EAS 6803 8803 - Introduction to Complex Environmental Systems

Note: the correct course number is "EAS 8803 Section MC." Previous advertisements may have referenced a different number. -- MEC 10/27/03

The Course: In EAS 8803 - Introduction to Complex Environmental Systems, students will be introduced to the concepts of complexity and provided the ability to recognize it in-situ. In particular, they will be asked to focus on the complexities of urban and regional ecosystems. In so doing, they will consider how various systems (e.g. people, transportation, land use, air and water resources) are related and how they must interact and function in order to support large metropolitan systems and the people and organisms that inhabit them. Students will learn the concept of "stiff" in the context of these metropolitan systems - that is that the total integrated system is made up of many different parts and processes each with its own associated spatial and time scale - and the challenges inherent to stiff systems. They will identify and explore mechanisms that may be used to effect change in these systems and use feedback from indicators to control these processes.

As part of their development, students will, over the course of the semester, research and build a computer model that simulates past, present, and future metropolitan Atlanta processes and outcomes. The model will include population, transportation, water resources, energy generation and consumption, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Though not the most efficient, the model will be built within a spreadsheet format to 1) minimize the burden of programming for those not proficient in writing code, and 2) to allow the students to explicitly see the underlying relationships between the different components. Students will be required to validate their model, conduct sensitivity analyses to test parameterizations and examine linkages, and use their model to predict future outcomes.

Michael Chang, will provide the core reading and lecture material covering complexity and the framework for integration of and continuity between the various systems that will be studied. Guest lecturers invited from EAS, other academic and research units at Tech and elsewhere, and local governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations will be briefed on the goals and agenda of the course, updated on information presented by other guest lecturers, and asked to present the individual systems that constitute a metropolis (e.g. transportation, air quality, water resources, land use, etc...). They will also be asked to lecture on the factors that affect these systems, and the metrics that are used to measure and characterize these systems and their performance. Each of these systems may constitute a learning "module" that may be introduced and studied over the course of one week and highlighted by the expert presentation provided by the guest lecturer.