Climate Minor

The Climate Minor, offered through the College of the Environment, provides undergraduates with a unique opportunity to explore the science of climate in a multi-disciplinary context. The minor brings together coursework in climate chemistry and biology, physical climate and past climate through courses in Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography, Earth and Space Sciences and other science departments, with additional opportunities to explore policy, energy and human dimensions of climate change. Successful completion of the climate minor provides students with a strong interdisciplinary foundation in climate science and will help to prepare students for graduate study in climate related fields.

Advising

Majors: Atmospheric Sciences and Applied Math
Melissa Pritchard, Atmospheric Sciences
P: 206.543.4576
advise@atmos.washington.edu

Majors: Earth and Space Sciences, Environmental Engineering and Physics
Noell Bernard, Earth and Spaces Sciences
p: 206.616.8511
advising@ess.washington.edu

Majors: Oceanography, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Health
Michelle Townsend, Oceanography
p: 206.543.5039
mtown@ocean.washington.edu

All other majors: contact the Program on Climate Change.
Program on Climate Change
uwpcc@uw.edu
p: 206.543.6521

THE CLIMATE MINOR

Minimum of 25 credits.

Current course offerings:
Winter 2013
Fall 2012


  • One of ESS 201, ATMS 211 or ATMS 321 (3-5 credits)
  • One of Ocean/FISH 452, AMATH 301, Q SCI 381, or STAT 311 (3-5 credits)
  • Integrated Capstone Experience: ATMS/ESS/OCEAN 475 (3 credits)
  • Science Electives: At least one course from each focus area to include at least one course each from ATM S, ESS, and OCEAN. See below for list of approved electives. (minimum of 12 credits).
  • Policy Elective: one social science, policy, and energy course from an approved list of electives may be used to reach 25 credits.
  • Minimum 2.00 cumulative GPA in courses applied to the minor.
  • Minimum 15 credits must be taken from the University of Washington.
  • Minimum 15 credits outside the student's major.
  • Minimum of 15 credits must be upper division.

    • NOTE: Students are encouraged to take MATH 124, MATH 125, Math 126, PHYS 121, PHYS 122, and PHYS 123 or see advisor in order to complete the requirements for the minor.

    ELECTIVES

    The list of elective courses is designed to be expansive and allow majors to select courses that will provide in depth content in Climate Science while also meeting requirements within their selected major. These courses are arranged by topic area. Students must take one course from each focus area (Past Climate, the Physical Climate, and Chemistry and Biology) to also include one course from each of the three departments ATM S, ESS, and OCEAN.

    ELECTIVES:CLIMATE CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY

    OCEAN 400: Chemical Oceanography
    OCEAN 430: Biological Oceanography
    ATM S 358: Fundamentals of Atmospheric Chemistry
    ENVIR/FISH 330: Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
    ATM S 458: Global Atmospheric Chemistry
    BIOL 315: Biological Impacts of Climate Change
    FISH 464: Arctic Marine Vertebrate Ecology

    ELECTIVES:THE PHYSICAL CLIMATE

    OCEAN 423: Ocean Circulation and Climate
    OCEAN 210: Ocean Circulation
    ATM S 301: Introduction to Atmospheric Sciences
    ATM S 340:Introduction to Thermodynamics and Cloud Processes
    ATM S 341: Atmospheric Radiative Transfer
    ATM S 380: Weather and Climate Modeling
    ATM S 431: Boundary-Layer Meteorology
    ESS 416: Geophysics: The Atmosphere

    ELECTIVES: PAST CLIMATE

    ESS 433: Environmental Change in the Glacial Ages
    ESS 431: Principles of Glaciology
    OCEAN 450: Climatic Extremes
    OCEAN 355: From the big bang to the blue planet
    ESS 461: Geological Time

    POLICY ELECTIVE

    One social science, policy, and energy course from the list below may be used to reach 25 credits.

    ENVIR/PHIL 416: Ethics and Climate Change
    ENVIR/CHEM E/M E 442: Renewable Energy
    ENVIR/CHEM E/M E 341: Energy and Environment
    SCAND/EURO 351: Scandinavia, the European Union, and Global Climate Change
    GEOG 480: Environmental Geography, Climate, and Health
    CEE 498C: Interdisciplinary Watershed Hydrology: Case Study of the Cedar River Watershed

    SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES FOR POLICY ELECTIVE

    In addition to the approved policy elective courses above, select one-time special topics courses can also be used for the policy option. Courses are added as they come available below.

    JSIS 482/582 (Special Topics in Canada) and ENVIR 495 (Advanced Topics in Environmental Studies): Business in the Artic- Working with Law and Policy in Resource Development

    NEW!! UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

    The NASA Space Grant Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) application is now open! The SURP is a 9-week summer undergraduate research opportunity at the University of Washington for students studying science, technology, engineering, and math. The application due date is April 13, 2012 and the 9 week summer research student stipend is $4,000 for full-time or $2,000 for part-time work . For more details and to apply, please visit this link: http://www.waspacegrant.org/u-gradsum.html

    OTHER UW EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

    Quantitative Science Minor

    Documents