Specialized Courses

PHYS 171: Special Topics: Stars, Constellations & Deep Sky Objects (1)

This pass/fail online interactive workshop carries one university credit plus three technology CEUs. It employs the latest in Web-based technology to cover celestial latitude and longitude, the major constellations and properties of stars. Beautiful photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are included as we explore the wonders of deep-sky objects such as star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Our workshop/course also introduces some of Einstein's concepts and how they are applicable in astronomy. Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Ruiz

PHYS 171: Special Topics: Earth Resources and Our Environment (1)

This pass/fail online interactive workshop carries one university credit plus three technology CEUs. Breathtaking aerial images from the NASA space program serve as a unifying theme for this online workshop using multimedia technology. From these images we learn about geography, multimedia coordinate systems, mapping technology, the weather, geological structure, and environmental studies. The workshop includes the electromagnetic spectrum and how it relates to imagery. Environmental issues such as global warming and the effect of CFCs on the ozone layer are treated. Satellite imagery is coordinated with low flying aircraft imagery for some regions of the U.S. Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Ruiz