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             SPRING 1996 COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT

              NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE 

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        | ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS |
        |                                        |
        |       CVEN 5833/004 - 4833/004         |
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       (http://cadswes.colorado.edu/CVEN_5833_4833)

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Environmental Decision Support Systems
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Environmental resources must be managed with an ever increasing 
number of objectives in mind. To do this, managers and operators 
must rely on up-to-date information, modeling and communication.
Decision Support Systems or DSS are software systems which 
facilitate such management through integration of three types 
of information: 

  - Information on the state of the environmental system,
  - Environmental modeling, and 
  - Plan evaluation.

The development of these DSS comprises a multi-disciplinary 
endeavor. Engineers, computer scientists, management information 
scientists, life scientists, geographers, planners, economists, 
lawyers, and others all contribute their expertise in a 
collaborative effort to develop these systems. 

This Environmental DSS course is designed to facilitate student 
learning about the current and future role of DSS in environmental 
management, and to experience the DSS design and development process 
in an interdisciplinary setting.


Course Objectives
-----------------
- To learn about the meaning and content of environmental DSS.

- To experience design and development of environmental DSS.

- To learn system design and development in an interdisciplinary 
  team setting.

- To develop new skills in real-world problem solving.


Topics Addressed
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- Role, function and representation of data in DSS; e.g., spatial and 
  attribute data, monitoring, historical vs. real-time data, etc.

- Simulation and optimization modeling for environmental resource 
  management.

- Tools for the evaluation of alternative plans or policies; e.g., 
  multi-criteria evaluation, data visualization, reporting, constraint 
  checking, etc.

- The DSS development process: system and software design, development 
  and implementation, and project management.
 
- DSS in perspective (group DSS, theories of decision-making, 
  experiments on model use, and theories of planning).


Prerequisites
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- Senior or Graduate level.

- interest to look across disciplinary boundaries.

- willingness to put disciplinary expertise to use in an
  interdisciplinary setting.

- enthusiasm for computing technology.

- resourcefulness. 


Instructors
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Ren� F. Reitsma, Ph.D. & Edith A. Zagona, Ph.D.

Both Drs. Reitsma and Zagona are research associates at the 
CU Boulder Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and 
Environmental Systems (CADSWES), Dept. of Civil, Environmental and 
Architectural Engineering.  


Acknowledgements
----------------
Development of this course is funded by:

- Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.
- CU Global Change and Environmental Quality Program.
- Dept. of Geography.
- Undergraduate Excellence Fund.
- CADSWES.


Information
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For information, contact

Dr. Rene Reitsma,
CU/CADSWES
C.B. 421
Boulder, CO 80309 - 0421

tel. (303) 492-4828
e-mail: reitsma@colorado.edu