Graduate Modules Listing

Please take note: Students from other Schools who wish to register for ASE graduate courses are required to seek approval from respective course instructor before course registration.

  • Student email course instructors (with student’s background and main sup school) to seek course instructor’s approval

 

  • Attach instructor’s email approval to approved course registration form before submitting to Research Centre (RC) / School administrator

 

  • Research Centre (RS)/School administrator to consolidate forms and email to Christina ([email protected]) for prior approval
  • Christina will inform the Research Centre (RC)/ School administrator if student is allowed to take the course

CourseAUNext Offered

ES703 Postgraduate Academic Writing

The course covers written communication in English in academic disciplines. The content can be divided into four parts: features of academic language (for example, grammatical metaphor, lexical density, and expressing stance), the academic argument (both its structure, for example, the Toulmin method, and its presentation), referencing (including disciplinary differences), and the structure of the research article sections (including the concepts of moves and steps).

0AU 
ES7001 Natural Hazards and Society
This course examines the natural and human dimensions of hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, tropical storms, floods, landslides, soil erosion and desertification. Course work focuses on the causes of major natural hazards -- such as climate change, sea-level rise, and tectonics – as well as their spatial and temporal distribution. Moreover, students will be exposed to the assessment of risks posed to society and possibilities for sustainable adaptation.
3AUSemester 1
ES7002 Research skills in Earth System Science
Weekly seminars will provide exposure to a broad range of research in the earth sciences. Speakers will be from the Earth Observatory of Singapore, other academic groups at NTU, and other universities and research institutes. Students are required to attend 8 seminars and to participate in a discussion session following each of these. Students will submit written and oral reports on 3 of the seminars, summarizing and critiquing the work, methods and conclusions presented.
3AU 
ES7003 Communication Skills for Scientists
In pursuing a career in science, it is not enough to be a great researcher. Effectively communicating your research to members of the scientific community, at conferences, workshops, seminars and in teaching is also a critical part of having a successful and impactful career. This course will give students an opportunity to hone their presentation and communication skills through discussion, practice, and feedback on areas that include:
• Identifying the key points of their results, and framing them in the big picture. Knowing how much information to convey.
• Telling a story to make effective and interesting presentations.
• Using visual communication techniques–color, typography, design principles; and
• Body language and eye contact–how to feel and look confident.
The course will focus around development of a short talk and poster about the students’ research, building throughout the course on the different elements of a presentation, from identifying key points, to developing the graphics, and finally to delivering the presentation.
3AUSem 2
ES7004 Field Studies
Graduate students in DES must participate in at least one field campaign with a DES faculty member, regardless of their faculty specialization. The student will assist in planning for the field trip, collect data and/or samples, make maps and sketches and keep a detailed record of observations and interpretations. A scientific report, written upon completion of the field trip, will describe the scientific purpose and outcome of the campaign. Start from this year students must participate in one week of fieldwork approved by the HoD. Registration for ES7004 no longer required).
3AU 
ES7005 Environmental Earth Systems Science
This course is designed to be a comprehensive introduction to the Earth and its systems, including the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and solid Earth. The course will focus on the linkages and feedbacks between these systems, and the role of humans in the Earth system. Students will gain a basic understanding of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, solid Earth, and biosphere. They will understand the linkages and feedbacks between these systems, and be able to apply their knowledge to a variety of environmental problems and issues.
