The course provides instruction on how to obtain spatial data from both traditional public and private repositories. To rise to the challenge of obtaining data from the web and social media, it also gives instruction on mining techniques using Application Programming Interfaces (API) and via student-developed mobile phone applications. The half semester course is designed to prepare students for the second semester offering of Advanced Geovisualization. Lab instruction is given in all open source software (QGIS and R studio), which reduces barriers for using these advanced techniques after graduating from our program. The course importantly advances instruction in digital domains that have become critical for communication of sustainability issues  (e.g. social media and open data science).

This course further hones students skill in advanced data science technique for cleaning and visualizing both spatial and nonspatial data. We also strengthen students' competencies in making their finding open to the public, by developing HTML web-publishable documents, webmaps and through the use of GitHub. Students increase the exposure of their work by publishing them on the web, improving their ability to market the skills they have developed at SEAS. Such an open data science lens, further addresses the need for broadening science communication  given the rapid proliferation of diverse knowledge stream on the internet. Students learn techniques for terrain modeling, spatial-temporal analysis, animation, and geographic research design. The course culminates in the development of webmap applications that integrates one or more of the techniques learned throughout the course.

This undergraduate course in PiTE explores sustainable communication through visuals and community-engaged methods. Students discover innovative ways to engage the public in environmental discussions using social media and decision support tools. The class enhances comprehension of how people interpret visual representations, teaches how to develop impactful data visualizations, and introduces methods for developing and applying decision-support tools. Lectures, discussions, and hands-on assignments with free and open-source software packages and decision support tools equip students with practical communication skills

This graduate seminar delves into the strategic use of social media for sustainability, exploring its role in research, conservation, and climate action. Through interactive sessions, group discussions, live experiments, and case studies, students critically analyze social media's impact on real-world sustainability challenges. The course seeks to enhance comprehension of social media's role in sustainability research, covering effective messaging, platform biases, and ethical/legal considerations in sustainability communication through social media. This seminar is being offered for the first time and has not yet been evaluated by students.

The course provides students with a foundational understanding of the theories, methods, and applications in stakeholder engaged landscape planning. The entire semester consists of student-led group projects. Student groups of between 4-6 students, with different specialization backgrounds, choose a region of focus for their project deliverable. Each group is required to develop 1) a community, and 2) stakeholder profile for their region of study, and tools and strategies to tackle a regional issue using 3) landscape models, and 4) a decision support tool. This is scaffolded by lab instruction in GIS, landscape modelling (e.g. The Invest model, spatial suitability analysis) and stakeholder engagement (e.g. scenario development, PGIS). Project work is also supported by discussion of seminal literature from each of the four thematic areas.