This project shows how certain documents—business records, booster brochures, newspaper articles, city plans, engineering surveys and political campaign literature, to name a few—testify to the environmental history of urban places. The documents in this packet focus on trade, city boosters, urban design and planning.

Covers computational and data analysis techniques for environmental engineering applications. First third of subject introduces MATLAB and numerical modeling. Second third emphasizes probabilistic concepts used in data analysis. Final third provides experience with statistical methods for analyzing field and laboratory data. Numerical techniques such as Monte Carlo simulation are used to illustrate the effects of variability and sampling. Concepts are illustrated with environmental examples and data sets. This subject is a computer-oriented introduction to probability and data analysis. It is designed to give students the knowledge and practical experience they need to interpret lab and field data. Basic probability concepts are introduced at the outset because they provide a systematic way to describe uncertainty. They form the basis for the analysis of quantitative data in science and engineering. The MATLAB® programming language is used to perform virtual experiments and to analyze real-world data sets, many downloaded from the web. Programming applications include display and assessment of data sets, investigation of hypotheses, and identification of possible casual relationships between variables. This is the first semester that two courses, Computing and Data Analysis for Environmental Applications (1.017) and Uncertainty in Engineering (1.010), are being jointly offered and taught as a single course.

D-Lab: Energy offers a hands-on, project-based approach that engages students in understanding and addressing the applications of small-scale, sustainable energy technology in developing countries where compact, robust, low-cost systems for generating power are required. Projects may include micro-hydro, solar, or wind turbine generators along with theoretical analysis, design, prototype construction, evaluation and implementation. Students will have the opportunity both to travel to Nicaragua during spring break to identify and implement projects. D-Lab: Energy is part of MIT's D-Lab program, which fosters the development of appropriate technologies and sustainable solutions within the framework of international development.

In this case study, students role-play members of a task force whose task it is to advise the Director of the National Park Service (their instructor) on the best location for creating a wetland using dredge material from the Potomac River. Students apply previously learned knowledge about wetland ecology (i.e. hydrology, soils, and plants) to a wetland restoration decision. Through the case, students increase their understanding of the principles of ecosystem ecology and the complexity of natural resource management dilemmas. The case was developed for a wetland ecology course, but would also work well in an ecosystem ecology or natural resource management course.

In this fictional case study, the state of Oklahoma has profited by giving incentives for companies to build power plants in rural areas of the state. The "scrubbing" systems used to minimize air pollution create potentially hazardous solid waste.To contain this waste, an impoundment facility has been built on unsuitable land from which water-soluble toxins can leach into groundwater. Student teams design a prototype sensor capable of measuring dissolved oxygen and fluorescein dye in water in order to analyze the runoff from the impoundment facility for toxins. The case was developed for an undergraduate laboratory course in photonics for junior- and senior-level students.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' The Lorax as an example of how over-development can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

In this unit, students explore the various roles of environmental engineers, including: environmental cleanup, water quality, groundwater resources, surface water and groundwater flow, water contamination, waste disposal and air pollution. Specifically, students learn about the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive in their environment. Next, students learn about groundwater and how environmental engineers study groundwater to predict the distribution of surface pollution. Students also learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow. Additionally, students discover that the water they drink everyday comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. They investigate possible scenarios of drinking water contamination and how contaminants can negatively affect the organisms that come in contact with them. Students learn about the three most common methods of waste disposal and how environmental engineers continue to develop technologies to dispose of trash. Lastly, students learn what causes air pollution and how to investigate the different pollutants that exist, such as toxic gases and particulate matter. Also, they investigate the technologies developed by engineers to reduce air pollution.

This graduate seminar is taught in a lecture and lab exercise format. The subject matter is tailored to introduce Environmental Engineering students to the use and potential of Geographic Information Systems in their discipline. Lectures will cover the general concepts of GIS use and introduce the material in the exercises, and exercises will introduce students to the practical application of GIS.

Core requirements for Environmental M.Eng. program. Designed to teach about environmental engineering through the use of case studies, computer software tools, and seminars from industrial experts. Case studies provide basis for group project as well as individual thesis. Past case studies have included the MMR Superfund site on Cape Cod; restoration of the Florida Everglades; dredging of Boston Harbor; local watershed trading programs; appropriate wastewater treatment technology for Brazil; point-of-use water treatment for Nepal, Brownfields Development in Providence, RI, and water resource planning for the island of Cyprus. Students must register for 1.782 for Fall term, IAP, and Spring term.

