The Academic Departments

• Department of Science Education
• Department of Astro/Geophysics
• Department of Biology
• Department of Geology
• Supplementary Courses

Department of Astro/Geophysics

Larry Vardiman, Ph.D., Chair

Introduction

The Astro/Geophysics minor in science education trains teachers in a traditional physics core. The focus of the department's ongoing research programs is on the chronology and processes of stellar, planetary, and atmospheric systems. Students may apply the skills acquired in the physics core to critical questions arising from these research programs through specialized coursework and a science paper. The Astro/Geophysics minor is designed to prepare teachers at college or secondary education levels. The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will demonstrate advanced levels of research process and content knowledge, plus presentation and communication skills, in those academic disciplines addressed by the curriculum.

Program Objectives

The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will demonstrate an advanced level of knowledge acquired from both evolutionary and creationist sources and construct a personal perspective which allows the student to convey a model of earth history in accurate, technical terms.

1. The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will demonstrate proficiency in the use of nomenclature, data, procedures, and concepts of astronomy, cosmology, paleoclimatology, and geochronology.
2. The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will be able to analyze research data and findings, construct and interpret displays of original data, and utilize the data analysis skills obtained in the online setting.
3. The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will exhibit library research skills using current science journals to prepare a science paper, building on his or her knowledge base in Astro/Geophysics.
4. The ICRGS graduate who minors in Astro/Geophysics will be able to apply effective written and verbal communication skills that exhibit the qualities of a communicator who stimulates the thinking of the listener/reader.

Prerequisites for Admission

Students entering this course of study are expected to have completed during their undergraduate education the following coursework: Mathematics – two semesters calculus; physics – two semesters (8 semester hours), calculus-based, including labs; chemistry – two semesters (8 semester hours) including labs; meteorology – one semester (3 semester hours); astronomy – one semester (3 semester hours), geology – one semester (3 semester hours).

Students with a minor emphasis in one of the other disciplines who desire to enroll in one of the Astro/Geophysics courses will be counseled as to their appropriate preparedness for success in the Astro/Geophysics course of their choice. A score above the 60th percentile on the Physics GRE subject test would merit enrollment in Astro/Geophysics courses.

Requirements for Graduation

Students choosing an emphasis in Astro/Geophysics must take 24 quarter hours from the Astro/Geophysics courses offered, including 4 hours of field or laboratory work. AG 501 Planetary and Stellar Astronomy  is required for all students desiring a minor in General Science. Coursework is best understood taken in the sequence designated by course numbering and the time of year the courses are offered, beginning with the spring quarter.

Courses

AG 501 Planetary and Stellar Astronomy
4.5 quarter hours

A survey of planetary and stellar astronomy, including aspects of the sky, time, coordinates, telescopes, and observational techniques. Topics include: early astronomy, light and telescopes, planet earth, motion and the moon, solar systems, planets, and star properties. (Prerequisites: SE 501 and/or permission of instructor)

AG 501L Planetary and Stellar Astronomy Laboratory
3 quarter hours

One week laboratory course offered on the campus of the University of South Carolina Lancaster (USCL) during the summer quarter, with access to the observatory of the Charlotte Amateur Astronomy Club which features a 24-inch Newtonian reflector, a 16-inch Cassegrain reflector, and a 6-inch Alvin Clark refractor. Topics include lenses and telescopes, spectroscopy, earth’s orbital velocity, sunspots, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, RR Lyrae stars, the Crab Nebula, Pulsars, structure of the Milky Way, the Hubble Relation, and quasars. (Prerequisites: SE 501, AG 501 or taken concurrently)

AG 502 Geochronology with Laboratory
6 quarter hours

A review, critique, and evaluation of methods and assumptions used to calculate the age of rocks and estimate the age of the earth, especially from radioisotope dating methods. Topics include: biblical chronology, scientific evidence for a young earth, the basics of radioactive decay and radioisotope dating, rubidium-strontium dating, potassium-argon dating, samarium-neodymium dating, uranium-thorium-lead dating, radiohalos and fission tracks, radiocarbon dating, and an accelerated decay model within a biblical young-earth history. The laboratory requires original data on rubidium-strontium, potassium-argon, samarium-neodymium, uranium-lead, and carbon-14 to be downloaded, plotted, and interpreted using IsoPlot 3.0, which is an add-on to MS Excel. Cross-listed with GE 502. (Prerequisites: admission to the Astro/Geophysics minor, SE 501, AG 501, and/or consent of instructor).

