Professor: Ellen Fitzpatrick
4 credits
Environmental change is increasingly recognized as one of the most important influences on human health. Air and water pollution, climate change, food insecurity, emerging infectious diseases, environmental justice, urban design, biodiversity loss, and access to healthy environments affect communities locally and globally. Understanding these complex challenges requires rigorous research capable of identifying patterns, testing explanations, and informing policy solutions. This course introduces students to the principles and practice of social science research through the interdisciplinary lens of environmental and public health. Students will learn how to formulate questions, review scholarly literature, select methods, collect data, and develop feasible research proposals. Particular attention will be given to research approaches commonly used in environmental and health studies, including quantitative methods, qualitative research, case studies, surveys, focus groups, and geographic information systems (GIS).
Students will develop a complete research proposal addressing an environmental or public health issue at the local, national, or global scale. The proposal will be constructed in stages through a series of scaffolded assignments that receive instructor and peer feedback. Students should expect to present their work and to provide constructive feedback to their colleagues during the course. The final student deliverable will be a 10-12 page research proposal suitable for future undergraduate research, honors theses, community-based projects, or grant applications.