Summer 2023 SEAS Master Classes and Skills Workshops

We are so excited for you to join us at SEAS in Fall 2023. To help you prepare to register for classes, the EPP faculty are hosting an online course preview. During this online event, you'll get to meet some of our EPP faculty, learn about the classes being offered in Fall 2023, and ask questions about how you might want to structure your time as an EPP student. This will take place on May 18th at 5:00 PM EST.

For this Master Class, we'll talk about sustainability transitions (and wicked problems in general) as involving a diverse ecosystem of actors, each with different values, interests, and priorities, yet each of whom must participate to co-create workable solutions to sustainability problems. How do you have respectful conversations across diverse groups? How do you find the levers and pulleys that will facilitate just solutions and preserve our species? What is the role of conflict and collaboration across diverse groups?

Charlene Zietsma is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at SEAS and at the Ross School of Business. Her research focuses on social innovation: the individual, organizational and collective efforts to make (and resist) significant, large-scale change in the context of sustainability and social justice issues. She studies institutional work, institutional change processes, social and sustainable entrepreneurship, and social movements focused on grand challenges and wicked problems. She is interested in how business organizations move towards more sustainable practices, particularly through voluntary governance such as certifications, codes of conduct and cross-sector partnership agreements.

Please join us for a workshop with Assistant Professor Sam Stolper on "Environmental Economics, Justice, and Racism." Sam will introduce some key elements of economic valuation, some recent economics research on environmental justice, and a recently accepted-for-publication paper (co-written by Sam) about environmental economics and its treatment of / relationship with systemic racism.

Sam Stolper is an environmental and energy economist. His research, teaching, and writing are aimed at the design of equitable and efficient environmental policy. He teaches courses on this subject to graduate students at SEAS as well as undergraduates in the Program in the Environment (PitE). He also serves as a member of the State of Michigan's Council on Climate Solutions.

If you are considering doing a thesis to fulfill your MS/MLA capstone requirement, please join us for a workshop with Professor Bill Currie on 'Preparing to do a Master's Thesis.' Professor Currie will help incoming students to understand the steps and the timeframe required when preparing to do a Master's thesis in SEAS, the workload and expectations, and how to work with a thesis advisor. We will also discuss the difference between the thesis and capstone project options. 

Professor Currie is the SEAS Associate Dean for Research and Engagement. He is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the environment and the development of sustainability science. His research background is in ecosystem and landscape ecology, biogeochemistry including carbon and nutrient cycling, and ecosystem computer modeling. He also co-Directs a postdoctoral program to apply artificial intelligence in science at U-M. He has advised many PhD and Master's students over the past 30 years, including both Master's theses and Master's capstone projects in SEAS.

The climate extremes of 2022 were a real wake-up call that climate change is real, ongoing, and getting worse. This course will cover four main things that anyone concerned with the climate crisis should know: 1) what are some of the most important findings of the latest IPCC Synthesis report (2023) and why, 2) what’s the latest on the rapidly intensifying hydrologic cycle, and why is it so important to the U.S. and the world to understand, 3) what is the nature of non-linear (abrupt) climate change, and why do on-going and potential tipping-points need greater attention, and 4) where do we stand with respect to climate action at the University of Michigan, in the U.S., and globally. The goal of the course will be to become more familiar with climate science state-of-the-art, and have a chance to discuss both this state-of-the-art, and how SEAS and the University of Michigan are increasingly stepping up to accelerate actions to halt climate change and adapt to the climate change that cannot be halted.

These topics will be covered over the course of 4 sessions scheduled on August 7-10, 1:00-2:00 pm. Students must register to attend and receive materials prior to the session to read and prepare for discussion. Students can elect to attend any or all of the sessions. Each session will discuss one of the four topics above. Attendance at earlier sessions is not required to participate in the later sessions. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER NO LATER THAN JULY 31st BY 11:30 PM EST TO RECEIVE ADVANCED READING MATERIALS.

The climate extremes of 2022 were a real wake-up call that climate change is real, ongoing, and getting worse. This course will cover four main things that anyone concerned with the climate crisis should know: 1) what are some of the most important findings of the latest IPCC Synthesis report (2023) and why, 2) what’s the latest on the rapidly intensifying hydrologic cycle, and why is it so important to the U.S. and the world to understand, 3) what is the nature of non-linear (abrupt) climate change, and why do on-going and potential tipping-points need greater attention, and 4) where do we stand with respect to climate action at the University of Michigan, in the U.S., and globally. The goal of the course will be to become more familiar with climate science state-of-the-art, and have a chance to discuss both this state-of-the-art, and how SEAS and the University of Michigan are increasingly stepping up to accelerate actions to halt climate change and adapt to the climate change that cannot be halted.

These topics will be covered over the course of 4 sessions scheduled on August 7-10, 1:00-2:00 pm. Students must register to attend and receive materials prior to the session to read and prepare for discussion. Students can elect to attend any or all of the sessions. Each session will discuss one of the four topics above. Attendance at earlier sessions is not required to participate in the later sessions.  STUDENTS MUST REGISTER NO LATER THAN JULY 31st BY 11:30 PM EST TO RECEIVE ADVANCED READING MATERIALS.

The climate extremes of 2022 were a real wake-up call that climate change is real, ongoing, and getting worse. This course will cover four main things that anyone concerned with the climate crisis should know: 1) what are some of the most important findings of the latest IPCC Synthesis report (2023) and why, 2) what’s the latest on the rapidly intensifying hydrologic cycle, and why is it so important to the U.S. and the world to understand, 3) what is the nature of non-linear (abrupt) climate change, and why do on-going and potential tipping-points need greater attention, and 4) where do we stand with respect to climate action at the University of Michigan, in the U.S., and globally. The goal of the course will be to become more familiar with climate science state-of-the-art, and have a chance to discuss both this state-of-the-art, and how SEAS and the University of Michigan are increasingly stepping up to accelerate actions to halt climate change and adapt to the climate change that cannot be halted.

These topics will be covered over the course of 4 sessions scheduled on August 7-10, 1:00-2:00 pm. Students must register to attend and receive materials prior to the session to read and prepare for discussion. Students can elect to attend any or all of the sessions. Each session will discuss one of the four topics above. Attendance at earlier sessions is not required to participate in the later sessions. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER NO LATER THAN JULY 31st BY 11:30 PM EST TO RECEIVE ADVANCED READING MATERIALS.

The climate extremes of 2022 were a real wake-up call that climate change is real, ongoing, and getting worse. This course will cover four main things that anyone concerned with the climate crisis should know: 1) what are some of the most important findings of the latest IPCC Synthesis report (2023) and why, 2) what’s the latest on the rapidly intensifying hydrologic cycle, and why is it so important to the U.S. and the world to understand, 3) what is the nature of non-linear (abrupt) climate change, and why do on-going and potential tipping-points need greater attention, and 4) where do we stand with respect to climate action at the University of Michigan, in the U.S., and globally. The goal of the course will be to become more familiar with climate science state-of-the-art, and have a chance to discuss both this state-of-the-art, and how SEAS and the University of Michigan are increasingly stepping up to accelerate actions to halt climate change and adapt to the climate change that cannot be halted.

These topics will be covered over the course of 4 sessions scheduled on August 7-10, 1:00-2:00 pm. Students must register to attend and receive materials prior to the session to read and prepare for discussion. Students can elect to attend any or all of the sessions. Each session will discuss one of the four topics above. Attendance at earlier sessions is not required to participate in the later sessions. STUDENTS MUST REGISTER NO LATER THAN JULY 31st BY 11:30 PM EST TO RECEIVE ADVANCED READING MATERIALS.