Catalogue Description:

Introduction to the geography of Mars, providing a physical regionalization of the Martian surface and climate and an understanding of underlying tectonic, geomorphic, and meteorological processes. The course reviews remote sensing fundamentals and data sources for geographical analysis of Mars. (2 hours seminar, 2 hours lab activity)

Course Coverage:

The course will cover the history of Mars exploration, review remote sensing fundamentals and data sources about Mars, and the planet's basic characteristics. The course then provides a physical regionalization of the Martian surface and underlying tectonic and geomorphic processes, as well as a treatment of the climatic regionalization of the planet. Becoming familiar with how another planet "works" will deepen our understanding of our own planet! The course will also touch on Mars' history as a screen for human fantasy and consider the possibilities of human settlement there.

Course Objectives:

• Understanding of the scientific method in geography and related fields as they analyze another planet
• Understanding of the power and limitations of Earth- and near-Earth-, flyby-, orbiter-, and lander-based remote sensing as a means of exploring another planet
• A familiarity with Mars as a place at several scales of analysis
• An appreciation of deep time in the martian landscapes
• A sense of how geographers contribute to the exploration of Mars
• An ability to reason about and generate hypotheses concerning features of the martian surface from what you know about physical geography, geology, and/or environmental science
• A sense of how presently available data can be used to test these hypotheses ... and a sense of which questions cannot be answered now (and the sorts of data that need to be collected in the future to answer them)
• A deepened appreciation of Earth through contrast with another, similar planet where the story turned out very differently
• Practice in mapping Mars and communicating your analyses in writing and suitable maps, graphs, and tables
• And some fun along the way as we look at how Mars sets off the quirks in the human imagination!

Required Course Materials:

• Text: Forget, François; Costard, Franç and Lognonné, Philippe. 2008. Planet Mars: Story of Another Planet, originally La Planète Mars, trans. Bob Mizon. Springer.

Recommended Course Materials:

• Text, Carr, Michael H. 2006. The Surface of Mars. Cambridge University Press (excellent book, if dated now: I stopped using it for our textbood when the price suddenly shot up from around $85 to $200 a few years ago!!!, but, if you can find a used copy for cheaper, you would want to add it to your library, even though it's beginning to show its age)
• Review anthology, Soare, Richard J.; Conway, Susan J.; Williams, Jean-Pierre, and Oehler, Dorothy Z. 2021. Mars Geological Enigmas: From the Late Noachian Epoch to the Present Day. Amsterdam, NL; Oxford, UK; and Cambridge, MA. Thorough and well-written summaries of major research themes dominating modern Mars research.
• Atlas, Hargitai, Henrik. 2021. Mars 36: Pocket Atlas and Calendar for Mars Year 36. Budapest: Hargitai Henrik e.v. This Hungarian geographer does some of the most beautiful cartography for Mars, really breathtakingly beautiful and informative.
• Text, your introductory physical geography, general geology, or environmental science textbook that, of course, you would never even think of selling back to the bookstore! In case you did, here are some free e-book resources:
  • Rodrigue, Christine M. 2004. Lectures for GEOG 140, Introductory Physical Geography.
    https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog140/lectures/ (a lot of the graphics are 404, but it's still serviceable, if a bit dated)
  • Pidwirny, Michael, and Jones, Scott. 2014. Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd ed.
    http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/contents.html
  • Ritter, Michael E. 2006. The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography.
    https://www.thephysicalenvironment.com/
  • Southard, John. 2007. Lectures for MIT Course 12.090, The Environment of the Earth's Surface. MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/earth-atmospheric-and-planetary-sciences/12-090-the-environment-of-the-earths-surface-spring-2007/course-textbook/
• Novel, your choice from an approved list of novels set on Mars for those of you seeking extra credit just to lay in some safety padding!

Grading:

• Midterm = 25%
• Final = 25%
• Bibliographic review essay = 25%
• Labs = 25%
• For graduate students, a project entailing original analysis of archival data suitable for conference presentation = 25% effort beyond the other requirements of the class. There are no suitable conferences in the fall, so I'll have you give your results to the class on the last evening before finals.

Makeup Policy:

COVID-19 and Mode of Instruction:

Given the improv nature of these adjustments, which may be in "real-time" as the semester, I'll be very receptive to student ideas to improve the class so that everyone can get the most out of it, no matter what the virus is up to.

Topics:

Policy Section

COVID-19 Health and Safety Requirements

Accessibility:

Disability:

It is the student's responsibility to let me know at the beginning of the semester if s/he has a disability that may require accommodation. I am personally committed to making my classes accessible and providing accommodations that will help everyone have the same chance at success. I need to know about the issue at the beginning of the semester, though, so that we can work out a mutually reasonable and satisfying accommodation. For more information on campus support services for disabled students, please check out https://www.csulb.edu/student-affairs/bob-murphy-access-center.

Documentation status:

As an educator, I strive to make courses accessible to all students regardless of immigration status. If your status presents obstacles to engaging in specific activities or fulfilling specific criteria, you may request confidential accommodations. You may also consult with the Office of Equity & Compliance (https://csulb.edu/equity-compliance) or the Dream Success Center (https://csulb.edu/dream) for examples of possible accommodations. Such arrangements will not jeopardize your student status, your financial aid, or any other part of your residence. Please advise me if and when you feel comfortable during the semester so that I may make appropriate alterations as needed.

