Stanford has fundamentally changed the way it conducts research and education on issues related to the environment by emphasizing interdisciplinary research. Just as the Stanford Woods Institute serves as a hub for researchers working across disciplines, various academic units on campus provide interdisciplinary environmental education. Some examples of continuing education courses associated with the Stanford Woods Institute include:

• EARTHSYS 177: Interdisciplinary Research Survival Skills: Taught by Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellow Terry Root, this course explores learning in interdisciplinary situations, how framing research questions, developing research methods that benefit from interdisciplinary understanding. Students gain practice writing for multiple audiences and effectively making interdisciplinary presentations. Interdisciplinary experts from across campus facilitate discussions regarding interdisciplinary research projects.

• ENVRINST 109: Creating a Green Student Workforce to Help Implement Stanford's Sustainability Vision: This practical training to enable students to become sustainability coordinators for their dorms or academic units examines program-based local actions that promote resource conservation and an educational environment for sustainability. The course looks at building-level actions that conserve resources, lower utility costs and generate understanding of sustainability consistent with Stanford's commitment to sustainability as a core value. Overview of operational sustainability including energy, water, buildings, waste and food systems.

• ENVRINST 220: The Social Ocean: Ocean Conservation, Management and Policy: This interdisciplinary seminar examines current ocean issues and ideas through a series of presentations and discussions with expert scientists and practitioners. Invited speakers will focus on both theoretical and practical aspects of ocean conservation, management and policy with emphases first on the ocean as a component of coastal society, then on tangible conservation initiatives and actions and finally on the big picture of ocean policy and politics. Although it is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, this seminar is designed especially for those with a particular interest in the diverse ocean field who wish to stay abreast of current and cutting-edge issues, ideas and career paths.

• ENVRINST 260: Water in the West: Challenges and Opportunities: This 3-unit course explores challenges and opportunities in the management of water resources to protect the economic, ecological, and social values of the American West. Lectures and readings will cover a wide array of subjects and take an interdisciplinary approach to issues affecting water supply, water quality, and ecosystems with an emphasis on applications to policy and practice. Invited speakers from Stanford, other universities, government agencies, business, and non-governmental organizations will discuss relevant topics such as climate change, agricultural and urban water demand, impacts on business, management of freshwater ecosystems, markets and pricing, and other topics to be determined. Class discussion will focus on potential solutions in the areas of policy, markets, technology, and other interventions. Assignments will require students to applying knowledge from readings, lectures, and discussions to practical, real-world scenarios in the form of public comments, editorials, plans, or proposals. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of the complex water landscape of the American West, how decisions affecting water resources in the West are made and may be influenced, and be able to discuss the trade-offs between different various solutions. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Learn more about these and other environmental courses offered by other interdisciplinary programs in the Stanford Bulletin or scan courses offered by the following programs at Stanford: 

• Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (EEES)
  EEES is an academically flexible program of study that fosters interdisciplinary scientific research between the three departments within the School of Earth Sciences. It is intended for students wishing to draw on the knowledge, tools and approaches that span the breadth of research being conducted within the School. Related courses.

• Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)
  Courses offered by E-IPER are listed under the subject code ENVRES in the Stanford Bulletin. E-IPER students combine academic disciplines, including natural and earth sciences, engineering, economics, humanities, social sciences, law, health, policy and business to yield new insights and novel solutions to urgent global problems, such as energy use, climate change, food security, freshwater availability, depletion of ocean resources, land degradation and biodiversity loss. Related courses.
   
• Energy Resources Engineering
  Courses offered by the Energy Resources Engineering Program are listed under the subject code ENERGY in the Stanford Bulletin. Known as Petroleum Engineering until 2006, Energy Resource Engineering offers BS, MS, Engineer, and PhD degrees in Energy Resources Engineering and MS and PhD degrees in Petroleum Engineering. The program’s goal is to teach courses and perform research relevant to the production and transformation of energy resources. Related courses.

• Environmental Earth Systems Sciences (EESS) 
  The Department of Environmental Earth System Science offers PhD and MS programs in a wide range of fields, including hydrogeology; ocean circulation; land-use change; sustainable food and water practices; climate, tectonics, and landscape evolution; ocean biogeochemistry; climate and earth system dynamics; soil and environmental biogeochemistry; molecular microbial ecology; and, geostatistics. The size and the breadth of interest of the department's faculty provide numerous opportunities for field-based research and laboratory and numerical experiments and for the most modern applications of instrumental analysis and spectroscopy to problems in the earth sciences. Related courses.
   
• Geological and Environmental Sciences (GES) 
  In GES, fields of research and education encompass the entire planet from its deep interior to the surface, throughout the long span of geological time up to the human timescale. The scale of view ranges from global to atomic. Physical, chemical and biological processes as well as the unique history of the Earth are within the program’s broad scope. Related courses.