Water Week events

Publication Date

Water Week Modules:

  • AAH336 - Contemporary Art – Lorraine Cox – Discussion of artists engaged with environmental issues tied to water consumption and distribution (recycling)
  • Advanced Ceramics – Nancy Niefield - Think about water as a design element in a vessel (that holds at least a pint of water) or a sculpture or a wall piece.
  • ANT248 - Sustainable Culture – Liz Garland – Discussion about water as a factor in Middle East political conflict, and also about water and economic development in island nations. In conjunction with the class on islands, Garland will screen a short film, "Sun Come Up," about the Carteret Islands, which are in the processes of being swallowed up by the sea as a result of climate change – the people there are actively seeking a new homeland.
  • ANT283 - People and Cultures of Latin America – Alvaro Jarrin – Screening of the film "Even the Rain" which chronicles the protests against the privatization of water in Bolivia.
  • BIO101Introduction to Biology – Nicole Theodosiou – Photosynthesis, including water relations.
  • BIO101 - Introduction to Biology – Barbara Pytel – Discussion of plastic water bottles.
  • BIO102Introduction to Biology – Jen Bishop – Short presentation of a current topic related to water.
  • BIO102 Introduction to Biology – Kathleen LoGiudice - Short presentation of a current topic related to water.
  • BIO102 - Introduction to Biology Labs – Aquatic Ecology lab.
  • CHEM - STEM Scholars Research Seminar – Visit to Niskayuna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
  • CHEM101Introduction to Chemistry – Laura MacManus-Spencer – Short presentation of a current topic related to water.
  • CHM351 - Physical Chemistry – Janet Anderson - One lecture on the hydrophobic effect: the thermodynamics of solutes in water.
  • CHM382 - Biochemistry: Structure and Catalysis – Kristin Fox - A discussion of the interaction between biomolecules and water and the importance of water for function.
  • CSC234 - Data Visualization – Valerie Barr – Lab assignment to visualize an issue related to water use, water bottle waste, etc.
  • ECO101Intro to Economics – Tomas Dvorak - Discussion on water as a “common resource.” The term “common resource” has a specific meaning in economics. It refers to a good that has two characteristic: it is rival in consumption, i.e. if you consume it, I can’t; and it is non-excludable, i.e. if anyone has access to it. Markets do not work well in these situations. Water is an example of a “common resource.”
  • ECO226Financial Markets – Brad Lewis - A financial fiasco including outright corruption and "sophisticated" financial strategies that has caused the price of water and sewer service in Jefferson County, Alabama to hit $300 a month for some people--in a state in which rainfall is normally no problem.
  • EGL100—1 - Intro to Poetry - Katherine Lynes – Project assignment involving water.
  • EGL101 - Intro to Fiction - April Selley - Three stories that we will discuss in class deal with rivers: Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” and Twain's “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
  • EGL299 - The Power of Words - Anastasia Pease – The students will watch TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Japanese tsunami. An article, "The Whole Fracking Enchilada," will also be discussed.
  • EGL 304 - Junior Seminar: Crane, Norris, and Dreiser – Jillmarie Murphy – Discussion on "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. It deals with a group of shipwrecked individuals who eventually swim to safety; however, the most fit member of the group, the oiler, winds up drowning as they all attempt to swim to shore. The class will also start reading "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser, which covers the 1904 murder/drowning of Grace Brown on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks.
  • ENS100Intro to Environmental Studies - Jeff Corbin – Water delivery and wastewater treatment (lecture and lab).
  • ENS250 - Water Resources and the Environment – Tom Jewel – Several discussions of water technology and issues.
  • FYP – Anastasia Pease - TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Japanese tsunami.
  • FYP – Tom Jewel – Water is a central theme of this course.
  • GEO106Our Restless Oceans – David Gilliken - Covering circulation and ocean structure, ocean surface currents, and waves during water week. Also possible public slide-show of garbage in remote areas in Bahamas.
  • GEO254 - Global Climate Change – Anouk Verheyden-Gillikin – Seminar by Dr. Mimi Katz (RPI) Antarctic Circumpolar Current Evolution and its Impact on Climate and Global Ocean Circulation.
  • GEO301 - Lakes and Environmental Change – Don Rodbell – Whole course covers water issues.
  • MER331 - Fluid Mechanics – Ann Anderson – Half of the course focused on water; there will be a special thing for water week, to be determined.
  • RUS201 - Intermediate Russian – Anastasia Pease – The students will watch TED talks and videos about potable water sources, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Japanese tsunami.
  • SOC260 - Population and Society – Janet Grigsby - Discussion as part of a unit on mortality examining the role of access to clean water in reducing mortality. Students will read Bob Wells’ great piece on the mortality transition in Schenectady, which includes the story of the switch from drinking the Mohawk. Also, WHO/UNICEF’s 2010 report on improving access to safe water worldwide. Students are also being required to include an assessment of safe water access in the country studies they are doing for their term projects.
  • SRS200-04 - Unpacking Hurricane Katrina SRS - Janet Grigsby – This course is all about Hurricane Katrina, and therefore about water in many, many ways. A highlight that this is world water week and try to list all the ways we are dealing with water as an issue in the course – e.g., the nature of flood damage, wetlands loss, problems of levees, water quality when you live downstream from ‘cancer alley’, etc.