UW Recommended Courses

A survey was conducted to determine recommended classes of current graduate students in water-related disciplines in forestry, civil and environmental engineering, fisheries and geology. The following list of classes make up the results of this survey.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

CEE 342 Fluid Mechanics (4)
Elementary mechanics of incompressible fluids. Hydrostatics. Continuity, energy, and momentum equations. Introduction to potential flow. Resistance phenomena for laminar and turbulent flows. Dynamic similitude. Prerequisite: A A 210; M E 230. Offered: A.

CEE 462 Ecological Effects of Waste Water (3/5) NW
Principles of aquatic ecology that relate to causes and effects of water quality problems in lakes and streams. Population growth kinetics, nutrient cycling, eutrophication; acidification, oxygen/temperature requirements, and effects of various wastes on aquatic animals. Offered: jointly with FISH 434.

CEE 472 Introduction to Hydraulics in Water Resources (3)
Hydraulics related to environmental issues. Global hydrology; stratified flows; two-phase (bubble) flows; pollutant transport and mixing in reservoirs, lakes, coastal waters, and oceans; diffuser design and related case studies. Prerequisite: CEE 342; CEE 345.

CEE 474 Hydraulics of Sediment Transport (3)
Introduction to sediment transport in steady flows with emphasis on physical principles governing the motion of sediment particles. Topics include sediment characteristics, initiation of particle motion, particle suspension, bedforms, streambed roughness analysis, sediment discharge formulae, and modeling of scour and deposition in rivers and channels. Prerequisite: CEE 345.

CEE 475 Analysis Techniques for Groundwater Flow (3)
Development of appropriate equations to describe saturated groundwater flow, and application of numerical methods for solving groundwater flow problems and flow to wells. Participants required to solve specific problems using numerical techniques developed during the course. Prerequisite: CEE 342.

CEE 476 Physical Hydrology (3)
Global water picture, data sources and data homogeneity, precipitation, evapotranspiration, hydrographs. Hydrologic data frequency analysis. Hydrologic design: flood mitigation, drainage. Introduction to deterministic and stochastic models.

CEE 477 Open-Channel Engineering (3)
Water flow in natural and constructed channels. Analysis and design of canals, transitions, energy dissipators, and similar structures. Analysis of surface profiles and effect of nonlinear alignment on flow. Introduction to river mechanics. Design-oriented problems. Prerequisite: CEE 345.

CEE 575 Groundwater Transport Modeling (3)
Review of equations for flow and transport in porous media; techniques for simulating transport as boundary value problems; analytical and numerical solution techniques; finite element models; field-scale applications and case histories.

 

College of Forest Resources

ESRM 429/529 Water Center Seminar (1)
Discussion by invited speakers on water and water-related resources and current research. Offered: jointly with FISH 429/529; AWSp.

EHUF 475 Wetland Ecology and Management (5) NW Ewing, Harrison
Wetland types and functions, global and North American distribution, wetland plant types, soil chemistry. The influence of stresses on wetland composition and form. Autecology of wetland plants; response to and detection of stresses. Impacts of urbanization; management techniques. Recommended: either BIOL 472, BOTANY 354, or BOTANY 371. Offered: A.

ESC 441 Landscape Ecology (5) NW Franklin
Basic landscape ecology concepts, including patches, corridors, networks, spatial dynamics; island biogeographic principles; landscape analysis methods; landscape models. Applications of landscape ecology in resources management (e.g., cumulative effects, cutting, patterns, anadromous fisheries, management of wildlife populations, and open-space planning). Recommended: ESC 326. Offered: W.

ESC 521/528 Current Topics in Ecosystem Science (2, max. 6)
Consideration of current literature and topics in forest ecosystems and tree physiology. Offered: AWSp.

 

Earth & Space Sciences

GEOL 412 Fluvial Geomorphology (5) NW Booth, Montgomery
Hydraulic and morphological characteristics of streams and valley floors. Landscape evolution by stream erosion and deposition. Field exercises emphasize quantitative analysis of fluvial processes, channel forms, acquisition of various skills, such as mapping, topographic surveying, report writing. Prerequisite: either GEOL 392 or GEOL 411.

GEOL 590 Special Topics (2-10, max. 20) Montgomery

 

School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

FISH 547/ESC 547 Stream and River Ecology (5) Naiman
Characterizations of stream and river ecosystems from a watershed perspective. Emphasis on fundamental processes affecting the structure and dynamics of aquatic communities and the riparian zone. Resource conflicts, new technologies, field trips, and class projects. Recommended: general ecology, forestry-fisheries interactions. Offered: jointly with ESC 547; Sp.

FISH 490 Aquatic Microbiology (3/5) NW
Basic principles of aquatic microbiology and aquatic microbial ecology: role and identity of aquatic microorganisms; introduction to modern methodologies for research. Laboratory work with local freshwater and marine samples for those enrolled in 5-credit section.. Recommended 15 credits of biological science, 10 credits of chemistry.

Feel free to contact us for additional water-related course recommendations at cwws@u.washington.edu or 206.543.6920.

You can also go to the UW chapter of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) to view their list of recommended water-related classes.