlight a particular lens through which to view our work, or focus on ways in which our lenses overlap. For example, we will examine how anthropology and medicine have grappled with "The Tropics" as a space believed to be essentially different from "The West," raising questions about the construction of race, the body, and the category of the "primitive." We will also work with sound: playing and creating musical instruments, singing and listening to music. In an attempt to understand the relationship between humans and the world around them, we will investigate evolutionary processes that apply to plants and animals near the equator. While our studies are contextualized in regions such as Brazil and Indonesia and other equatorial locations, we will also work briefly with a few regions outside the equator by way of comparison.Weekly activities feature lectures, films and seminars. Other planned activities include field trips, workshops, collaborative presentations and guest lectures. Students are expected to focus on enhancing their college-level writing skills throughout the program; each quarter's major writing assignments will require students to revise their work and understand the process of revision. In fall quarter students will be introduced to important concepts about how to approach this material: issues of race, class and gender in a colonial context are important factors in deepening our understanding. As we move into winter quarter, students will have more chances to develop individual projects focusing on a particular area of interest. anthropology, science and ethnomusicology. Sean Williams Heather Heying Eric Stein Mon Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Dennis Hibbert
  Course SO–SRSophomore - Senior 4 04 Weekend S 12Spring We will consider in depth the question "To what degree do environmental factors and human responses to them determine the fates of human societies?" We will work toward answering this question by drawing on archaeology, palaeoecology, palaeoethnobotany, palaeoclimatology, and zoology as we examine the past 100,000 years of the human story. Dennis Hibbert Sat Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Noelle Machnicki and Lalita Calabria
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 11 Fall Fungi. What are they? Where are they and what are they doing there? How do they get their energy? What roles do they play in ecosystems? How do they grow? What do they taste like? How do they interact with other organisms? The central theme of this program is to answer these and other questions about fungi. Many people are familiar with green plants and their role in using solar energy to turn carbon dioxide, inorganic elements and water into sugars and other molecules. Fungi, which convert sugars and other organic molecules back into carbon dioxide, inorganic elements, water and energy, are less familiar. Nevertheless, fungi play pivotal roles in the various nutrient cycles within terrestrial ecosystems. They also form symbiotic relationships with plants to create mycorrhizae and have a different type of symbiotic relationship with algae to form lichens. In addition, fungi cause a wide variety of diseases that can be important in particular ecosystems as well as in agriculture and medicine. This program will focus on understanding these unique, ubiquitous and interesting organisms. We will cover fungal and lichen taxonomy, the ecology and biology of fungi and lichens, lab techniques for studying/identifying them, current research, as well as social and economic aspects. There will be an emphasis on work in the laboratory learning to classify fungi and lichens using chemical and microscopic techniques, along with a wide variety of taxonomic keys. These topics will be explored in the field, in the lab, and through lectures, workshops and student research project presentations. Students should expect to spend a minimum of 50 hours/week on program work. Students will be engaged in technical writing, library research, critical thinking and developing their oral presentation skills. ecology, biology, natural history, education, and environmental studies. Noelle Machnicki Lalita Calabria Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Abir Biswas and Christopher Coughenour
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring What are the origins of the Earth? What processes have shaped the planet’s structure over the past 4.6 billion years? Through lab and lecture, students will become familiar with how fundamental Earth materials (minerals and rocks) form and are altered by the persistent physical, chemical, and biological processes at work on our planet's surface. In this program students will study the mechanisms of changes in terrestrial and marine Earth systems and interpret geologic evidence in order to understand Earth system processes. Our approach will integrate topics in chemistry, physics, and evolutionary biology with in-depth studies of physical and historical geology. Quantitative skill development will be fundamental to this approach.After a period of on-campus skill and content building, students will participate in approximately two weeks of rigorous field work. Some students will embark on a 16-day river trip through the Grand Canyon, giving those students the opportunity to visit one of the geologic wonders of the world, access to over 1 billion years of geologic history, and study the processes currently shaping the Canyon. Other students will participate in multiple hands-on field excursions across the Pacific Northwest, studying some of the incredibly diverse landscapes and applying their knowledge about Earth system process in the field.This field-based program requires significant commitment from students, given the cost, rigors, and time away from campus. All students in the program will participate in field work though only approximately 14 students will be able to participate in the Grand Canyon river trip. The program will integrate physical geology, historical geology, quantitative skills for the earth sciences, and a field project. Students who successfully complete this program will gain a solid scientific basis for future work in all aspects of earth sciences and environmental studies. Abir Biswas Christopher Coughenour Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Matthew Smith
