Environmental Studies

This course examines the chemical and biological basis of the material properties of wood, how forestry can control these and the concept of wood quality. It also covers various wood processing industries, ranging from sawmilling over engineered wood products to pulping and biofuels. Reference will be made to the most suitable resource for individual products and how forest management can impact on the value of the timber.

The course is divided into the following basic sections:

·Water Treatment and Water Pollution Control Engineering

·Solid Waste and Hazardous Solid Waste Management, Treatment and Disposal Engineering

·Air pollution control engineering

·Clean energy and soil and groundwater pollution control engineering

Overall objective: to provide students with a basic understanding of the principles, main contents and development frontiers of environmental engineering, to cultivate their interest in engineering solutions to hot environmental issues, and to help them identify their interests and directions for further study and research in the future.

This introductory course offers a long-term view of the interactions between human societies and their natural environment in order to better understand sustainable development challenges in the present. 

This course provides the basic qualifications needed to use and describe the principles of modern geospatial science and geographic information systems. It provides a conceptual and practical introduction to geographic information systems with emphasis on practical data handling and data analysis. Teaching consists of lectures and practical computer exercises and two minor reports are produced during the course. The course identifies suitable methods to perform spatial analyses common in biological research and monitoring. Analyses is performed in the geographic information system software and documented in a professional scientific report.

This course introduces the extent of the global agriculture and food production and its geographic location. Through a combination of lectures and exercises, the first part of the course identifies the factors that influence and adjust the global need for and production of food, as well as of the global trade with food. It then looks at the impact of different climatic and soil conditions on plant and livestock production in specific regions. In the project work, students go into detail in an individual area.

This course examines the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. It explores the fundamentals of ecology (e.g. disturbance/recovery, recruitment, organism interactions with their environment, nutrient cycles, limits on productivity) in a marine setting, as well as human impacts on marine environments including fisheries and the design of ecological surveys and experiments. 

This course examines the impact of components of the hydrological cycle on the South West Pacific, particularly New Zealand, including evaporation and precipitation, terrestrial water movement and storage (surface and groundwater), and extreme events.

This course deals with advanced sedimentology from a temporal and spatial perspective. Development of sedimentary basins, and their sedimentary infill is treated with emphasis on depositional processes/environments and resultant stratigraphic architecture.

This course provides fundamental knowledge of dynamic atmospheric air quality in a changing world. The topics cover the effects of emission sources and pollutants, air quality assessment, atmospheric reactions of air pollutants, principles and implications of vertical mixing and transport of airborne pollutants, and air pollution control strategies and devices. This enables students to understand dynamic atmospheric processes and to identify air pollution issues associated with varied energy sources and economic development. Students also learn to assess air quality, quantify air pollutant levels, devise control strategies and recommend engineering solutions to enhance air quality.