Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Aquatic Science

Program Faculty
Walter Bowyer, Professor, Chemistry
Meghan Brown, Professor, Biology, Chair
Kristen Brubaker, Professor, Environmental Studies
Lisa Cleckner, Director, Finger Lakes Institute and Environmental Studies
Tara Curtin, Associate Professor, Geoscience
Susan Cushman, Associate Professor, Biology
Ileana Dumitriu, Associate Professor, Physics
David Finkelstein, Associate Professor, Geoscience
John Halfman, Professor Emeritus, Environmental Studies

Aquatic Science is the interdisciplinary study of water and is a rigorous and essential minor for those students interested in the science of water and water resources. Minors take pertinent introductory and upper-level courses across the natural science division to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of water and prepare to enter the workforce or continue in academia at the graduate level. Well-trained students in the aquatic sciences are of increasing demand to explore the wonders of lakes, rivers, and oceans and seek solutions to the climate, biodiversity, and water crises.

Why water and the Aquatic Science minor? The concentration of aquatic science faculty on campus and various resources allow the study of Seneca Lake, neighboring Finger Lakes, and their tributaries. HWS has a 65-ft research vessel the William Scandling on Seneca Lake that distinguishes it from most other colleges and universities. . The Aquatic Science minor provides an opportunity to major  in any of the sciences or other majors across HWS.

Offerings

Please refer to the Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, and Geoscience departmental pages for course descriptions for their majors and minors.

Aquatic Science Minor
interdisciplinary, 7 courses
Requirements:
GEO 186 Introduction to Hydrogeology (fall, annually) and BIOL 167 Introduction to Biology (offered each semester); and five courses selected from the following three lists: Global Context and Aquatic Processes (2 courses), Spatial and Quantitative Reasoning (2 courses), and an Aquatic Sciences Capstone Research Experience. No more than two courses from another institution may count toward the minor. At east 3 courses must be unique to the minor. All courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better. Courses with Credit/No Credit grading cannot be used toward program requirements but is allowed when a credit-bearing internship satisfies the capstone research experience.

Global Context and Aquatic Processes (Two Courses)
BIOL 225 Ecology (offered every semester)
BIOL 325 Invasion Biology (offered occasionally)
BIOL 338 Aquatic Biology (offered most years)
BIOL 339 Global Change Biology (offered alternate years)
CHEM 260 Environmental Chemistry
GEO 210 Environmental Hydrology (spring, offered alternate years)
GEO 220 Geomorphology (Fall, offered alternate years)
GEO 250 Oceanography (Spring, offered annually)
GEO 280 Environmental Geochemistry (Spring, offered semi-annually)
GEO 330 Limnology (Fall, offered annually)
AUST 332 Marine Ecology of Australia (Fall, study abroad course, offered annually)

Spatial and Quantitative Reasoning (Two Courses – only one statistics course may count)
ENV 203 Fundamentals of GIS (offered annually)
ENV 281 Remote Sensing (offered occasionally)
ENV 310 Advanced Geographic Information Systems
BIOL 230 Biostatistics (offered every semester)
GEO/ENV 207 Statistics (offered annually)

Capstone Research Experience (One Course and Formal Presentation)
AQSC 450 Independent Study
AQSC 495/496 Honors
AQSC 489 Capstone Experience
INT 299 Credit-Bearing Internship (in association with summer research)