GEP 373 Energy, Technology, and Society Syllabus

  • Instructor: Professor Daniel Soto
  • Office: Stevenson 3729
  • Email: sotod@sonoma.edu
  • Semester: Fall 2026
  • Meeting Time: M/W 10:00 am -- 11:50 am
  • Classroom: Stevenson 1002
  • Units: 4

Office Hours (AMA) and Email

Signup is online and can be accessed at the GEP Department Website or directly through this link. Office hours are your opportunity to meet with me one-on-one for anything that helps your learning. Please meet with me during office hours for any grade checks or other issues that require individual attention.

When you send email, please put [GEP 373] in your subject line. This helps me identify and respond to student emails more quickly. It is my goal to respond to student emails within 48 working hours, please send a follow up if you have not received a reply in that time.

Course Catalog Description

A lecture/discussion course designed to assist students in understanding energy as a fundamental measure of organization, structure, and transformation in society. Principal topics include: energy history; thermodynamics; energy resources and conversion technologies; global issues and trends; environmental impacts; energy economics, institutions, and politics. Elementary quantitative analysis.

Course-level Learning Objectives

  • Development of critical thinking skills applied to global energy issues
  • Develop model thinking and quantitative estimation skills for energy use
  • Understanding of the multiple technical, social, and policy issues surrounding energy implementations

If you perform the work required for this class, you will be able to evaluate and improve parts of our energy system. You will be able to use mathematics, computational tools, physics, and social science to start understanding our complex energy system. Through developing your critical thinking skills as well as your quantitative abilities, you will also be able to suggest or evaluate new ideas in our energy system. After this course, you can be an important part of our energy transition.

Class Organization and Schedule

In the first part of the class you will learn a set of concepts and tools that empower you to make rough quantitative estimates of problems. We will then apply these to our energy system as it exists and look at the positive and negative outcomes from our energy system. Last, we will apply these ideas to our local energy system and suggest ways to improve it.

Class Topic Schedule

This course schedule posted here is subject to change.

  • Mon 24 Aug -- Wed 09 Sep: Goals
  • Mon 14 Aug: Review Day 1
  • Wed 16 Aug: Exam Day 1
  • Mon 21 Sep -- Wed 30 Sep: Quantities
  • Mon 05 Oct: Review Day 2
  • Wed 07 Oct: Exam Day 2
  • Mon 12 Oct -- Wed 28 Oct: Sources
  • Mon 02 Nov: Review Day 3
  • Wed 04 Nov: Exam Day 3
  • Mon 09 Nov -- Mon 30 Nov: Humans
  • Wed 02 Dec: Review Day 4
  • Mon 07 Dec: Exam Day 4
  • Wed 09 Dec: Exam Day 5
  • Mon 14 Dec: Final Exam 10:30 am -- 12:30 pm

Course Mode

This class is offered as an in-person class and is designed for you to learn from your classmates through frequent discussions and work in-person and at the same time (synchronous). Exams will be in-person. Ideally you will attend during class time, but there will be many things that make that difficult (work, family, pandemics) and there is no grade for attendance.

Attendance and Excused Absences

If you miss class due to an unexcused absence, you will will not receive credit for any work due in class that day. If you have an excused absence, we'll arrange an extension for those in-class assignments.

To submit a request for an excused absence, please fill out this Excused Absence Form. The form asks for a brief and compelling reason for the absence but you do not need to reveal any personal, sensitive, or medical information.

I may contact you over email if I think your attendance is affecting your learning. If you have difficulty meeting your educational goals this semester because of outside difficulties, please reach out as early as possible and we can look for solutions.

Homework

There are three types of assignments in this course: homework, exam questions, and project assignments.

Homework is usually to be completed before class in preparation for the class period and is awarded full credit if complete and on time. All homework up to one day late receives 90% credit. Any homework up to one week late receives 80% credit. Any homework turned in after one week late will receive 70% credit. Any homework turned in after two weeks late will receive 60% credit.

Exams

The course grade is mostly based on the credit/no-credit demonstration of specific skills listed in the course grading section. During the exams, the instructor will hand out exam questions focused on these specific skills for you to attempt. You will complete these questions and turn them in. After the exam, the instructor will grade the exam questions with a grade of completion or to reattempt. You may reattempt the skill without penalty in a future exam session.

The skills that you are to complete will be posted at the start of each of the four sections of the course.

Course Grading

To earn a A grade:

  • Complete all of the skill checks
  • Earn a score of at least 90% on homework

To earn a B grade:

  • Complete at least 15 of the skill checks
  • Earn a score of at least 80% on homework

To earn a C grade:

  • Complete at least 10 of the skill checks
  • Earn a score of at least 70% on homework

To earn a D grade:

  • Complete at least 5 of the skill checks
  • Earn a score of at least 60% on homework

Final Exam

Our final exam period is Mon. Dec 14th from 10:30 am -- 12:30 pm. You can verify this on the Sonoma State final exam schedule.

Class Texts

You are not required to purchase any texts for this class. All course readings will be made available online.

Classroom Technology

I will announce when you need to bring a laptop to class to work on assignments. For every class, please bring a device that will allow you to access the internet and Google Docs and Sheets. If you don't have access to devices, I can point you to campus resources.

Class Norms and Agreements

Late work

Students often have circumstances beyond their control that interfere with their studies. If you believe you have a compelling case for turning in an assignment late for full credit, make an office hours appointment with me and we can discuss it.

Respectful tone in classroom

Each of us is responsible for creating a class environment where all of us can reach our highest potential. Attendance and meaningful class participation supports this goal. Civility is required from all students during discussions and interactions. In general, I expect students to be completely supportive of each others learning goals.

Willingness to take risks and experiment

I frequently try new approaches to teaching and learning. These are always with the intention of making this class as beneficial to you as possible and are usually evidence-based.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is one component of the Seawolf Commitment.

There are many resources and technologies available that could be used to complete the work in this class. We will decide as a class our policy on the use of tools, especially Generative Pre-Trained Transformers like ChatGPT for homework and exams. Together we will create norms on how to use these to best support our learning and the integrity of our classroom.

Regardless of our policy, you must be able to explain any work that you turn in and cite any work that is not your own. If you cannot clearly explain the work you have turned in you will not receive credit.

University Policies

There are important University policies that you should be aware of, such as the add/drop policy; cheating and plagiarism policy, grade appeal procedures; accommodations for students with disabilities and the diversity vision statement. Go to this URL to find them. http://www.sonoma.edu/uaffairs/policies/studentinfo.shtml

Also important are the policies around withdrawals or incompletes and your options if you find yourself unable to complete the course.

Health Concerns

In the event that your life or our class is directly or indirectly disrupted by a communicable disease outbreak, let me know and we'll construct a plan. If there is an interruption in classes, all deadlines will be postponed. After we return, I will post the new deadlines after consulting with students.

Natural Disasters

If the campus is closed, any assignments or work that were due during the closure will be postponed. When the campus is reopened, we will discuss a new schedule and new assignment due dates. If you are personally affected by a natural disaster but the campus isn't closed, you will be granted extensions on any work.

Basic Needs

Any student who believes their performance in the course may be affected by their access to sufficient food, stable housing, or their citizenship status is encouraged to seek out assistance from Sonoma State. If you are comfortable with it, please notify me as well so I can help direct you to any available resources.