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, environmental issues are in the mainstream. Everything from the food we eat to climate change, from the philosophy of nature to the nature of our communities, from economic policy to our understanding of earth and human history, is being rethought. It wasn't always so. Fifty years ago one would search hard to find mention of these issues in the daily press. Thirty years ago, environmental issues were not understood as demanding systemic economic, philosophical, technological and social transformation. Today that has changed. This program examines that change by looking at nature writing, environmental history and the concept of place.  Our goal will be to develop through our conversation, reading and writing a complex understanding of current environmental issues and the forces that will significantly impinge upon our lives in the coming decades.Nature writing deals with the big popular questions such as: what do we mean by nature? How can and should we value nature? How should we organize ourselves in relation to preservation and restoration of the natural world? We will investigate serious, but popular, writers who are using essays, fictions, and creative nonfiction forms to help shape a broad reflection on humans' place in nature. In the first two weeks we will take a quick look backward to Emerson, Thoreau, and Aldo Leopold.  Then we will jump forward to read texts and essays by such authors as William Cronon, Donald Worster, T.C. Boyle, Terry Tempest Williams, Patty Limerick, Seamus McGraw, Louis Warren, Michael Pollan, David Abram, David Sackman, John Vaillant and others.  Our work together is to explore these authors and others to see how they understand critical issues around place, around human and animal interaction, around the growing recognition of human-driven environmental forces--most notably with respect to water and climate change.  Throughout the quarter we will share in leading presentation of materials to the program.  We will develop short research essays (8-12 pages) that will draw upon our readings, essays, and library work.  We will use two shorter essays to help develop our thoughts about specific aspects of the author's work.Environmental history has established itself as a legitimate piece of the history profession, a significant element in the debate over environmental policy, and a major factor in the simultaneously growing recognition of globalism, regionalism and localism as critical dimensions for understanding environmental phenomena. As environmental history has become more complex, it has challenged history based fundamentally on political units and created a map that provides important underpinning of contemporary popular discussions of place-based work and action, and global concern and policy. We will explore place as a concept that brings together the complexity of the intersection of diverse factors to produce lived experience in human and natural communities.The program offers opportunities for serious conversation, focused research, and reflection on personal and collective understandings of environmental ethics and action. Each student should anticipate becoming the resident expert in the work of at least one of our authors or one major issue. social sciences and environmental history, literature, public policy and management. Matthew Smith Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Lalita Calabria
  Course FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 6 06 Evening and Weekend Su 12Summer Session I This course is designed to increase your awareness and appreciation of the biological, cultural, and economic importance of plants. Through this awareness and appreciation of plants you can begin to develop a "Botanical Sense of Place".  We will begin by reflecting on your personal experiences with plants from youth to the present in the form of a creative nonfiction-style essay. These experiences are the foundation of your botanical knowledge, and they will serve as tool for connecting the major concepts we learn in class with your real-life experience of plants. In lectures, we will survey the major groups of the Plant Kingdom including bryophytes, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. We will also draw on contemporary scientific journals articles to help you gain in-depth understanding of certain biological concepts and to apply this understanding to current events. In labs, students will gain hands-on experience studying plants with microscopes as we examine the form and function of plant structures in the context of their evolutionary history. On field trips, students will learn to recognize and identify the common native plants of the Pacific Northwest.  Lalita Calabria Tue Thu Sat Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
Lucia Harrison
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring The study of stream ecology and visual art will provide the framework and tools to examine, observe, record, and know a place. We will explore the role of art and science in helping people develop a deep and reciprocal relationship with a watershed. Designed for beginning students in art and ecology, we will study the characteristics of local streams and make drawings that are inspired by a connection to a specific stream. The Nisqually River Watershed will be the focus for our collective work while the numerous local streams will serve as individual focal points for student projects throughout the quarter.Through reading, lectures and field study, students will learn the history of the watershed, study concepts in stream ecology, learn to identify native plants in the watershed and learn about current conservation efforts. They will develop beginning drawing skills and practice techniques for keeping an illustrated field journal. Students will work in charcoal, chalk pastel, watercolor, and colored pencil. Students will explore strategies for using notes and sketches to inspire more finished artworks.   Students will study artists whose work is inspired by their deep connection to a place. Each student will visit a local stream regularly, keep a field journal, and in the second half of the quarter, students will create a series of artworks or an environmental education project that gives something back to their watershed. Lucia Harrison Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Nancy Anderson, Frances V. Rains and John Baldridge
