CVEN 5423 Sample Syllabus (Fall 2019)

CVEN 5423 Water Resources Engineering
Fall 2019, °µÍø½ûÇø
MWF, 1:30-2:20, SEEC N128

Document revisions:

Version 1, dated 8/25/2019 -- initial draft

Version 2, dated 9/4/2019 -- added office hours

Instructor:           Dr. Joseph Kasprzyk (pronounced Kas – pry – zick ), joseph.kasprzyk@colorado.edu

Office Location: SEEC C244 (on second floor, in Environmental Engineering area)

Office Hours:    Wednesday 2:30-4:00 pm, Thursday 3-5 pm, in my SEEC office. Other times/locations by request.

Grading Assistant: Mikaela DeRousseau. Please direct all questions on grading discrepancies directly to the instructor.

Description:       This course provides a quantitative introduction to water resources engineering, where fluid mechanics, statistics, and computer modeling are applied to hydrologic and hydraulic design problems. 

Prerequisites:   Some knowledge of hydrology is helpful, but relevant concepts will be reviewed in this course.  It is also helpful to have a background in statistics, as well as computer programming with Matlab, R, or python.  There are no formal course prerequisites required, though undergraduate fluid mechanics is recommended.

Required Textbook:

Water Resources Engineering, third edition by David A. Chin.  The third edition is required, older editions are not acceptable.

Course Communication: The course will use the Canvas course management system and you are responsible for checking this frequently. All announcements will be sent via Canvas.

Course Goals:

Course instruction and assignments are designed to fulfill the set of four course goals below. At the end of the course:

  1. Students should be able to design water resource infrastructure systems, based on a conceptual understanding of fluid mechanics, statistics, the hydrologic cycle and how its processes can be quantified.
  2. Students should be able to apply computational and statistical techniques to quantify the role of uncertainty, and how it affects water resources engineering design.
  3. Students should be able to explain water resources topics to multiple audiences: a technical audience of other engineers, decision makers that make decisions that bear on water resources problems, and stakeholders that are affected by water resources projects.
  4. Students should appreciate the impact that water resources engineering has on everyday life.

Grading:

This course will not be graded on a curve. I reserve the right to increase grades for exemplary participation, effort, or achievement.  I also reserve the right to reduce your grade if there is a breach of the code of ethics or if you fail to participate in class, projects, or activities. Grading categories:

Homework40%
Exam #120%
Exam #2 (Final Exam)30%
Participation10%

Homework:

  • Homework will be assigned via the Canvas course management system. Please see the  for the course on Canvas.

Exams:

  • In each exam, you will be given an equation sheet. The exam will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and workout problems.
  • For exams and quizzes, bring a calculator with working batteries to the exam. All other electronic devices must be turned off and put away during the exam.
  • If you must miss an exam or quiz for a legitimate reason (e.g. religious holiday, job interview) or if you have special needs, you must make arrangements with Dr. Kasprzyk prior to the exam. All relevant university policies apply (see below).
  • If you have special arrangements (more time, disability) please let us know at the beginning of the term and we can make arrangements.
  • The course will have two exams as follows:
    • Exam #1: This exam will be given in class on October 9, and will cover from the beginning of the course until material that is covered approximately one week before the exam. It will be worth 20% of the grade.
    • Exam #2 (final exam): This exam will be given during the official final exam period announced by the University and is worth 30% of the grade. It will cover from the material after Exam #1 up to and including the end of the class. All university policies on final exams apply (see: )
      • The final exam schedule is controlled by the University. However, for courses taught at SEEC there is sometimes a discrepancy due to conflicts between courses taken on the main campus and east campus. Therefore, please check your final exams and indicate to the instructor if you may have a potential problem.

Reading Assignments:

  • Reading assignments are found on Canvas and in the course textbook.
  • I will notify you via email of the course reading schedule, and you will be responsible for reading material before class.

Topics to be Covered:

Broadly, the course covers these major topics:

  • Hydraulics
    • Pipe Flow and Pipe Networks
    • Water Distribution Systems and Water Demand
    • Hydraulic Design: of pipes and drainage channels
  • Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling
    • Simple Python programs of some phenomena
    • HEC-RAS
  • Statistics
    • Flood Frequency Analysis
    • Risk Analysis
  • Hydrology and Runoff
    • Stormwater Management
    • Design of retention ponds
  • Water Resources Planning
    • RiverWare
    • Basic water economics
    • Sizing of reservoirs

Please consult the  for the list of topics and timing.  This document is subject to change so please consult the latest version of it online.

