OXFORD, Miss. – It was a major issue in Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2004. Two years later it was the subject of an Oscar- and Nobel Prize-winning documentary. It continues to generate stories in the mainstream news media, getting blamed for many weather-related natural disasters and a growing number of endangered species.
Yet for all the attention it’s getting, global warming remains somewhat of an enigma for many people. That’s why University of Mississippi chemical engineering professor Wei-Yin Chen proposed and received approval to start a seminar course this spring examining climate change, including causes, impacts and solutions.
With 16 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled, Engineering 597 meets Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Besides Chen, 18 other UM faculty members and a Mississippi State University climatologist are instructors for the course.
“The immediate goal of our activities is to raise awareness of the global warming issue,” Chen said. “The second objective of this initiative is to consolidate an intellectual base at the university to help mitigate the effects of climate change.”
Professors from chemical engineering, chemistry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, geological engineering, computational hydroscience, pharmacy, physical acoustics, biology, and philosophy and religion are all scheduled to lecture during the semester. Topics include energy economics, ecological and health impact, energy conservation, nuclear energy, carbon sequestration and effects of climate change on coastal floods.
“We cover essentially all we planned,” Chen said. Students in the course have provided positive feedback.
“We are learning so much because we have all these different experts come and offer their knowledge,” said Benson Gathitu, an energy researcher graduate student from Limuru, Kenya. “This course is a great educator. I hope they offer it next semester and that an even larger group of faculty experts participate in offering seminars.”
“The end point of the class – developing a way to alleviate global warming – is somewhat daunting,” said Crystal Warren, an environmental toxicology graduate student from Collierville, Tenn. “Still, the knowledge provided from the various fields of professors is very beneficial.”
Chen said lecture notes and slides from each presentation are available for public viewing at
http://home.olemiss.edu/~cmchengs/Global%20Warming.
“Our activities are expected to grow rapidly over time,” Chen said. “It is likely that we will offer a sequel course next year in the (Sally McDonnell Barksdale) Honors College.”
Beyond this spring’s course, Chen said seven campus research clusters are working individually and collectively on proposals. He has been approached by a publisher to edit a book on climate change in 2009.
An affiliate of the International Workshop on Controlling Emissions of Green House Agents, Chen is vice president of the Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association. Plans for a workshop between U.S. and Chinese researchers and policy makers are pending.
“The United States and China represent two camps of distinctly different opinion about how to set the emission limits for different countries,” Chen said. “We believe research collaborations between the two nations will be an essential step to move the dialogs forward.”
Chen said as the university becomes internationally recognized as a center on the subject of climate change, he anticipates it will eventually receive a substantial funding commitment for research from the U.S. government.
“Global warming is an issue that has been put on the low priority list long enough,” Chen said. “Hopefully by collaborating with other researchers in the U.S., Europe and China we can proceed with finding solutions to the problem posed by greenhouse agents.”
For more information, contact Chen at 662-915-5651 or cmchengs@olemiss.edu.