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8, 12, 16 08 12 16 Day and Evening F 11 Fall How much do you really know about the Salish Sea/Puget Sound region, its peoples, its landscapes, and its natural inhabitants?  Come join us as we explore the intersection of place, culture, and health and how these factors reflect inequity in access to—and degradation of—resources in and around the Salish Sea.  Central elements of this thematically based program will include the history of colonization and decolonization of Native peoples of the Salish Sea that accompanied European settlement, Indigenous rights, a critique of current policies and practices that have not promoted the achievement of social or health equity, the effect of industrialization on the health of the Salish Sea and non-human life forms, and the public health policies that may intervene to improve overall health and wellness in the surrounding communities.  Both quarters will examine these themes through multiple lenses including political ecology, political economy, public health, and Native Studies. Our readings will include current case studies, empirical research, and counter-narratives.The learning community will work on understanding the consequences of privilege on an individual basis—how our individual behavior contributes to environmental degradation and social injustice, specifically the attempted genocide of Native Peoples.  Students will learn about the fundamental relationships between our focus themes, as well as strategies that may more successfully address social justice and environmental issues.  Learning will take place through writing, readings, seminars, lectures, films, art, and guest speakers.  Students will improve their research skills through document review, observations, critical analysis, and written assignments. Oral speaking skills will be improved through small group and whole class seminar discussions and through individual final project presentations. Options for the final project will be discussed in the syllabus and in class with proposals that aim to improve community health, the sustainability of the Salish Sea, and for Native Communities many of whom have lived at its edge for thousands of years before European settlement.This program is a combined offering of Evening and Weekend Studies and the full-time, daytime curriculum.  All students will meet in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Students registering for 12 credits will complete a 4-credit in-program internship (10 hours per week). Students registering for 16 credits will meet in both the afternoons and evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Nancy Anderson Frances V. Rains John Baldridge Tue Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Frederica Bowcutt
Signature Required: Spring 
  SOS JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day S 12Spring This program offers opportunities for well-prepared students to create their own course of study in botany. Priority will be given to students with introductory coursework in botany and a desire to contribute to at lease one of two ongoing efforts: the Puget Prairie Flora project or the Evergreen Teaching Gardens.  Proposals are particularly encouraged from students who want to do one or more of the following:Students will attend weekly research group meetings/seminars, plant identification labs, and as needed computer workshops to support student research.  The labs will be dedicated primarily to learning how to identify vascular plants using a technical dichotomous key.  Students will also hone their polant family recognition skills.  To practice their identification skills, students will attend several day-long field trips to local prairies.While this program is primarily aimed at juniors and seniors, first-year students and sophomores may be admitted if they can demonstrate through the signature process that they are ready for the work. field botany, floristics, environmental education and horticulture. Frederica Bowcutt Mon Tue Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Dina Roberts and David Phillips
Signature Required: Winter 
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day W 12Winter The tropics are the cradle of the world's biodiversity. This program will focus on Costa Rica, emphasizing biological richness, field ecology, the physical environment, statistical analysis of field data, conservation biology and Latin American culture. The first seven weeks of the program will be held on the Evergreen campus, followed by a three-week field trip to Costa Rica. The on-campus portion will include lectures and labs on global patterns of biological diversity, quantification and analysis of ecological diversity, an overview of major taxa of Neotropical plants, insects and vertebrates, and discussions of the physical environment of tropical regions. This material will be integrated with classes in introductory statistics and conversational Spanish.During the Costa Rica field trip, we will visit four major field sites, including coastal habitats, tropical dry forest, cloud forest and lowland rain forest. Students will learn about common plants and animals in each area, dominant landforms and ecological processes, conservation issues and current biological research activities. Students will also learn techniques of field research by participating in quantitative field labs, both faculty and student led. In the evenings there will be a series of guest lectures by research scientists. The field trip will require rigorous hiking and backpacking in remote locations. environmental studies, ecology, conservation biology, evolutionary biology and Latin American studies. Dina Roberts David Phillips Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter
Lalita Calabria
Signature Required: Summer
  Research JR–SRJunior - Senior 6 06 Day and Weekend Su 12Summer Full In this course students will organize into research groups based on interest in either fungi, lichen, or bryophytes and design herbarium-based research projects on these taxa. The instructor will provide guidance with using technical key for identifying unknown fungi and lichen and/bryophytes as well as collection and curation methods. In addition, students will choose from a list of topics relating to taxonomy, ecology, and biology of these taxa for the instructor to lecture on throughout the quarter. Students will spend time in the field and laboratory discussing diagnostic characters of these groups and will learn how to sight recognize common species to our region.  A field trip to the UW herbarium and botanical gardens will give students an opportunity to visit a larger regional herbarium and see unusual and rare taxa of fungi, lichens, and bryophytes. Lalita Calabria Mon Tue Thu Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer