Curriculum and Courses

Introduction to the applied science of maintaining the earth’s biological diversity; its landscapes; and wilderness, including biological principles relevant to biodiversity conservation at the genetic; population; community; and landscape levels.

EEEB 6905 equivalent course

An introduction to the theoretical principles and practical application of statistical methods in ecology and evolutionary biology. The course will cover the conceptual basis for a range of statistical techniques through a series of lectures using examples from the primary literature. The application of these techniques will be taught through the use of statistical software in computer-based laboratory sessions.

EEEB 5050 equivalent course

Changes in land use and land cover underlie multiple environmental and sustainability concerns, including conservation of biodiversity, impacts of climate change, climate mitigation through terrestrial carbon storage, urbanization and watershed protection. This class provides basic theory in landscape analysis and training methods for analyzing landscapes, focusing on interpretation of satellite images.

EEEB 4192 equivalent course

Introduces population ecology and statistical modeling in R to develop species-based biodiversity metrics for conservation and policy use.

Expands on biodiversity analytics by teaching community-level data analysis and ecosystem services modeling using R, InVEST, and GIS.

Covers conservation decision science frameworks and tools like PrOACT, optimization, and cost-effectiveness analysis to solve real-world biodiversity challenges.

The capstone is the culminating experience of the program, where students work in teams to solve real-world biodiversity decision-making challenges for a sponsoring organization. Guided by faculty mentors, students apply analytical tools and program knowledge to scope problems, analyze data, and deliver actionable recommendations. Acting as consultants, students will develop solutions grounded in data and aligned with sustainability goals.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful tools for analyzing fundamental geographic questions. GIS involves generating, linking, manipulating, and analyzing different sorts of spatial data; creating cartographic outputs and geovisualizations This course introduces major topics in GIS with applications for the broad field of biology and natural sciences, using QGIS and R.

EEEB 4670 equivalent course

This course examines how spatial patterns shape ecological processes across individual, population, community, and ecosystem levels. Students explore the role of landscape structure in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and land management. Lectures and labs provide experience with mapping and analysis tools while applying landscape-scale thinking to ecological research and sustainability planning.

EEEB 4160 equivalent course

Python is one of the leading open source programming languages for data analysis.

This is an elective course that explores Python programming languages for data science tasks. The students in this course will learn to examine raw data with the purpose of deriving insights and drawing conclusions. Together, we will manipulate large size data sets to extract meaning and generate visualizations.

The course assumes no prior programming experience with Python. We will start by learning the fundamentals of data storage, input and output, control structures, functions, sequence and lists, file I/O, and standard library classes. We will then move on to learning Object-Oriented Programming with Python: encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism.

To explore the Python data analysis platform, we will focus on IPython (Interactive Python) and Jupyter Notebook. IPython is an enhanced interactive Python terminal specifically designed for scientific computing and data analysis; Jupyter Notebook is a graphical interface that combines code, text, equations, and plots in a unified interactive environment.

Students will learn to work with widely-used libraries, such as pandas for data analysis and statistics; NumPy for its practical multi-dimensional array object; and MatPlotLib for graphical plotting. We will use these libraries to load, explore and visualize real-world datasets.

Data does not have meaning without context and interpretation. Being able to effectively present data analytics in a compelling narrative to a particular audience will differentiate you from others in your field. This course takes students through the lifecycle of an analytical project from a communication perspective. Students develop written, verbal, and visual deliverables for three major audiences: data experts (e.g., head of analytics); consumer and presentation experts (e.g., chief marketing officer); and executive leadership (e.g., chief executive officer).

Students get ample practice in strategic interactions in relevant social and professional contexts (e.g., business meetings, team projects, and one-on-one interactions); active listening; strategic storytelling; and creating persuasive professional spoken and written messages, reports, and presentations. Throughout the course, students create and receive feedback on data storytelling while sharpening their ability to communicate complex analytics to technical and nontechnical audiences with clarity, precision, and influence.

Students explore the science behind conservation policy, assess how effective policies are in meeting conservation goals, and examine the critical role scientists play in shaping environmental decision-making at the local, state, federal, and international levels. 

