B.A. in Environmental Studies (ESP)
Two concentrations in the environmental field, a B.S. in ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (EVS) and a B.A. in ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (ESP) are offered in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester. Interested students should contact Professor K Berger (275-3934) or the Department Office (275-5713).
The B.A. in Environmental Studies is designed to guide students who have interests in environmental management through a program that links courses in the natural and social sciences. Students successfully completing this program could expect to pursue graduate programs in such fields as law, public policy, urban and regional planning, and environmental management or to find entry-level employment with consulting firms and public agencies.
The Environmental Studies Degree Program consists of prerequisite courses, a set of environmental core courses, electives in the natural and social sciences, one additional course in mathematics or statistics and a closure experience. Two of the courses must be taken as writing courses (W indicates writing courses, courses with a writing section are marked by +).
Prerequisite Courses
All students must take the first course in calculus (MTH 161), chemistry (CHM 131), biology (BIO 110 or BIO 111). These are essential prerequisite courses required by several of the core or elective courses.
Core Courses
The core courses deal explicitly with important environmental problems and illustrate the relationship between the content of specific disciplines such as geology, chemistry, economics, and political science and the practice of environmental analysis and management.
- EES 103 Introduction to Environmental Science (EES 101, 104Q, or EES 105 are acceptable alternates if taken in the Freshman year)
Choose three out of four of the following. If all four courses are taken, then the fourth will be counted as a technical elective.
- EES 211 Geohazards and Their Mitigation: Living on an active planet
- EES 213+ Physical Hydrology
- EES 216 Environmental Geochemistry
- EES 218 Atmospheric Geochemistry
Elective Courses
Elective courses must be chosen to create what the student and the faculty advisors view as a coherent program. The elective courses are presented in two groups: 1) Natural Sciences and Engineering, 2) Social Sciences. Some of these courses may require a pre-requisite course not specified as part of the program. In addition, one course in mathematics, statistics or computer science is required. (All courses listed carry 4 credit hours if not indicated otherwise.)
NATURAL SCIENCES (Select 16 credits in this category if only 12 are chosen from social sciences)
BIOLOGICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- BIO 104 Ecosystem and Human Society
- BIO 205+ Evolution
- BIO 225 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- BIO 247 Environmental Animal Physiology
- BIO 250 Biochemistry
- BIO 260+ Animal Behavior
- BIO 263+ Ecology
- PM 103 Concepts of Epidemiology
- PM 415 Principles of Epidemiology
GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES
- EES 102Q/202Q Plate Tectonics & Active Geologic Processes (EES 101, 104Q, or EES 105 are acceptable alternates if taken in the Freshman year)
- EES 104Q Environmental Geology in the Field and Lab (EES 102Q can be counted as a technical elective if taken in the freshman year.)
- EES 105 Introduction to Climate Change (EES 104Q and EES 360 are offered concurrently. Freshmen and Sophomores can use 104Q as one of their Technical Electives. EES 104Q can be taken concurrently with EES 101. EES 360 is a Closure Course for seniors who serve as leaders in group projects.)
- EES 201+ Evolution of the Earth
- EES 203 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
- EES 204 Introductory Mineralogy
- EES 208 Structural Giology
- EES 215 Environmental and Applied Geophysics
- EES 217+ Chemical Hydrology
- EES 219+ Energy and Society
- EES 248+ High Temperature Geochemistry
- EES 251 Remote Sensing
- EES 252 Marine Geology
CHEMISTRY and CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
- CHM 203 Organic Chemistry I + Lab. (CHM 207)
- CHM 204 Organic Chemistry II + Lab. (CHM 208)
- CHM 231 Chemical Instrumentation
- CHE Green Engineering
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Select 16 credits from this category, if only 12 are chosen from natural sciences)
ECONOMICS
- ECO 207 Intermediate Microeconomics
- ECO 238 Environmental Economics
- ECO 251 Industrial Organization
- ECO 263+ Public Finance
POLITICAL SCIENCE
- PSC 209 Interest Groups in America
- PSC 215 American Elections
- PSC 241 Urban change and City Politics
- PSC 243+ Environmental Politics
- PSC 247 Green Markets
- PSC 253 Comparative Political Parties
- PSC 272 Theories of International Relations
COURSES IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS
- ANT 216 Medical Anthropology
- ANT 223 Nature, Landscape and Environment
- ANT 224 Anthropolgy of Development
- PHL 102 Ethics
- PHL 223 Social and Political Philosophy
- PHL 230 Environmental Justice
Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Science
Select one course from the following list:
- MTH 143 Calculus III
- MTH 162 Analysis II
- STT 211 Applied Statistics for Social Science I
- STT 212 Applied Statistics for Biological/Physical Science I
- CSC 171 Computer Programming
Closure Courses
Select at least one (preferably two) course(s) from the following list. Seminars or senior theses with environmental content offered in other departments are also acceptable (after approval by one of the program advisors).
- EES 320W Sustainable Systems
- EES 360 Environmental Geology in the Field and Laboratory (EES 104Q and EES 360 are offered concurrently. Freshmen and Sophomores can take 104Q as one of their Technical Electives. EES 360 is a Closure Course for seniors who serve as leaders in group projects.)
- EES 391 Independent Study in Environmental Studies
- EES 393+ Senior Thesis in Environmental Sciences (4 or 8 credits)
- EES 394 Internship in Environmental Studies/Science
Acceptable substitutions and AP credit: BIO 112 for BIO 110 or 111; MTH 141-142 for MTH 161.
AP credit accepted (score of 4 or 5) in Environmental Science (EES 103); Biology (BIO 110); chemistry (CHM 131) and mathematics (MTH 161). Transfer credit for required courses is accepted in accordance with rules of the department offering the course, for technical electives on a case by case basis after consultation with a faculty advisor.