Teaching

Courses offered and taught by Dr. Simic Milas

Remote Sensing of Environment SEES 4500/5500 (Undergraduates and Graduates) 

Remote sensing of the environment has been an increasingly exciting subject as many new satellite sensors have recently been successfully launched and many are still forthcoming. The unprecedented abundance of earth observation data allows us to address many pressing environmental, geographical and geological issues. This course will prepare students for the basics of using remote sensing data. Students will have a solid understanding of the physical principles of remote sensing, including electromagnetic (EM) radiation concepts, and will also explore in detail the interaction of EM radiation with the atmosphere, water, vegetation, soils and minerals, and other land cover types, from a remote sensing perspective. A series of laboratory works will be designed to lead students through the key steps in processing satellite images and in extracting quantitative information about the environment of the Earth’s surface. Graduate students will design and conduct research projects.

Applied Remote Sensing SEES 6400 (Graduates) 

This course is advanced and it is based on SEES 4500/5500. Students will explore the physical principles of remote sensing in detail and they will use specific software such as ENVI, PIX4D, eMotion, DART, and other remote sensing software. Students will learn about IDL programming language used in ENVI. In addition to learning advanced concepts, terminology, and theories in remote sensing science and applications, students will have an opportunity to help flying a drone. They will then process and analyze data using various image analysis software. Students will learn about current sensor platforms and in-situ measurements needed to perform remote sensing analyses. A series of tutorials and presentations are designed by students. In tutorials, students will read, summarize and present material from journal papers. 

Quantitative Methods GEOL 3150 (Undergraduates) 

As researchers we are constantly exposed to data. This course will introduce the most common approaches to describe, analyze, and organize data. The main objectives of this course are: 1) Introduction to the basic descriptive statistics, and 2) Introduction to non-parametric and parametric statistics to build inferences and arguments from diverse data sets. Uses of quantitative methods including summary statistics, regression analysis, and data visualization. Two one-hour lectures and one two-hour laboratory will include intensive theoretical and practical hands-on work. Prerequisites: GEOL 1040 or GEOL 1050, MATH 1280, or consent of instructor. Co-requisite: GEOL 3020.

Geospatial Science SEES 3000 (Undergraduates) 

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of geospatial science. It addresses the basic concepts used in geospatial science including: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Aerial Photography, and Cartography. The course is also designed to familiarize students with the different geospatial software and tools as well as their analytical capabilities. The objectives of this course are: (1) to provide an introduction to the fundamentals of geospatial science using a hands-on approach. This is to prepare students for future interdisciplinary courses which integrate geospatial skills and analysis. These skills include determining direction, distance, area, heights, coordinates and patterns from maps, images and GIS data layers; interpretation of aerial photos and digital imagery; determining positions with GPS; and making and using maps; (2) to introduce students to the basic concepts of map projections and coordinate systems, characteristics of maps, aerial and satellite images, digital data structures, map scale, and map and image resolution; (3) to introduce students to new tools and technologies, such as GPS systems, Lidar technology, and GIS systems that are used routinely in day-to-day operations in different management applications; and (4) to familiarize students with various software capabilities used in geospatial sciences.

Introduction to Environmental Studies ENVS 1010 (Undergraduates) 

This course is designed to help students to become a more critical and constructive thinker  - one who can investigate problems and make connections between concepts and information that will help you become an effective problem solver. In this class we will also work to develop students' communication skills by learning to write effectively and to present their ideas to others during class discussions and activities. Students also have many opportunities in this class to participate both in the class and in activities that will benefit the community as we seek to develop their leadership skills.  It is a class that counts towards the fulfillment of the BG Perspectives requirement for the social sciences.  It is also a course that is required for environmental science majors and for environmental policy and analysis majors.