Prejudice:

Violent incidents over the last few years have underscored the pervasiveness of prejudicial views of Black, Asian, Latinx, Native American, Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQ+ people, and others -- and how they create structural obstacles and inequities that can cost people's lives, safety, health, income, wealth, and ability to pursue interests and education. In my classes, I strive to create an environment that supports meaningful interactions among all my students in the common pursuit of research, inquiry, and learning, and I try to be aware of the damage that these personal and structural forces do to many students and ease their impacts as they affect your enjoyment of and progress in this class. Please feel welcome to let me know of any such impacts or, if you would be more comfortable, you can approach one of the following student assistance resource centers:

• CSULB Office of Multicultural Affairs resource centers
• CSULB Beach Hillel

Veterans:

Veterans come back from their service possibly quite altered or hurt by the experience and may find it a challenging mission to fit (back) into campus life, where so few of the rest of us have any understanding of their experiences or context to put them in. If you are a veteran, that isolation can pose an accessibility problem that may affect your progress in this class and other classes. If you think this may be the case, please let me know about your situation as soon as possible, so that we can find accommodations or resources that can help you benefit from this class. You might also want to contact the CSULB Veterans Services office.

Title IX:

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. If you have experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, the Campus Confidential Advocate is available to help. Jaqueline Urtez (e-mail: advocate@csulb.edu, phone: (562) 985-2668) can provide free and confidential support, accommodations, and referrals for victims without having to report the assault to campus authorities. While students are welcome to discuss assaults with faculty or disclose such experiences in class discussions or assignments, both faculty and teaching assistants are classified as responsible employees who are required to report all known incidents of sexual harassment/misconduct to the Office of Equity & Compliance/Title IX Office for follow-up. Reporting this information will result in the student being contacted by the Office of Equity & Compliance/Title IX Office with information on accommodations and reporting options for possible investigation. Students do not need to respond to the Office of Equity & Compliance/Title IX Office, but students who do wish to report the assault for possible investigation are encouraged to contact the Campus Confidential Advocate, who can help them through the reporting process, or they can report the assault directly to the Office of Equity & Compliance/Title IX Office by completing an online reporting form at https://www.csulb.edu/equity-compliance/title-ix-at-the-beach or contacting the Office of Equity & Compliance at OEC@csulb.edu.

Withdrawal Policy:

Here are the various deadlines: http://www.csulb.edu/enrollment-services/key-dates-and-deadlines

Cheating and Plagiarism Policy:

Furthermore, students should be aware that faculty members have a range of academic actions available to them in cases of cheating and plagiarism. At a minimum, I will fail a student cheating or plagiarizing on a particular assignment, but only if I think that there was some misunderstanding about what these offenses are; if I feel that the decision to cheat or plagiarize was intentional, I will fail a student in the course. I also may then refer the student to Judicial Affairs for possible probation, suspension, or dismissal.

When in doubt, cite: It keeps you out of trouble and makes your work look polished and professional. Please ask me if you think you're getting into a grey area: I would be happy to consult with you about particular problems that come up. To learn a little more about plagiarism, take a look at this workshop on ethics in science that several faculty put together: The second section is about plagiarism. https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geography/gdep/ethics.html.

What about ChatGPT, Bard, LLaMa, Ryter, and Other AI?

AI is transforming the generation of writing and graphics and it has hit so suddenly that business, education, scientists, writers, and artists are floundering to figure out its impacts and ethical use. It will destroy some of your planned career paths; it will open up new careers for you, too. It is, therefore, important for you to become familiar with these AI models and, so, you may use them in certain ways in this class. For example, grad students might find it useful to start their research essay ("What refereed journal articles or other academic resources could I use to research the change from neutral hydrochemistry to acidic hydrochemistry on Mars?" or whatever your topic is); all students could make use of it to ask questions about lecture, lab, or research material you don't quite understand ("what does hydrochemistry mean?"); anyone trying the extra credit novel report might start off with "which of the novels listed at https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog441541/novels.html is about the adventures of a female character?" or whatever you'd like to read about in a novel; all students could use AI to proofread your writing for spelling, grammar, and syntax, and I would be one happy professor reading more literate student efforts <G> and, above all, cite any AI you used for any of these purposes just as though it were an academic source, which it is. Whatever you do, don't use AI to write your essays or labs as that would amount to plagiarism and is, nowadays, detectable in TurnItIn and several new AI AI-detection programs! Also, whatever you do, don't trust AI to be telling you the truth! It's known to lie and make stuff up ("hallucinate"). You need to check its work, using regular search engines or even another AI, so you don't come off looking like a goofball! In trying to formulate my policies on this topic, I found the following sources really helpful, and you might, too:

• https://www.open.edu.au/advice/insights/ethical-way-to-use-chatgpt-as-a-student
• https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/why-chatgpt-is-both-exciting-and-unsettling-for-students-and-faculty/