Energy and Environment – Required Courses 2019

For students entering Fall 2019

First Year

2 units          GSD 6121        Environmental Systems 1 (module 1)
2 units          GSD 6122        Environmental Systems 2 (module 2)
2 units          GSD 6125        Building Simulation (module 1)
2 units          GSD 6126        Materials (module 2)
24 units        Electives or Distributional Electives*

Second Year

Coursework Track:
16 units        Electives or Distributional Electives*

Or

Thesis Track:
16 units        Electives or Distributional Electives*
8 units          GSD 9304        Independent Thesis for the Degree Master in Design Studies

*Students are required to take a minimum of 8 units from an approved list of distributional electives.

Distributional Electives

DES-3348 The Idea of Environment
HIS-4395 Environmentalisms
SES-5206 Land Use and Environmental Law
SES-5370  Environment, Economics, Enterprise**
SES-5364  Sustainable Real Estate** (not offered in 2019/20)
SES-5371  Critical Perspectives in Environmental Planning (not offered in 2019/20)
SES-5388 Health and Environmental Planning
SES-5409 Climate Justice
SCI-6333  Water, Land-Water Linkages, and Aquatic Ecology
SCI-6361  Building Human Interaction
SCI-6364 Thermal Monocoques: An Energy Systems Laboratory
SCI-6466  Optimizing Facade Performance
SCI-6477  Nano, Macro, Micro

Recommended Research Methodology Courses
Courses that teach skills of potential relevance to theses projects

SCI-6122 Environmental Systems 2 (module)
SCI-6125 Building Simulation (module)
SCI-6126 Materials (module)
SCI-6275 Computer Vision
SCI-6338 Introduction to Computational Design
SCI-6472  Visualization
MIT 4.432/4.433 Modeling Urban Energy Flows for Resilient Cities and Neighborhoods

Other Recommended Courses

SES-5375 Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Problems
ES-231 or 229 Energy Technology or Survey of Energy Technology (at SEAS)
HLS 2921 Climate Solutions Living Lab at the Harvard Law School (Students – keep an eye open for course application process.)
MIT 4.411J D-Lab Schools
MIT 4.421 Space-Conditioning Systems for Low-Carbon Buildings
MIT 4.430 Daylighting and Solar Gain Control – High Performance Facades
MIT 4.432/4.433 Modeling Urban Energy Flows for Resilient Cities and Neighborhoods
MIT 4.s46 Energy in Buildings – Heating, Cooling and Ventilation Systems for Low-Carbon Buildings
MIT 4.481 Building Technology Seminar
Please also see the list of related Harvard University courses here:
https://environment.harvard.edu/graduate-consortium

*Please note that this list is subject to change as course offerings for future semesters have not been confirmed. Please note that courses may have enrollment restrictions, i.e. EE students are NOT guaranteed a spot in these courses.
**Note: based on past student feedback, we recommend that students without real-estate/financial background take 5370 prior to 5364 if possible.

Students contemplating cross-registering for courses at another Harvard school must abide by the dates and policies of the school in which the course is offered. Priority for enrollment may be given to the other school’s students first before cross-registrations are accepted — enrollment is not guaranteed. See https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/resources/cross-registration-policies-procedures/