ENVS 175 Introduction to GIS
This course is an applied practicum in geospatial technology that fosters effective use of Geographic Information Systems. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to create, manipulate, and manage geographic data to perform analysis tasks, to visualize geographic data, and to use geographic data analyses to support decision making.

ENVS 310 Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet
Among the planets of our solar system, the Earth alone has remained hospitable to life throughout its long history. What processes and feedbacks have consistently maintained conditions on the Earth's surface within the bounds required for survival of life? From the earliest Earth to the modern day, we will explore the intertwined histories of life, atmospheric chemistry, geologic processes, and the climate system. Additional emphasis on the scientific techniques used to reconstruct Earth history. Laboratory includes fieldtrips exploring regional geology.

Italy Semester Courses

ART 105 Science & Aesthetic
Communicating through graphical and visual means is an important skill that all scientists need to master. In this course, students learn to translate their scientific understanding into illustrative visual representations and to make effective, aesthetically pleasing figures for presentations and publications. Drawing from the cognitive sciences and making use of Italy's long art history, students explore the connections between art, science, and our sense of the aesthetic in order to develop their own skills in the visual communication of scientific information.

ENVS 230 Earth Systems and the Environment
This course focuses on 1) the operation of the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere within the context of the Earth system as a whole, 2) how the operation of these systems may change over time and 3) how human activities influence and are influenced by these systems. We will draw on the immense field laboratory of the Italian peninsula to explore Earth system processes from the deep geologic past to the present. Course work will be based primarily on field observations and analysis.

ENVS 330 Geology of Italy
Although Italy's geology, like much of the American Midwest, is characterized in large part by limestone bedrock, the landscape and geological history of Italy are unlike anything encountered in the central United States. In this course we will learn techniques for deciphering the sometimes complex geologic history recorded in the rocks of Italy, and will use these techniques to reconstruct events of mountain building, crustal deformation, igneous activity, metamorphism, erosion, extraterrestrial impacts, and climate and environmental change that have shaped the geology and landscape that we see today on the Italian peninsula.

ITAL 100 Basic Italian
A working knowledge of the Italian language will allow you to move around the country more confidently and is helpful when working on your independent research project at the end of the semester. This intensive language course offered during the first three weeks of the program includes classroom study and homework aimed at acquiring skill in conversational Italian, which you will have opportunity to practice and improve throughout the semester.