3AU 
ES7006 Active Tectonics
This course investigates the processes at work in the main tectonic environments of our planet (rifts and ridges, subduction zones, collisional mountain- and plateau-building, and strike-slip faults). Physical mechanisms of deformation are introduced, based on theoretical and experimental rock mechanics, and it is shown how they operate in integrated fashion over a wide range of spatial and time scales (from crystals to plates, and from millions of years to seconds). Examples will be drawn from the most typical and best understood regions of the world, with a strong emphasis on eastern Asia. The emphasis will also be placed on active faulting and tectonics, to throw light on the processes through which faults generate earthquakes, and on what can be learnt about crustal structure and rheology from earthquakes. Large-scale deformation models will be discussed. The course includes a field trip to one outstanding region of Asia or the world (for example, the Himalayan MFT in Nepal, Ailao Shan Shear zone in Yunnan, Assal Rift in Djibouti).
3AU 
ES7007 Volcanology
We will explore the main concepts and techniques of modern volcanology. The course includes a combination of basic and applied science that draws expertise from physics and chemistry, but also from natural hazards. We will analyze natural sample data-sets and monitoring data of active volcanoes. Lectures will be complemented with labs making use of analytical and experimental laboratories and involving numerical simulations.
3AUSem 2
ES7008 Geophysical Data Analysis
This course introduces students to a variety of data analysis, modelling, and statistics techniques that are an important part of any geoscientist’s toolkit. Topics include use of the Generic Mapping Tools for plotting spatial data, least-squares regression of data, basics of inverse theory, time series analysis, and geostatistics. This course uses Matlab.
3AU 
ES7009 Living with Coastal Processes and Hazards
The coastal zone is under increasing pressure from population growth and economic development. The coast is in one of the most dynamic landscapes on the planet and coastal processes can have serious impacts on public safety, economic development, and the environment. This course will study the nature of the coast and the processes that shape it. Students will also study the nature and causes of severe storms, tsunamis, erosion, sea-level rise, land subsidence, and climate change.
3AU 
ES7010 Geochemistry
This course is designed to introduce students the principles of chemistry related to geology (therefore, geochemistry) and their applications to understand processes taking place on and within the earth. By the end of the course, students should become familiar with the basic geochemical tools, and be able to use these tools to solve, in a quantitative manner, some geological and environmental problems, for example, measuring geological time, unraveling the continental and oceanic evolutions, and understanding the current climate change.
3AU 
ES7011 Oceanography
The goal of this course is to provide a solid foundation of knowledge about the physical processes dictating the oceans movements. We will begin by looking at the structure of the atmosphere, the main thermodynamic principals governing water, and the properties of sea water to formulate how these three areas influence ocean circulation. Next, we will take a close look at the chemical composition of sea water and use these properties as ocean tracers to reinforce what we have learned about ocean circulation. Finally, by combining our knowledge of ocean circulation and chemical content, we will examine primarily through laboratory exercises where primary producers thrive in ocean waters.
3AU 
ES7012 Structural Geology
This course will cover the deformation of Earth materials, from the scale of individual grains to large mountain belts. Much of the course will rely on the use of industry tools and data, with handson labs in addition to lecture content. Students should come out of the course with a thorough understanding of how Earth materials deform under stress, how we can observe and interpret this deformation, and how this is relevant to both the oil and gas industry and to our understanding of earthquake hazards.
 