EEEB 4005 equivalent course

This course is about cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluations of policies and projects. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) consists of a comprehensive set of techniques used to evaluate government programs. It is now routinely applied in such program areas as transportation, water projects, health, training and education, criminal justice, environmental protection, urban policy and even in the international arena such as foreign direct investment. Many of the techniques of CBA can also be applied to private sector decision-making. The objective of CBA is to determine whether the benefits of a particular program, policy or decision outweigh its costs. The techniques used to determine this are sometimes quite simple, but on other, increasingly frequent occasions are highly sophisticated. Sophisticated cost benefit studies are based on a framework that utilizes the basic concepts of economic theory. In addition, statistical and econometric analyses are often needed to estimate program effects from diverse available data. The course has two parts: methodology and practice. The goal is for students to be practically adept to undertake an independent cost-benefit analysis.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now at a record high, and the world’s scientific community agrees that continued unabated release of greenhouse gases will have catastrophic consequences. Many efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, both public and private, have been underway for decades, yet it is now clear that collectively these efforts are failing, and that far more concerted efforts are necessary. In December 2015, the world’s nations agreed in Paris to take actions to limit the future increase in global temperatures well below to 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C. Achieving this goal will require mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, both public and private. Critical to any attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is a clear, accurate understanding of the sources and levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This course will address all facets of greenhouse gas emissions accounting and reporting and will provide students with tangible skills needed to direct such efforts in the future.

Students in this course will gain hands-on experience designing and executing greenhouse gas emissions inventories for companies, financial institutions and governments employing all necessary skills including the identification of analysis boundaries,  data collection, calculation of emissions levels, and reporting of results. In-class workshops and exercises will complement papers and group assignments. A key component of this course will be critical evaluation of both existing accounting and reporting standards as well as GHG emissions reduction target setting practices.

This course will introduce many of the challenges facing carbon accounting practitioners and will require students to recommend solutions to these challenges derived through critical analysis. Classes will examine current examples of greenhouse gas reporting efforts and will allow students the opportunity to recommend improved calculation and reporting methods.

The course provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges of transnational financing from public and private sources that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation investments intended to address climate change. Although there is increased and widespread commitment to taking climate action on the part of corporations, financial institutions, countries and sub-national actors, there remains a paucity of examples where a just transition has been furthered. The conditions engendered by the advent of widespread pandemics have exacerbated global differences in capacity and access to solutions. Nevertheless, the emergence of new financial mechanisms and global cooperative responses to the pandemic have revealed potential methods to finance enhancements in mitigation and adaptation in the regions where these are most lacking. We examine current capital and trade flows and their relationship to flows of embedded carbon, methods of carbon pricing and the implementation of low-carbon pathways, with an evaluation of decentralized co-benefits that can advance sustainable development. We combine analysis of carbon accounting and financial structuring to design potential investments in example decarbonization projects which integrate additionality in mitigation and adaptation, co-benefits and poverty alleviation.

This course is designed to provide students with working knowledge on how to make successful investments in sustainable companies and to prepare students to be conversationally literate in financial reporting. As you leave the school and become leaders of organizations financial literacy will be a skill set that will be vital to success no matter what career path you go down. It starts with a strong foundation in accounting and corporate finance, then moves on to ESG/Impact screening of potential investments, along with valuation techniques used to arrive at a purchase price. It will explore financial models that can aggregate multiple variables used to drive investment decisions.

To understand and lead a transition to a sustainability-aware business, managers must first be familiar with the terminology, practices and consequences of traditional accounting and finance. Students will learn traditional financial and accounting methods and tools. We will examine how these methods and tools are changing to improve product and service design, resource efficiency and allocation, employee productivity and sustainability performance outcomes. Students will learn how value is created in a company and the different methods employed to create that value, conduct due diligence, discuss optimal capital structure to finance a transaction, execute a transaction, and implement a Sustainability-based value-added operating plan to the target company. The course will conclude with students preparing a persuasive investment memo and accompanying financial model to the investment committee of an impact investing asset management firm. The course also provides a practical introduction to selected non-financial accounting topics including sustainability reporting standards, ESG corporate performance indicators and corporate social responsibility report (CSR Reporting).

This survey course examines a range of sustainable and impact investing fixed income and equity products before transitioning to the asset owner perspective on sustainable and impact investing. Each class session includes elements of financial analysis, financial structure, social or environmental impact, and policy and regulatory context. Brief guest lectures, podcasts, and three experiential exercises bring these topics to life. At the end of the course, each student will be able to (i) construct a diversified portfolio of impact investments based on the range of products tackled in class, (ii) integrate ESG into debt and equity valuation, (iii) develop an impact investing product that an asset manager or investment bank could launch, (iv) develop an impact investing strategy for an asset owner, and (v) lead either side of the investor-corporate dialogue on sustainability. The lectures are designed to prepare students for both the impact investing product development exercise and the impact investing asset owner strategy exercise, and these two exercises are designed to prepare students for impact investing leadership over the course of their careers. As an early innovator in social finance, dating back 24 years, the instructor provides students with a practical toolkit, honed by making mainstream financial institutions and products more beneficial to a broader range of stakeholders and making specialist impact investment firms more relevant to and integrated with mainstream markets.