UCOR Section Descriptions

Course Description

What threatens the health of the Puget Sound ecosystem? This course will focus on the ecosystem of the Puget Sound, the pollutants that can be found there, where they are coming from and how we can prevent them. Students will do their own investigations on effects specific chemical are having on animal health and how rain gardens and river repair programs can prevent pollution from reaching the Sound.

Course Description

Environmental sustainability gives us an extraordinarily relevant avenue to investigate the question: how do we know what we know about the natural world? We will explore the fundamental biology behind sustainability to better make informed choices about how to live in our only ecosystem, the earth. In lab, we will learn 'hands on' by exploring a question of personal interest using the methods of science as well as visiting environmental sustainability related locales.

Course Description

This course focuses on one group of animals, the birds. Descended from dinosaurs, bird species have evolved to survive and reproduce in their natural environment and each displays numerous biological adaptations in anatomy, physiology, and behavior. Lectures will cover many aspects of bird biology and behavior and labs will give students hands-on experience with birds and their unique features and will include time on campus becoming familiar with local species.

Course Description

Environmental sustainability gives us an extraordinarily relevant avenue to investigate the question: how do we know what we know about the natural world? We will explore the fundamental biology behind sustainability to better make informed choices about how to live in our only ecosystem, the earth. In lab, we will learn 'hands on' by exploring a question of personal interest using the methods of science as well as visiting environmental sustainability related locales.

Course Description

The nature, formation, and evolution of our Solar System and other planetary systems, and how we learn those, through scientific inquiry. Background physics will be introduced and explored in laboratory exercises and independent observational and computational work. Discussions of the methods, costs, and gains from robotic space exploration, leading up to the search for planets and life elsewhere in the Solar System and the Galaxy.

Course Description

The overarching questions this seminar will address are "How does the geology along 1-90 in Washington state change and what accounts for the geologic differences east and west of the Cascade Mountains?" You will design your own research questions, conduct your own geologic fieldwork, collect your own data and learn how to apply the scientific method in a geologic setting. You will participate in fieldtrips to geologically significant locations both east and west of the Cascade Mountains.

Course Description

The overarching questions this seminar will address are "How does the geology along 1-90 in Washington state change and what accounts for the geologic differences east and west of the Cascade Mountains?" You will design your own research questions, conduct your own geologic fieldwork, collect your own data and learn how to apply the scientific method in a geologic setting. You will participate in fieldtrips to geologically significant locations both east and west of the Cascade Mountains.

Course Description

In this course, you will explore career opportunities within your chosen major. We will begin by considering how your knowledge and skills can be transferred to a career. You will identify types of jobs available within your major and learn to decode a job description. During interactive in-person workshops and online modules, you will practice how to present yourself in writing and in speech when applying for a job. By the end of the course, you will have an updated resume, started a LinkedIn profile and set a plan for the next steps in your professional formation.

Course Description

As life changes, knowing who you are and what you believe can help ground you. In this class we will explore identity, community building and access to resources in an American context, leaving you with transferable skills to help you navigate adulthood.

Course Description

Money for Everyone is a very practical, late-start course dedicated to teaching rookies some basics of financial literacy. It assumes no prior knowledge of finance or accounting, and no advanced math skills aside from addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The broad goal of this course is for students to learn some simple details of personal finance that, along with a little effort, will help them become financially responsible, and maybe even a little proud of themselves. The instructor, Dr. Alaimo, has no formal training in finance – he is a professor of chemistry – but he is knowledgeable and passionate about teaching and helping people to make good decisions about money, and he has a knack for explaining complex topics in simple ways.