Environmental Science Program:

The environmental science program is a comprehensive bachelor of science degree program dealing with the interaction of humans and their environment from the primary perspective of the natural sciences. The program includes basic courses in the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, and the geosciences) and more advanced courses relating the natural sciences to environmental concerns. Advanced courses include ecology, soils, hydrogeology, environmental chemistry, environmental physics, toxicology, aquatic ecology, and conservation biology.

The program is structured so that the student gains a holistic perspective of the environment. The program includes an interdisciplinary course, Environmental Foundations, that integrates the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Two upper level, non-science, environmental courses, including environmental ethics, are required as part of the program. The program’s capstone course is the Senior Practicum in which students use their training in a real case study to broaden a student’s environmental experience of a specific environmental problem.

The program includes a formal co-op (field experience) requirement. With a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, a student is prepared for entry-level positions in research, manufacturing, sales, and management. Potential employers include governmental agencies, private consulting firms, and industries dealing with environmental problems. Also, students are prepared to continue their education at the post-baccalaureate level. The major is also suitable for students contemplating a career in teaching at levels K-12.

Major equipment available to environmental science majors includes a mass-spectrometer-gas chromatograph; transmission and scanning electron microscopes (with X-ray analyzer); UV-visible and infrared spectrometers; 200Mhz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer; five gas or high-pressure liquid chromatographs; atomic absorption spectrophotometer; inductively coupled plasma emission spectrograph; ion chromatograph; low-, high- and ultra-high-speed centrifuges; liquid scintillation counter; electrophoresis instrumentation; refrigerated fraction collector; a research greenhouse; an ecology lab with a wide range of both stationary and field equipment; a seismograph, weather station, and soils laboratory.

State-of-the-art mini- and micro computer networked facilities are conveniently located in the Science Complex; more powerful mainframe and super-computer facilities are available to authorized users through high-speed telecommunications lines.