9354710 Nakmura In this decade, career opportunities in the environmental sciences will outpace those in many other disciplines. However, women and minorities are poorly represented in the ranks of environmental scientists. California State University, Los Angeles (CSLA) has a student body over 37% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 29% Asian. Entering students have little knowledge of environmental careers. This curriculum revision project will magnify student interest in environmental sciences and give undergraduates the necessary knowledge, skills and experiences to become environmental scientists. Through this project, course "modules" will be developed that fit the environmental themes of aquatic pollution, atmospheric change or land use. Under the aquatic pollution theme, a biology class might collect marine fish specimens from sewage outfalls and look for lesions and tumors. A chemistry class would measure the concentrations of DDT in fish from contaminated and uncontaminated sites. A writing course would use the shared data to draft an environmental impact statement. Integrated modules will give students hands-on experience with a local problem, use of critical thinking skills and practice in report writing from multidisciplinary data.
