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Eligibility and Academic Standards
The minor is open to all Cornell undergraduates. Administered by the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, the minor is offered collaboratively with classes across campus coordinated by a committee of faculty from Cornell Engineering, the College of Agriculture of Life Sciences, and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Please let us know that you are interested in this minor by contacting Annmarie Card so that we can update you on interesting talks or career events . During your final semester (or earlier if you have already completed your minor requirements), you should submit a completed climate change minor certification form to Annmarie Card in 2160D Snee Hall for approval. Please contact Annmarie Card with any questions about the minor certification process, to obtain the climate change minor certification form, or to be added to the email list with special events for climate change minors.
Students must earn a grade of C- or better in each course in the minor. S is acceptable in S/U only courses.
Only one course at the 1000 level can be counted toward the Climate Change minor.
The minor requires that the student completes 18 credits.
Contacts:
- Curricular topics: Natalie Mahowald (nmm63@cornell.edu)
- Administration: Annmarie Card (ac2666@cornell.edu)
Learning Objectives
- Describe the physical mechanisms that underlie climate change and the drivers of uncertainty in the future climate projections.
- Recognize how climate forces changes in ecosystems and agriculture, and how these can further amplify or mitigate climate change forcings.
- Explain how humans interact with climate change, including historical, social science perspectives, mitigation and/or adaptation solutions.
- Synthesize and communicate the multi-disciplinary complexities and uncertainties in the possible solutions to climate change.
Course Requirements
Many courses across Cornell deal with the multi-facets of climate change. The minor is structured such that students without prerequisites can obtain the minor, thus enabling students from most any major at Cornell to obtain the minor.
This minor requires that students complete at least 18 credits of appropriate coursework as follows:
1. BEE 2000 Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge (1 credit spring seminar consisting of public lectures on climate change)
2. At least one course in each of the following categories:
- Category 1: Physical Science Behind Climate Change
- Category 2: Ecosystems, Water Resources, and Climate Change
- Category 3: Humans and Climate Change
3. Additional courses to meet the 18 credit requirement, chosen from the broad list (Categories 1-4) below.
Note: Only one course at the 1000 level can count for the minor, and at least 12 credits must be at the 3000 level or higher.
Category 1: Physical Science Behind Climate Change
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BEE/EAS 4800 **
Atmospheric Chemistry: From Air Pollution to Global Change
-
EAS/NTRES 3030 **
Introduction to Biogeochemistry
-
EAS 2680 *
Climate and Global Warming
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EAS 3050 **
Climate Dynamics
-
EAS 4860
Tropical Meteorology and Climate
-
PLSCI 3650
Environmental Chemistry
Category 2: Ecosystems, Water Resources and Climate Change
-
BEE 3710
Physical Hydrology for Ecosystems
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BEE 4730
Watershed Engineering
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NTRES 3240/6240 *
Sustainable, Ecologically Based Management of Water Resources
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BIOEE 1610 *
Introductory Biology: Ecology and the Environment
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BIOEE 4780 ***
Ecosystem Biology and Global Change
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NTRES 3220 ***
Global Biodiversity
-
EAS 3340 **
Microclimatology
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PLSCS 4290/5290
Remote Sensing of Terrestrial Ecosystems
-
EAS 3555
Marine Microbes and Disease in a Changing Ocean
Category 3: Humans and Climate Change
-
AEM 2555
Corporate Sustainability
-
AEM 4090
Environmental Finance and Markets
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NTRES 3311 *
Environmental Governance
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AMST 2581 *
Environmental History
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ANTHR 2482
Anthropology of Climate Change
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ANTHR 2729 *
Climate, Archaeology and History
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CLASS 3750
Introduction to Dendrochronology
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ENGL 3795
Communicating Climate Change
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HIST 4262
Environmental Justice: Past, Present, Future
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NTRES 3330 *
Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge
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ENGRI 1165 *
Climate Change and You, the Engineer
-
CRP 5545
Urban Adaptation to Climate Change
Category 4: Additional Climate Change Courses
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CEE 4210
Renewable Energy Systems
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CEE 4640/6648 *
Sustainable Transportation Systems Design
-
EAS 1101 *
Climate and Energy – A 21st Century Earth Science Perspective
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ANSC 4880
Global Food, Energy, and Water Nexus – Engage the US, China, and India for Sustainability
Note: courses marked with * have minimal prerequisites, which most students should be able to take. Courses marked with ** only require one year of math, physics, or chemistry, which most students in engineering or physical science should be able to take. Courses marked with *** require one semester of biology, which students in life sciences should be able to take). Courses without asterisks may have multiple prerequisites.
The Climate Change Minor curriculum committee is: Christine Goodale (EEB, CAS), Peter Hess (BEE, CALS), Natalie Mahowald (EAS,COE) and Linda Shi (CRP, AAP).
If a student would like a new course to be considered for the minor, they should email Professor Natalie Mahowald (nmm63@cornell.edu) and Annmarie Card (ac2666@cornell.edu) with the course syllabus and a statement from the instructor indicating that at least 30% of the course content is about climate change. Only Cornell classes, and some transfer classes, count towards the minor. AP credit cannot be used toward the minor. No more than 3 unstructured credits can count towards the minor.