Analysis of issues that led to government involvement in the agricultural and food sector. Application of economic concepts and tools to the evaluation of public policies affecting agriculture and food. Prereq: EREC 411 or equivalent.

Special assignments in readings, investigations, or field problems. Topics may include agricultural marketing, agricultural production and farm management, community development, economics of human resources, economics of population and food, land economics, marine economics, rural economic development, regional economics, water economics, or teaching experience. Prereq: permission. May be repeated.

Honor/thesis students conduct an independent research project, relevant to the student's area of specialization in the major, under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Students submit a research proposal, write a final report, and provide an oral presentation. One or two semester sequence. Restricted to Senior/Natural Resource Majors. Permission required.

Course provides knowledge and skills necessary to interpret, understand, and appreciate the Earth's 4.6 billion-year history. The first third of the course introduces basic principles, including geological materials, plate tectonics, geological time, fossil preservation, and biological evolution. The remainder of the course tells the story of Earth history through case studies that illustrate scientific methods used to reconstruct critical events in our planet's evolution through time. Topics include the origin of the Earth, the Cambrian explosion of life, building of the Appalachians, assembly of Pangaea, the rise and fall of dinosaurs, the formation of the Rocky Mountains, mammalian evolution, human origins, and Pleistocene glaciation. Students gain experience in making geological observations through laboratory exercises and during one afternoon field trip. Special fee. Lab.