Elements to be covered (not equally weighted):
1. Introduction to structural geology
2. Structural geometry
3. Strain
4. Stress
5. Rock strength
6. Fractures (joints and faults)
7. Ductile deformation
8. Folds
9. Thrust faulting and mountain belts
10. Normal faulting and rift basins
11. Strike-slip margins
12. Salt tectonics and passive margins
13. Structural geology and earthquakes
4AUSem 2
ES7013 Climate and Climate Change
This course is designed where students will learn how the climate system works, what caused climate change in the past, and how climate is and will be changed by human activity. Students will learn about the climate system from both theoretical and observational points of view, and they will gain basic mathematical skills in the process. With that students are able to establish a solid understanding on the evolution of past climate, the physical and chemical basis for climate change, and gain awareness of anthropogenic impact on the climate system. At the end of this course, students will be familiar with analytical and mathematical tools to study the climatic state. And finally, to be able to link the theory to the observation data.
3AU 
ES7014 Continuum Mechanics
The aim of this class is to introduce the mathematical framework to describe the deformation of rocks. Students will gain mathematical skills relevant to studying three-dimensional deformation and will be introduced to vector calculus, tensors, partial differential equations, and complex analysis. At the end of the class, students will be equipped to describe new mechanical problems mathematically and physically and put together an analytical model of the solid Earth deformation.
3AU 
ES7015 Supervised Independent Study
The topics covered are dependent on the research interests / areas of the student. To provide students time and structure to expand their course studies beyond the offerings of NTU. To expand students core knowledge in their respective fields
3AU 
ES7016 Seismology
The aims of the class are to introduce basic theories in seismology, including velocity and seismic source representations, synthetic seismogram calculation, and inversion methods that can be used to retrieve the seismic sources and velocity structures. Each student will work on projects to process seismic data and improve the understanding of the methods and practical applications, as well as their relations with plate tectonics.
3AU 
ES7017 Geophysical Inverse Theory
This course is intended to present fundamental material to understand and practice inversion of geophysical data. The emphasis is on a formal presentation of the relevant background theory. A first tier of the class will be focused on the statistical approach to inversion of experimental data, incorporating a priori information, constraints from measurements and theoretical insight. The rest of the class will focus on the optimization problem in a Hilbert space, including the definition of cost functions and regularization techniques. The theory will be discussed in the context of typical problems of geophysical relevance including gravity, faulting, seismology and signal processing. Students are assumed familiar with linear algebra, calculus and statistics.
3AU 
ES7018 Supervised Independent Study II
The topics covered are dependent on the research interests / areas of the student. To provide students time and structure to expand their course studies beyond the offerings of NTU. To expand students core knowledge in their respective fields.
3AU 
ES7019 Lithosphere Deformation Mechanics
The course will introduce important concepts related to crustal and lithosphere deformation including the mechanics of brittle deformation, viscoelastic flow and poroelastic processes. The course will focus on rheology and modeling of deformation through solving ordinary and partial differential equations in two and three dimensions, for both static and time dependent behaviors.
3AU 
ES7020 Introduction to Geophysics
The main goal of this class is to provide students with general understanding of some techniques that are used to probe the Earth’s surface. The techniques that will be presented during this class are used in both private sectors as well as in earth science in general. By the end of the course students should be able to identify which technique should be used depending on the question they have to answer. Students should be able to appreciate the quality of the data that they collect/analyse. And they should be able to interpret those data. Wherever possible field campaign, within Singapore, will be run to have direct hands-on experience, and use real-world data for classes and labs.
 Sem 2
ES7022 Issues in Ecology
This is an advanced course which aims to get postgraduate students to think critically and apply their knowledge to new and unfamiliar situations. As such, the students will be introduced to a series of 12 cutting edge topics including those currently under debate, and will expected to critically assess them. These very broadly fall into five groups: (1) Biodiversity Change, (2) Multitrophic interactions, (3) Pattern and Process in Nature, (4) Ecosystem Processes and Sustainability, and (5) Synthesis. A large part of the course will also be to write a review or opinion article on a fast moving topic in ecology. It is expected that this course will give the students tools to enable them to think critically about ecological issues and concepts, and to synthesize, discuss and present ecological material.
3AUSem 2
ES7023 Fundamentals of Data Science for Earth and Environmenal Systems Science
Modeling, simulation, statistical learning and data science methods are powerful tools for earth and environmental systems sciences. This course will cover the major concepts for building and evaluating models, including fundamentals of statistical and machine learning. Topics covered include (1) basic concepts and tools in data science, (2) statistical thinking, (3) goals and principles of scientific modeling, (4) model development, (5) model calibration and selection, (6) sensitivity analysis, (7) model evaluation, (8) model predictions, (9) results visualization and communication. Students will gain hands-on experience in developing models and simulations (using R programing language).
3AUSem 2
ES7026 Coupled Human and Natural Systems
This course will cover the key concepts from the social and natural sciences for understanding coupled human and natural systems. Next, integrative socio-ecological approaches will be explored, and students will consider the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches. Lessons will be grounded in real-world case studies. Students will use interdisciplinary approaches for their final projects
4AUSem 2

ES7027 Microbes on natural ecosystems

This is an introductory microbiology course which will bring the knowledge of microbes, ecosystems and geochemical processes in a changing environment.  This course will allow graduate students explore how microbes play key roles in nutrient cycling, how they support the complex ecosystems we find in our biosphere and how they affect and will be affect by climate change.

3AUSem 2

ES7028 Experimental Design & Analysis for Ecology

This course introduces you to the basic principles of experimental design and analysis of ecological experiments. It introduces you to methods and key concepts for designing and implementing experiments in both the field and laboratory. You will learn how to plan and execute an experiment, key concepts in designing experiments, and how to analyse and present your results. This course builds on the statistical skills you should have learned in undergraduate programmes and you will learn how to apply these statistical methods to real-life field and lab experiments. This courses uses R, and assumes some introductory knowledge of statistics.

3AUSem 2

ES7029 GIS and the Earth System

This course will cover the use of GIS to explore earth systems science. The course will start by introducing basic skills and workflows. The students will then define and complete two independent projects. Students will be expected to have basic scientific knowledge about the Earth and a basic introduction to programming. The final project will focus on the use of Agisoft Photoscan.

3AUSem 2