Teaching

GEO 203 Introduction to Meteorology

This course is an introduction to the basic principles governing meteorological processes and daily weather phenomena. The objectives are for students to be able to 1) describe general characteristics of a range of meteorological processes and weather phenomena; 2) gain a basic understanding of the physical principles for these phenomena 3) develop the ability to make quantitative calculations using elementary principles of atmospheric dynamics and physics; 3) develop ability to critically examine reports on weather and climate; 4) become conversant in issues related atmospheric sciences, such as extreme weather, climate change.

The required textbook used in this course is Meteorology Today, 11th Edition by C. Donald Ahrens, Robert Henson published by Brooks Cole (January 2015) ISBN-13: 978-1-305-11358-9 ISBN-10: 1-305-11358-6

I am one of the three professors at Department of Geography who teach this course on a rotating schedule. I have been teaching this course since 2010 during the following semester.

    Spring 2010 | Spring 2011 | Fall 2011 | Spring 2012 | Spring 2013 | Fall 2015 | Fall 2016 | Fall 2017 | Spring 2019 | Fall 2019 | Fall 2020

GEO 286 Undergraduate Research

This is a research oriented course. The goal of the course is to teaching undergrad students to think in critical, creative, and analytical manner about research by providing undergrad students with training and experience in conducting guided or independent research on topics within Geography. By involving in real research activities, the students will get to know the front-to-end process of conducting a scientific research, including formulating research questions, data collection and processing, experimental design, data analysis, scientific presentation of research findings, etc. This experience will prepare undergraduate students with necessary knowledge and skills to conduct research for their senior thesis, and also help students who plan to attend graduate school with the research training in computer program, data analysis and scientific writing. One objective of the course is to have high quality research results and manuscripts that can potentially be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

    Fall 2018

GEO 303 Severe and Hazardous Weather

The year 2011 brought some of the worse severe weather we have seen in the last decade, including the blizzard that buried Chicago, the record tornado outbreak across the Southeast US in April, the massive flooding on the Missouri River and the lower Mississippi River, and the devastating drought and fires that laid waste to much of Texas and the Southwest. The goal of this Severe and Hazardous Weather course is to provide students with a current, relevant and scientifically accurate discussion of all types of hazardous weather. Discussion topics include extratropical cyclones, freezing precipitation and ice storms, lake effect snowstorms, cold waves, blizzards, thunderstorms, tornadoes, downbursts, tropical cyclones, floods, drought and heat waves. Through this course, students will gain a basic understanding of severe and hazardous weather, and develop an appreciation for the complexities and power of severe weather. In a more practical vein, students will become better prepared for severe weather, more aware of what is happening when severe weather threatens, and better able to react when severe weather strikes.

I have been teaching this course since 2010, and it is offered under course number GEO492. It is a 300-level course and will be reassigned a course number of GEO303. This course has been offered in the following semesters.

    Fall 2010 | Spring 2013 | Fall 2014 | Spring 2016 | Spring 2017 | Spring 2018 | Spring 2020 | Spring 2022 | Spring 2024

GEO 429 Programming with Spatial Data

To think in a critical, creative, and analytical manner about spatial problems through the lens of geocomputational modeling and programming. Specifically you will learn a currently popular and relatively accessible language - Python - well enough to do interesting, substantive things with spatial data modeling and analysis. I do not assume any prior programming knowledge on your part, though I expect you to be comfortable on computers in general and with spatial data handling and geographic information systems (GIS).

    Spring 2018 | Spring 2019 | Spring 2020 | Spring 2021 | Spring 2023 | Spring 2025

GEO 871 Physical Geography Seminar

This seiminar is intended to provide graduate students with an overview of climate research, especially related to the physical science basis and impact of global climate chane. Through reading, commentaries and group discussions, students are expected to gain fundamental knowledge about the current research progress on climate change, and be able to communicate with general public on science, risks, adaptation and vulnerability related to climate change.

    Spring 2017