Global Warming

For immediate release:

Cal State L.A.'’s New Interactive Global Warming Web Site Featured in Science Magazine'’s NetWatch this Month

“Global warming’s future impact depends on factors such as human population growth and fossil fuel use,” begins Science magazine’s NetWatch feature highlighting Cal State L.A.’s new Global Warming Web site in its April 2005 issue. Science <http://www.sciencemag.org> is one of the world’s most prestigious scientific publications.

The interactive Web-based activity for high school and introductory college courses was designed by Cal State L.A.’s masters of interactive science Web sites and project directors Robert Desharnais, professor of Biological Sciences, and Gary Novak, professor of Geological Sciences.

Desharnais and Novak’s Global Warming illustrates principles of global warming and climate change due to natural and human-caused factors. The site explores climate through an overview demonstration of the energy budget model and future climate change activities; animated and interactive tutorials; and online assessment quizzes. It also shows teachers how to register a class in order to access the database of individual student or classroom results (for free!).

Other CSULA individuals involved in the creation of the tutorial include faculty member David Mayo (Geological Sciences), postdoctoral associate Mel Limson (Biological Sciences), software engineer David Risner, and graphics designer Bobby Berberyan. The work is supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the California State University.

Previous activities developed by the CSULA creative team include Earthquake, Virtual Dating (about geologic time--not a way to find “that special someone,” explains the introduction), and Virtual River, all accessible at www.ScienceCourseware.com.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 170,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu