| Course |
Title |
Instructor(s) |
| NATS 101 | Planet Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World (3)
NATS 101 emphasizes our own planet and the special conditions that it provides for life. NATS 101 reviews how the evolution of primitive life dramatically changed the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, and it explores humanity’s role in further altering our planetary environment.
NATS 101 is a Tier I Natural Science course in the University’s general education curriculum.
Section 1 (Larson) home page
| Larson
|
| NATS 102 | The Universe and Humanity: Origin and Destiny (3)
The Universe And Humanity: Origin And Destiny places Earth and humanity in a broad cosmic context. Topics range from the Big Bang cosmology to human consciousness with emphasis on the events and evolutionary processes that define the physical universe and our place in it.
NATS 102 is a Tier I Natural Science course in the University’s general education curriculum.
Section 16 (Swindle) D2L home page
Section 13 (Yelle) home page
Section 12 (Rogers) home page
| Rogers
Yelle
Gehrels
Swindle
|
| PTYS 195A | First Year Colloquium (1)
195A CLQ Hubbard: Why Do We Have A Space Program? Humans have been exploring the solar system with manned and unmanned spacecraft for 50 years. In 2009, U.S. taxpayers will spend nearly $18 billion to support NASA. In this colloquium, we will do some of our own exploring: why are we doing this, and how does the U.S. government decide what to do in space? We will look at the history of the space enterprise and the role of scientists. We will critically examine the basic human drives and the assumptions, some perhaps mistaken, that motivate space exploation.
195A CLQ Lauretta: Asteroids, Comets, and Meteorites. This seminar is designed to introduce students to the study of asteroids, comets, and meteorites and will cover many different aspects of the field. We will discuss the history of astronomical observations of small bodies in the Solar System and the evidence that finally convinced the scientific community that rocks actually do fall from the sky. Modern and historical meteorite collection will be explored including meteorite hunting expedition on the ice sheets of Antarctica. The course will include a discussion of the formation of the Solar System as recorded by the meteorite record and the impact hazard posed by asteroids and comets. Past, current, and future spacecraft missions to small bodies will also be discussed.
Hubbard Section homepage
| Hubbard
|
| PTYS 206 | The Golden Age of Planetary Exploration (3)
PTYS 206 emphasizes the part of the universe that is within reach of direct human experience and exploration.
We will review current understanding of the contents of our Solar System and emphasize the processes that unite all of the planets and smaller bodies, such as tectonics, weathering, cratering, differentiation, and the evolution of oceans and atmospheres. The course will build on this knowledge to understand humankind’s motivation to explore beyond our Solar System, especially to search for planets around distant stars and to look or listen for evidence of life elsewhere in the Universe.
PTYS 206 is a Tier II Natural Science course in the University’s general education curriculum.
Section 1 (Kortenkamp) home page
Section 2 (Drake) home page
| Kortenkamp
Drake
|
| PTYS 214 | Astrobiology: A Planetary Perspective (3)
We will explore questions about the origin, evolution, and future of life on Earth and the possibility of life arising independently elsewhere in the Universe. We will examine what it means for a planet to be habitable, both in terms of basic necessities for living organisms to function and environmental limits to their ability to survive. Finally, we will review different approaches for searching for life within the Solar System and beyond using direct and remote sensing techniques.
PTYS 214 is a Tier II Natural Science course in the University general education curriculum.
Section 1 (Boynton) home page
Section 2 (Pierazzo) home page
| Boynton
Pierazzo
|
| PTYS 407 | Chemistry of the Solar System (3)
Abundance, origin, distribution, and chemical behavior of the chemical elements in the Solar System. Emphasis on applications of chemical equilibrium, photochemistry, and mineral phase equilibrium theory.
Prerequisites: CHEM 103b, MATH 125b, and PHYS 132 or their equivalents.
PTYS 407 is required for the PTYS Minor.
PTYS 407 is identical with CHEM 407.
PTYS 407 home page
| Lauretta
|
| PTYS 418 | Modern Astronomical Instrumentation and Techniques (3)
Radiant energy; signals and noise; detectors and techniques for imaging, photometry, polarimetry and spectroscopy. Examples from stellar and planetary astronomy in the x-ray, optical, infrared and radio. Identical to ASTR 418; ASTR is home department. May be convened with: PTYS 518.
PTYS 418 home page
| Rieke
|
| PTYS 441A | Dynamic Meteorology (3)
Thermodynamics and its application to planetary atmospheres, hydrostatics, fundamental concepts and laws of dynamic meteorology. Prerequisite: PHYS 426 or consent of instructor. Identical to ATMO 441A.
| Mullen
|
| PTYS 442 | Mars (3)
In-depth class about the planet Mars, including origin and evolution, geophysics, geology, atmospheric science, climate change, the search for life, and the history and future of Mars exploration.
There will be guest lectures from professors and research scientists with expertise about aspects of Mars. There will be lots of discussion of recent results and scientific controversies about Mars. Graduate-level requirements include the completion of a research project that will be presented in class as well as a report. The research project could be analysis of Mars datasets, a laboratory experiment, or new theoretical modeling.
Regular grades are awarded for this course: A B C D E. Prerequisite(s): PTYS 411, Geology of the Solar System is strongly recommended but not required. Identical to: ASTR 442, GEOS 442. May be convened with: PTYS 542.
PTYS 442 home page (D2L)
| Smith
|
