Course Info: NS-0366

This course explored several current environmental topics with strong chemistry components. The class began with an introduction to environmental degradation and pollution, a review of the state of water resources, and a consideration of human impact on the Earth. The class emphasized environmental chemistry in the hydrosphere, in soils, and in the atmosphere. Topics included the chemistry of natural waters, water pollution and wastewater treatment, and the environmental chemistry of toxic trace metals. Considerable time was spent learning about the chemical and physical aspects of water quality and the relationship between pE and pH in natural waters, in discussion of chemical speciation, and in learning about sampling and environmental analytical methods. Several atmospheric pollution topics, including acid rain and greenhouse gases and their environmental consequences, were also addressed in the class. The remainder of the semester students looked at current and emerging environmental pollution issues and fate and transport properties of contaminants by reading and presenting primary literature articles in the class.

The class met for two one-hour-and-twenty-minute lecture/discussion sessions and a two-and-one-half-hour laboratory session or field study each week. The students spent considerable time gaining hands-on experience in environmental monitoring methods. Students completed a study of the chemistry of Amherst’s wastewater treatment process and the resulting report, a short paper on an environmental chemistry issue, and oral presentations/discussions of primary research articles. In another assignment, the students submitted a hypothetical grant proposal on how to assess the environmental quality of the threatened Lake Crystal region. This assignment was a problem-based project in which students needed to articulate the environmental chemistry phenomena discussed in the class and laboratory. Students completed a multi-week collaborative project on determination of lead and other elements in three soil core samples collected from an inorganic pesticide-contaminated pear orchard, a roadside soil core, and a soil core from a forest as a control. This project had strong components of field work, sample collection, soil sample preparation and acid extraction of metals for ICP-AES analysis, with the resulting project report. Students also gave two oral presentations based on primary environmental chemistry literature and completed four problem sets. The course used Environmental Chemistry (5th Edition) by Colin Baird and Michael Cann and other primary and secondary literature sources on various environmental chemistry-related topics. 

The students in the class represented a broad range of ability, interest, scientific background and preparation. Evaluations are based on class participation, completion of all class assignments, oral presentations, the report on the final project, and the grant proposal.