Peter Huybers

Teaching

EPS139/230 Paleoclimate as prologue (graduate and undergraduate, Spring 2024) In this course we will explore and quantitatively assess major past events in Earth history involving temperature, sea level, and the cryosphere and compare these with respect to our understanding of current and predicted changes.The class will take a raw-data and first-principles approach to the subject. Raw data in the sense that we will work with quantities that are directly observed in order to make estimates and draw inferences, and first principles in the sense of focussing on basic mechanisms. Working backward in time, topics will include modern temperature variability, the Little Ice Age, Medieval Warm Period, and more ancient climates. Each class will involve lecture, discussion, and in-class data analysis. syllabus
EPS/ESE168 Human Environmental Data Science (undergraduate, Spring 2025) The purpose of this course is to develop and guide student-led research on human and environmental systems. In class we will explore agriculture, conflict, and transmissible disease. Study of each topic will involve introduction to data, mathematical models, and analysis techniques that build toward addressing a major question at each interface: Have agricultural systems been adapted to climate change? Has drought caused conflict? And does the environment influence the spread of COVID-19? These questions are diverse, but are addressed using common analytical frameworks. Analytical approaches include simple mathematical models of feedback systems, crop development, and population disease dynamics; frequentist statistical techniques including linear, multiple linear, and panel regression models; and Bayesian methods including empirical, full, and hierarchical approaches. You will be provided with sufficient data, example code, and context to come to your own informed conclusions regarding each of these questions. syllabus
EPS134 Climate Change Debates: the reading course (undergraduate, Fall 2021) Not all science is settled: we will deepen our understanding of climate science through evaluating important, on-going scientific debates regarding the nature and consequences of climate change. This course surveys select topics regarding the science of climate change and solicits your in-depth read of a particular topic. Topics are specifically chosen for their relevance, interest, and open-ended nature. No correct answer is likely to emerge, but you will become scientifically better informed regarding a range of relevant climate topics as well as develop a more nuanced insight into the strengths and weaknesses of our current scientific understanding of climate change. syllabus