CCS 102 Research Perspectives on Climate Change

ANNOUNCEMENTS
021824: Monday, February 19 is a holiday. NO CLASS! NO RAT! NO SR! See you all on Monday, February 26.
021224: If you have missed any of the seminars, please contact bt for information about a replacement seminar!
021224: Labor Center Paid Internships - see the Slides and Handouts Page
012524: IMPORTANT: if you missed Professor Sandin's seminar on Monday, please contact bt ASAP to find out how to make up the absence.
011824: Upload links for RATs, SRs, and discussion Slides will appear on the front page Thursday evening. Thanks for your patience!
011524: Hey folx - time got away from me and I wasn't able to record the critical reading vid today - I will post it Tuesday evening... thanks for your patience!
011124 - The reading due on Monday Jan 22 is now available on the Assigned Reading Page. The RAT will be posted fri morning, along with the upload link (sorry for the delay!)
011124 - Professor Stuart Sandin will. be talking about Coral Reefs and Climate Change on Jan 22! bt will talk about solidarity with Earth if a speaker has to cancel or otherwise during one of the visits to Muir Cafe.

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to exciting and current research topics related to climate change as presented by faculty and researchers across UC San Diego. The course is offered as a series of reading topics followed by seminars on original research presented by faculty and researchers.

INSTRUCTOR
bt werner
Professor of Environmental Science and Complex Systems
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Teaching Professor in Critical Gender Studies
Faculty Affiliate in Ethnic Studies

CLASS MEETINGS
Mondays 300-450PM Nierenberg 101 @ the SIO Campus (Winter Quarter 2024)
Note that we will not be meeting Monday January 15 (MLK Day) nor Monday, February 19 (holiday)
Attendance and participation constitute the bulk of your grades, so please plan on attending all eight classes, if possible.

If you are registered for CCS 102 but have not received login information for the course web site, please contact bt asap from your ucsd e-mail.

OFFICE HOURS
Mondays 11AM-NOON Online
Tuesdays/Thursdays 1230-130PM Mandeville Cafe

COURSE SYNOPSIS
Research on climate change spans a broad range of disciplines, topics, approaches and methods – from the highly abstract, universal and theoretical to the intensely grounded, experimental, locally specific and practical, from scientific analyses to critical analyses, from western academic knowledge to Indigenous traditional knowledge, from research that benefits systems of concentrated power and wealth to research that promotes the diffusion of power and wealth. In CCS 102, we will sample this diversity of research, reading articles and meeting with academics and practitioners whose work gives us a window into some aspects of climate change research. We will discuss techniques for reading articles on climate change research, asking questions of seminar speakers and approaching academics as project advisors, all to help prepare you for your CCS minor applied project and for your climate-change-related work beyond UCSD.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
– Explore the scope and diversity of climate change research and researchers.
-- Collaboratively develop the skills to understand and critically read climate change research articles.
-- Practice learning from seminar speakers and asking informational and probing questions.
-- Refine skills for effectively approaching potential mentors, employers and collaborators.

CCS 102 will feature very cool speakers, and will have some assigned reading and straightforward assignments. No tests!

In CCS 102, you will be asked to
-- attend and participate in eight Monday classes, seven of which will include seminars by very cool climate change researchers.
-- fill out a brief form summarizing each seminar and answering a few questions about it.
-- read six research articles about climate change as part of a group and, with your group, summarize the articles and come up with three questions about them. Each of the six groups will lead the discussion on one of the research articles.
-- write a well-researched draft e-mail to a potential advisor for your CCS minor applied research project.

Contact the instructor bt werner bwerner AT ucsd dot edu if you have any questions!