The course takes a transdisciplinary approach to real-world wicked problems and goes through the full process of participatory modeling, development of stock and flow models and/or agent-based models, taking a scenario-based approach to the exploring of the full spectrum of possible futures, and using visualizations of simulation results to inform potentual stakeholders and make recommendations.

The course and the lab introduce some of Earth's natural phenomena that can, and often do, result in major loss of life or catastrophic damage to property. These phenomena are considered in their relevance to major national and international efforts to manage and reduce disaster risk and increase societal sustainability. Students in the course and lab develop and enhance their research, analysis, critical thinking, and writing skills. The course and lab are suitable for first and second year undergraduate students considering a career in science, teaching, and governance, or who are just interested to know more about the planet on which they live.

Each internship focused on a wicked problem associated with a "real-world issue" that constituted a leadership challenge in conservation and adaptation. The student are expected to use the concepts of adaptation science to analyse the issue and to develop options of how to address the issue. Each student is being mentored in the context of CL 668 and has a dedicated supervisor at the host institution.

The interships in Summer and Fall 2017 were conducted as part of the course IDS 368. The intership mandates 200 hours (300 hours from Summer 2019 onward) at the host institution. Each internship focused on a wicked problem associated with a "real-world issue" that constituted a leadership challenge in conservation and adaptation. The student are expected to use the concepts of adaptation science to analyse the issue and to develop options of how to address the issue. Each student is being mentored in the context of IDS 368/369 and has a dedicated supervisor at the host institution. In Summer and Fall 2018, the internships were part of course IDS 369.

Creating a more sustainable society presents a serious challenge and at the same time an enormous opportunity. In this class, students discover what makes a leader for sustainability. They consider a range of global and local crises from a leadership point of view in the context of sustainability science, which addresses the development of communities in a rapidly changing social, economic, and environmental system-of-systems environment. The course takes a problem-motivated and solution-focused approach to the wicked problems considered. This class is a service learning class that includes a case study with fieldwork carried out by the class in Florida.

In this course, students are introduced to studies focusing on mitigation of human-induced changes in the Earth system, including but not limited to climate change and sea level rise, and adaptation to the impacts of these changes. A particular focus is on the challenges climate change and sea level rise pose to conservation efforts. The course covers the hazards resulting from the on-going planetary reengineering that is pushing the planet out of the Holocene; the vulnerability of the coupled socio-ecological and economic system to these hazards, the foresight we have in terms of future trajectories of the planet and the probability density functions of the hazards; the opportunities and limitations for mitigation and adaptation that result from societal decision making processes and the general basis of human decision making; and, finally, the options we have for mitigation and adaptation and a framework for the assessment of the viability of proposed options. Most of the examples used in the course to illustrate the issues are taken from practical work in conservation.

In this reading class, students will explore the role of computers in research and science. Beginning with a brief history, the focus will be on the impact computers have on the creation of scientific knowledge and the exploration of the world. The relevance of computers for the development of the scientific methodology and epistemology will be considered. Recent trends and potential future developments will be discussed.

Students will be introduced to the science underpinning mitigation of human-induced changes in the Earth system, including but not limited to climate change and sea level rise, and adaptation to the impacts of these changes. The course will cover the environmental hazards and the opportunities and limitations for conservation, mitigation and adaptation. Prerequisite: BIOL 291 or permission of instructor.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2016f_adaptation.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/dbck_16f.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2016f_readings.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/dbck_16f.

Learning Objectives: The CCPO/MARI Joint Seminar on topics related to mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change impacts provides an opportunity for students to listen to presentations given by selected leading researchers in their fields. The students also are encouraged to participate in the question-and-answer session after the presentations. The reading course will prepare the students for the individual presentations and give them an opportunity to discuss the presentations took place during the previous week. The goal is to enable students to follow, analyze, understand and participate in the scientific dialog, of which presentations to groups of people are an important part. Required Materials: Will be made available on the course web page.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2016s_readings.

Learning Objectives: The CCPO/MARI Joint Seminar on topics related to mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change impacts provides an opportunity for students to listen to presentations given by selected leading researchers in their fields. The students also are encouraged to participate in the question-and-answer session after the presentations. The reading course will prepare the students for the individual presentations and give them an opportunity to discuss the presentations took place during the previous week. The goal is to enable students to follow, analyze, understand and participate in the scientific dialog, of which presentations to groups of people are an important part. Required Materials: Will be made available on the course web page.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2016s_readings.

Learning Objectives: The CCPO/MARI Joint Seminar on topics related to mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change impacts provides an opportunity for students to listen to presentations given by selected leading researchers in their fields. The students also are encouraged to participate in the question-and-answer session after the presentations. The reading course will prepare the students for the individual presentations and give them an opportunity to discuss the presentations took place during the previous week. The goal is to enable students to follow, analyze, understand and participate in the scientific dialog, of which presentations to groups of people are an important part. Required Materials: Will be made available on the course web page.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2016s_readings.

In this course, students will be introduced to the science underpinning mitigation of human-induced changes in the Earth system, including but not limited to climate change and sea level rise, and adaptation to the impacts of these changes. The course will cover the hazards resulting from the on-going planetary reengineering that is pushing the planet out of the Holocene; the vulnerability of the coupled socio-ecological and economic system to these hazards, the foresight we have in terms of future trajectories of the planet and the probability density functions of the hazards; the opportunities and limitations for mitigation and adaptation that result from societal decision making processes and the general basis of human decision making; and, finally, the options we have for mitigation and adaptation and a framework for the assessment of the viability of proposed options.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2014_adaptation/.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2014_science_com/.

Course Web Page: http://www.mari-odu.org/academics/2013_reading_course/.