Research Colloquium in Environmental Studies 1

Catalog description

The Research Colloquium in Environmental Studies is a two-semester course organized around the biweekly departmental research seminar, which will invite researchers from around New York and beyond to present recent work. This course introduces students to a range of research projects in Environmental Studies and engages the students in detailed discussions and deep thinking about that research. The course is led by a faculty member who will guide the students through a series of seminars and student-led discussions. By considering specific topics and the research approaches the various scholars employ, this course explores first hand the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary, problem-oriented Environmental Studies research. In each case, we will consider how a specific researcher formulates their core research questions, relates them to major academic literature, and then develops, pursues, and completes a comprehensive and appropriate integrated research strategy for addressing that question. Students will get to probe how various researchers work when faced with a diversity of types of data and modes of knowledge. How do they choose collaborators? How do they divide tasks in collaboration? How do they confront the effort it takes to continually progress into new directions and areas? How do they choose what is more or less important in their investigations? How do they evaluate success in integration? The students will have an opportunity to get into the heads of the researcher on a diversity of cutting-edge topics in Environmental Studies.