Achievement

Our fall core course consists of a series of faculty guest lectures on various disciplinary approaches to rapid environmental change. Trainer Bruce Winterhalder, lead instructor in the 2011 Fall Core, supplemented readings selected by lecturers with a case study, "Water War in the Klamath Basin" by trainer Holly Doremus and Dan Tarlock. The book describes the history of the Klamath basin with regard to the ecological, cultural, political and legal challenges associated with water use and maintaining the Klamath ecosystem, and provided context for other course material.

Winterhalder asked students to write an essay-review of Doremus and Tarlock, aimed at a well-educated general audience, from the perspective of his/her discipline. In course evaluations, students felt that writing the review improved their synthesis of course topics. One student (who holds a master's degree) commented, "The Fall IGERT course was by far the most interesting class I have taken in grad school to date."