Deserts, Plants, and People

Steve Smith
FRIDAYS 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
February 2, 9, 16, 23, 2018
Watch the video to learn more about this course

Deserts, Plants, and People

Spring 2018
Sold Out
FRIDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
February 2, 9, 16, 23, 2018

Location: 

Main Campus

Tuition: 

$130

Professor Smith brings his popular June 2017 course to Oro Valley!

Environments commonly known as “deserts” occupy nearly one-third of the earth’s land surface and are home to about a billion people. We will first discuss the geographical features of deserts, answering seemingly simple questions: What is a desert, and why do they occur where they do? Humans are particularly maladapted to life in deserts, but many organisms exhibit remarkable adaptations to aridity. We will investigate examples of these within plants from different deserts. Here the key questions will be: How do these plants grow and develop in these environments? Deserts are also associated with significant events in human history and many issues in contemporary international relations. Throughout the course we will consider humans and their influences on desert environments. We will also explore challenging questions here such as how societies perceive and steward deserts, and how are these actions connected?

Meet Your Professor

Associate Professor
School of Renewable Natural Resources and the Environment

STEVE SMITH is an Associate Professor in the School of Renewable Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona, where he has been on the faculty since 1984. He grew up in the central valley of California, where he first began working with plants under the supervision of his father, a commercial plant breeder. After receiving a B.S. in Plant Sciences from the University of California, Davis, he received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in Plant Breeding and Botany. Postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison preceded his arrival in Arizona. His research interests reflect his training in application-oriented plant improvement and his fascination with plant adaptation in natural plant communities in arid environments. He is also consulting with other researchers on experimental design and analysis. Dr. Smith teaches undergraduate courses in biology, field botany, and sustainability. He received the Bart Cardon Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona and the Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award from the Humanities Seminars Program.

  • Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award

Location

Poetry Center
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States
Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.

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