David Courard-Hauri
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
Drake University
30-A Harvey-Ingham
2507 University Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50311
voice: 515.271.3812
fax: 515.271.3702
Courses
ENV 22: Meteorology: The Science of Weather
ENV 35: Introduction to Environmental Science
ENV 135: Global Change: Science & Policy of Climate Change
Research Interests
- My interests are in issues at the interface of environmental science and policy. How do we make use of computer models of complex chemical, biological, and physical systems in the face of uncertainty about the parameters and the models themselves? Can we use this information when we ask questions about the costs and benefits of expected policies? How do nonlinearities and feedbacks affect both the uncertainties and the optimal policy choices predicted by models incorporating them?
Current Projects and Research
- Uncertainty in air quality models
- Developing a quantitative uncertainty framework for complex air quality models by which a risk percentile can be assigned to various scenarios.
- Incorporating questions of reactivity and synergism within the above framework.
- Paleoclimatic Connectivity
- Developing an understanding of paleoclimatic dynamics through structured modeling and statistical analytic techniques.
Dave's CV
Biographical Information
- Raised in New Hampshire, I received my BS in
Chemistry/Government from Georgetown University in 1991. I then
went to Stanford to study Chemical Dynamics with John Ross (this
year's recipient of the National Medal of Science). Afraid of too
fast a transition out of the sheltered life of the student, I
followed this PhD in Physical Chemistry with a Masters in Public
Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University,
and then with stint as a Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chess, running, and gardening are some of my hobbies, though more in theory than practice since my daughters Kayleigh and Julianna were born.
Links
Climate Links
- NOAA Paleoclimate.
- Energy Information Agency.
- Resources For the Future -- Weathervane.
- NASA GISS.
- Climate trend data.
- Arctic Info.
Useful Web Reference Material
- Science Encyclopedia.
- Life-cycle Assessment Calculator.
- Roget's Thesaurus (All non-Roget's Thesauri are useless!)
- Unit Conversion Tables. Clear or Comprehensive.
- Chemistry Glossary.
- Ecology Data and Information.
- Great Interactive Atlas.
- Biomolecular Hyperglossary.
- Mineralogy data (I'm a closet rockhound). If you want to know all the places you have to go to be a true geologist (or just learn about some interesting things), check out A Geologist's Lifetime Field List.
- MathMistakes.com An amusing site.
- Everything the non-expert ever wanted to know about Quantum Computing
- Like old medical drawings, photos, and woodcuts? Check out the History of medicine site at NLM.
- How about nanotechnology? Nice pictures and movies.
- Humungous Calculator Page links to calculators for everything from carbon production to lawyer's fees to what kind of dog you'd like.
- UNC Library.
- Literary Quotations.
- Acronym Lookup.
- Relativity.
- Sizzling HTML Jalfrezi.
- Animal Group Names.