"This class is one of the core requirements for the Environmental Masters of Engineering program, in conjunction with 1.133 Masters of Engineering Concepts of Engineering Practice. It is designed to teach about environmental engineering through the use of case studies, computer software tools, and seminars from industrial experts. Case studies provide the basis for group projects as well as individual theses. Recent 1.782 projects include the MMR Superfund site on Cape Cod, appropriate wastewater treatment technology for Brazil and Honduras, point-of-use water treatment and safe storage procedures for Nepal and Ghana, Brownfields Development in Providence, RI, and water resource planning for the island of Cyprus and refugee settlements in Thailand. This class spans the entire academic year; students must register for the Fall and Spring terms."

In this case study, two students have been asked to conduct a "systems analysis" study to determine whether ethanol derived from corn or biodiesel prepared from soybeans is the more energy efficient alternative fuel. The students must investigate the two systems very broadly to determine all energy inputs and outputs. When the corn-to-ethanol system turns out to be less energy efficient, the students are asked to consider the political and economic consequences of this and the role that science plays in making policy decisions. The case is designed for general chemistry courses and non-science majors' chemistry courses.

The release of toxins into the environment and the federal government's tracking of that using the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are the focus of this case study, which uses GIS to explore the potential impacts of the release of such substances. The case was developed for an introductory environmental studies course. It would also be appropriate for use in an introductory GIS course or cartography course where some analysis is required, an introductory chemistry course for non-majors (with some more prep work on partitioning coefficients and fate and transport), or a basic soils course where remediation techniques are emphasized. The case study requires ESRI's ArcView 3.3 software in a computer lab setting, although it could easily be adapted for use with ArcGIS 9.x.

Explores fluid properties, hydrostatics, fluid dynamics, similitude, energy and momentum principles, closed conduit flow, open channel flow, and flow measurement. Includes laboratory exercises in flow measurement, open channel flow, pipe friction, physical modeling, and data collection.

This case study, developed for a general chemistry course, is intended to teach students the interdisciplinary nature of environmental science. Students take on the role of environmental chemists. Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, they test for lead contamination in groundwater samples taken from an old mining district in Lake County, Colorado. After researching remediation methods, students propose practical solutions to local soil contamination.

This "clicker case" is a continuation of another case in our collection, "Global Climate Change: Evidence and Causes," in which students assumed the role of an intern working for a U.S. senator so that they could advise the senator on future policy decisions. In this case, students learn about the impact and effects of global climate change as well as technologies and practices available to remediate the impact of climate effects. The case was designed for use in a one-semester introductory biology course taken primarily by freshmen and sophomores to fulfill a general education requirement, but could be used in any introductory biology course or in an ecology or environmental science course. It consists of a PowerPoint presentation (~2.2MB) presented in class that is punctuated by multiple-choice questions students respond to using personal response systems, or "clickers." The case can be adapted for use without these technologies.

This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive. Students will look at the effects of water quality on various water-related activities and describe water as an environmental, economic and social resource. The students will also learn how engineers use water quality information to make decisions about stream modifications.

During this activity, students will learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. Students will use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the information to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.

Earl Ubell is a pioneer among science and health writers in America. After a long, distinguished career at The New York Herald Tribune from 1943 to 1966, he went on to work at both CBS and NBC News. Prominent in the emerging scientific writing community in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a recipient of the Lasker Medical Journalism Award 1957. Milton Stanley Livingston was a leading physicist in the field of magnetic resonance accelerators. Working first with professor Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California, Livingston was instrumental in the development of the Berkeley cyclotron. Moving to Cornell in 1938, Livingston was part of the core group who established nuclear physics as a field of study. Choosing to stay with the Cornell cyclotron rather than follow colleagues onto the Manhattan Project, Livingston was involved in the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes. At the time of this interview, Livingston was director of the Cambridge Electron Accelerator, a joint project of Harvard University and MIT.In this program segment Louis Lyons quizzes Earl Ubell about the lack of public knowledge and the perception of the nuclear bomb, while pressing Professor Livingston to explain exactly what nuclear fallout is, and the danger it presents.

Students in ESD.00 work on projects to address large, complex and seemingly intractable real-world problems, such as energy supply, environmental issues, health care delivery, and critical infrastructure (e.g., telecommunications, water supply, and transportation). The course introduces interdisciplinary approaches - rooted in engineering, management, and the social sciences - to considering these critical contemporary issues. Small, faculty-led teams select an engineering systems term project to illustrate one or more of these approaches.