Sickness Policy:

The instructor will make accommodations for illness on a case-by-case basis.  For homeworks, if you only miss one assignment this can count toward the ‘drop one’ policy.  Further missed homeworks will be dealt with at the discretion of the instructor.  For quizzes and exams, you must notify the instructor before missing the quiz or exam if at all possible.  It is your responsibility to contact the instructor to make up the item.  It is at the instructor’s discretion to determine a grade if the missed work is not made up in the proper amount of time.

Additional University Policies:

Accommodation for Disabilities

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to your faculty member in a timely manner so that your needs can be addressed.  Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment.  Information on requesting accommodations is located on the . Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance.  If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see  under the Students tab on the Disability Services website.

Religious Holidays

Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance.  In this class, please contact the instructor if you need to miss an assignment, class, quiz, or exam due to religious observance of any kind. See the  for full details.

Classroom Behavior

Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation or political philosophy.  Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records.  For more information, see the policies on  and the .

Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, Harassment and/or Related Retaliation

The °µÍø½ûÇø (CU Boulder) is committed to fostering a positive and welcoming learning, working, and living environment. CU Boulder will not tolerate acts of sexual misconduct intimate partner abuse (including dating or domestic violence), stalking, protected-class discrimination or harassment by members of our community. Individuals who believe they have been subject to misconduct or retaliatory actions for reporting a concern should contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) at 303-492-2127 or cureport@colorado.edu. Information about the OIEC, university policies, , and the campus resources can be found on the .

Please know that faculty and instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when made aware of incidents of sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment and/or related retaliation, to ensure that individuals impacted receive information about options for reporting and support resources.

Honor Code

You are required to adhere to both the University and Department honor code policies as described below:

University Policy

All students enrolled in a °µÍø½ûÇø course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the policy may include: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code (honor@colorado.edu); 303-492-5550). Students who are found responsible for violating the academic integrity policy will be subject to nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code as well as academic sanctions from the faculty member. Additional information regarding the Honor Code academic integrity policy can be found at the Honor Code Office websiteLinks to an external site..

CEAE Policy 

The Department of Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering (CEAE) requires all students to adhere to a strict policy of academic integrity. These expectations are in accordance with the °µÍø½ûÇø Honor Code, but this policy is intended to provide more specific guidelines for all undergraduate and graduate students in CEAE. Ethical behavior in college sets the stage for a lifetime of professional and ethical behavior that is expected of all engineering professionals. This policy describes the academic sanctions that will be imposed by CEAE faculty members. Faculty retain the right to set academic sanctions, and if they choose individual courses can deviate from the expectations stated below; these changes will be noted in the course syllabus. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code Council. Non- academic sanctions are the purview of the Honor Code Council.

Any activity that could give you an unfair advantage over other students may be cheating. Specific examples of actions that are considered to be cheating and therefore violations of academic integrity:

  • Plagiarizing a homework, lab report, or problem set. On assignments that require you to use supplemental materials, you must properly document the sources of information that you used. If you are uncertain about allowable reference materials or how to document your sources, ask your instructor in advance. Specific examples of plagiarism related to homeworks, labs, or problem sets include but are not limited to:
    • copying from a solution manual
    • copying from Internet sites
    • copying from previous semester’s homework set or lab report
    • copying directly from classmates
    • copying lab data that you yourself did not participate in collecting
    • Plagiarizing content in a paper, report, thesis, or dissertation, by copying material from a published sources or the internet, without appropriate citation format and attribution
    • Using unapproved information during a closed-book test or quiz (such as a reference sheet, information stored in a calculator, iPhone, information written on your skin)
    • Copying from another student during a quiz, exam, or test
    • Working in groups on web based quizzes, exams, or tests
    • Working in groups on take-home quizzes, exams, or tests
    • Asking another student about questions on an exam that you have not yet taken
    • Changing the answer on your test/homework after it was graded and then telling the instructor that there was a grading mistake
    • Allowing another student to copy your homework, lab report, or allowing another student to look at your answers during a quiz or exam

The list above is not exhaustive; other violations are possible. Any violation will be reported to the Honor Code Council.  Any first violation of academic integrity on graded course activities (i.e. homework, lab reports, exams) will result in a minimum sanction of a zero score and an entry in your department file. Instructors can increase these penalties to assigning a failing grade (F) for the entire course. The department will retain a list of all instances of academic integrity violations. Additional sanctions will be imposed for subsequent violations.