NOTE: See “Using Online Data and Excel for Astro/Geophysics Laboratories” at the end of the Astro/Geophysics course listing below.

AG 503 Paleoclimatology with Laboratory
6 quarter hours

Descriptions and methods for evaluating current, past, and future climates: Paleoclimate reconstruction, climate and climatic variation, dating methods, ice cores, marine sediments and corals, non-marine geological evidence, pollen analysis, dendrochronology, documentary data, and paleoclimate models. The laboratory requires proxy variables from multiple sources to be downloaded, plotted and interpreted using MS Excel. (Prerequisites: admission to the Astro/Geophysics minor SE 501, AG 501)

NOTE: See “Using Online Data and Excel for Astro/Geophysics Laboratories” at the end of the Astro/Geophysics course listing below.

AG 505 Meteorology and Climatology with Laboratory  
6 quarter hours

Descriptive and analytic methods for evaluating weather and climate: Composition and structure of the atmosphere; solar radiation and the seasons; energy balance and temperature; atmospheric pressure and wind; atmospheric moisture; cloud development and forms; precipitation processes; atmospheric circulations and pressure distributions; air masses and fronts; midlatitude cyclones; lightning, thunder, and tornadoes, tropical storms and hurricanes; weather forecasting and analysis; human effects; air pollution and heat islands; earth's climates; climate changes: past and future; and atmospheric optics.  The laboratory exercises are designed to encourage critical thinking about atmospheric processes described in the lecture section of the course through data analysis, problem solving, and experimentation.  (Prerequisites: admission to the Astro/Geophysics minor, SE 501, AG 501, AG 502, and AG 503 and/or consent of instructor).

AG 510 Special Topics in Astro/Geophysics
Variable hours

Hands-on courses offered as the need arises for various topics in Astro/Geophysics.

Using Online Data and Excel for Astro/Geophysics Laboratories

The laboratories for the paleoclimatology and geochronology courses require students to download, analyze, and interpret data provided online using a standard plotting routine. These data are not collected directly by the students in the field or in the laboratory, but are supplied either from sources online or by the professor from university, government, or commercial laboratories, as the direct collection of these data would be cost and time prohibitive for the students themselves.

For example, the collection of ice core data from Greenland and Antarctica require international teams and millions of dollars in equipment. The collection of almost all of the other data such as seafloor sediment data, pollen data, satellite data, and global weather data are likewise prohibitive. Most researchers who report and analyze such data rely on specialists who collect and store their data on government and university websites. The U. S. government has established a policy that all data and model calculations done under government grants must be posted and available to whomever needs the data within a two-year period after they are collected. Students in paleoclimatology will follow these standard practices of acquiring and analyzing such data.

Geochronology students are provided with data collected by ICRGS faculty and staff. Rocks are collected from Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Death Valley, Australia, Georgia, New Hampshire, etc. These rocks are then processed in the ICRGS laboratory and samples sent to commercial laboratories for component analyses. The results are then supplied to our students for plotting and interpretation. The cost and time constraints of such field and laboratory processing would not allow the majority of our students to be directly involved in the collection and processing.

Paleoclimatology students use MS Excel to plot and interpret the paleoclimatology data. Geochronology students use IsoPlot 3.0 or 4.0, an add-on to MS Excel developed at the Isotope Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley, to plot and interpret the geochronology data. MS Excel contains a relatively easy-to-use plotting routine which has become a standard in the two fields, which allows for entering and displaying data on multiple types of plots and documenting the graphs in handy forms. A significant goal of the Astro/Geophysics department is to make our students literate in plotting and displaying data in a clear, readable manner.