Curriculum Details
Core Courses
Students will enroll in two of these core courses in the fall, two core courses in the spring, and the SWM Seminar each semester. Students will also enroll in the field-based practicum course for the summer.
Note: The classes below reflect the options available to SWM students in the 2021-2022 academic year. Each year there are slight changes to the course offerings, and we cannot guarantee that this exact curriculum will remain the same in future years. For course-specific questions, please contact swm@tufts.edu.
In addition to the core courses listed below, students will choose from a list of electives that have been designated for each track.
Water Diplomacy electives Water, Food, and Energy electives Water Infrastructure for Human Settlements electives Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in International Development And Humanitarian Response electives
Fall
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Instructor(s): Annette Huber-Lee, Brian Joyce, and Kirk Westphal
Day(s): Monday/Friday
Time: 12:00-1:30pm
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
This course focuses on hydrology, water resources engineering, water quality analysis, and systems thinking aspects of water. Students gain a broad understanding of the scientific theories and principles related to processes governing water availability and quality and the practice of applying this theory, along with data and models, to address a range of problems of water resources engineering and management. The course is structured around model applications to case studies, which facilitates exploration of issues related to uncertainty, model complexity, and scale. -
Instructor(s): Richard Hooper
Day(s): Tuesday/Thursday
Time: 9:00-10:15am
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
Topical courses offered within civil and environmental engineering. -
Instructor(s): Richard Hooper
Day(s): Tuesday
Time: 10:30-11:45am
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
This two-semester is seminar built around real-world case studies and simulations, giving students the opportunity to apply their learning to real world water management challenges.
Spring
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Instructor(s): TBD
Day(s): TBD
Time: TBD
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
This two-semester is seminar built around real-world case studies and simulations, giving students the opportunity to apply their learning to real world water management challenges. -
Instructor(s): Josh Ellsworth
Day(s): TBD
Time: TBD
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
To drive positive impact towards the sustainable management of water resources, effective leaders must both grasp technical aspects of water challenges and balance competing demands from multiple stakeholders with differing levels of power and influence. They need to develop both the mindset and the skillset to analyze complex socio-political contexts, work with diverse actors to identify specific problems and opportunities, create practicable solutions, and to persuade, negotiate, and lead others to achieve objectives. This course focuses on developing, in an integrated manner, the creative thinking and planning skills to identify and innovate solutions to tough challenges. It covers systems and problem analysis, budget preparation, donor relations, and effective teamwork. -
Instructor(s): Eric Kemp-Benedict, Erum Sattar, and William Moomaw
Day(s): TBD
Time: TBD
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
The main focus of this course is water allocation, both within and between countries. Water is an intrinsically valuable resource that is essential for human life. It is renewable, but can be degraded, and at any moment is available in finite quantities. This means that allocation is a central question, and has been for millennia. Competing claims are negotiated in political arenas, and the resulting allocation rules can be codified in norms and traditions, or in formal law. The law might specify allocations explicitly or it might seek to protect property rights, with allocation determined by markets. Through case studies, the class will explore a number of alternative forms of water allocation from a critical and systems perspective. Students will complete homework assignments throughout the course and, in the reading period, write a final report, focused on a specific case, that draws on the class materials. Complementing the case studies will be classes on specific concepts in economics, law, and policy, including a two-week module introducing basic concepts from engineering economics. Through the engineering economics module, students will practice costing, accounting, cost-benefit, and multi-criteria analysis at an introductory level.
Summer
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Instructor(s): TBD
Day(s): TBD
Time: TBD
School: Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)
Concentration: Core Course
Description:
Students continue to develop and practice skills learned in four core classes and track electives. Through six to eight weeks ( average of 210 hours), of professional experience in a field site off-campus, the students will focus on enhancing their research and management capacities in a water related project. Prior to the summer, the students leverage the SWM faculty network and approach external institutions to secure an opportunity and to develop their practicum goals. The practicum is designed to fit students individually, based upon their strengths, interests, and career goals. Upon completion of the field site portion, students return to campus to deliver a paper or product and to present their experiences to the larger community. This required summer practicum is supported by a stipend of up to $3,000, intended to cover travel and living expenses for the duration of the practicum.