Environmental Science at LMU: The Living City – Summer Programs, Session I

Great-horned owl in its roosting tree on the LMU bluff
Great-horned owl in its roosting tree on the LMU bluff

The start of Summer Programs began with a kick-off dinner out at the Birds Nest. Admissions Office faculty and staff welcomed students and their families, as well as LMU professors and teachers who will be leading courses over the next two weeks. CURes Field Scientist and course Professor, Dr. Pete Auger, along with CURes’ staff member and science teacher Maria Curley, will be teaching the Environmental Science course offering at LMU, “The Living City”. Topics will range from Urban Ecology to Animal Behavior and Cognition, Noise Pollution, Wetlands Ecology, Urban Birds, Bird Song, the Human-Animal Bond, Social Science, Water Quality and Treatment, and much more! Students will get the opportunity to hear guest lectures from many of the CURes’ faculty and staff, and will visit numerous sites both on and off campus, including the Ballona Freshwater Marsh (part of the Ballona watershed), Ballona Discovery Park, the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace (a one-of-a-kind pet adoption space), and Hyperion Water Treatment Facility.

Mockingbird seen near the event
Mockingbird seen near the event

Students will become immersed in the challenges and joys of living in a large urban center like Los Angeles; if they are not from the area, by the time they leave the course, they will have a better understanding of resilient practices for wetlands management, water resource management, and the importance of preserving our green spaces, not only for the human inhabitants, but the plant and animal species with whom we coexist. Stay tuned for further blog posts, as we progress through the course…we’d love for you to join us on the Journey!

To read more detailed information about the course, please visit the Environmental Science at LMU: The Living City page.