NATURAL RESOURCES: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Students in the Environmental Conservation and Sustainability option typically have a BS/BA degree or strong background in environmental and natural resource sciences with a keen interest in combining the natural sciences with the social sciences. Those without this background may be accepted upon completion of some additional fundamental courses. Areas of interest include natural resource policy, conservation biology, sustainability, ecological ethics and values, international environmental affairs, and spatial data analysis (remote sensing and GIS).
Key Learning Objectives:
- Knowledge and skills outcomes to ensure graduates of the MS program have mastered their discipline: demonstrate knowledge of theory and practice, as well as critical thinking skills and creativity, in conducting ecological, economic, and policy assessment of natural resource and environmental issues and developing solutions to environmental problems;
- successfully employ the field, laboratory, data analysis, and social science skills necessary to perform research concerning natural resources and their management;
- design, propose, and execute research addressing fundamental or critical issues in natural resources;
- contribute to scholarship through publication and presentation of research findings using diverse media.
Professional outcomes to ensure graduates of the MS program successfully compete for jobs in the public and private sectors:
- demonstrate mastery of theory and empirical knowledge in their research concentration and, more generally, in the relevant natural and/or social;
- use written and oral skills to communicate effectively with colleagues, stakeholders, and the public;
- integrate theory and practice to analyze, assess, and solve environmental and social problems and answer questions across diverse scales from local to global;
- develop and employ interdisciplinary relationships and approaches to addressing environmental issues;
- interact with professional peers honestly and ethically, and in ways that show cultural sensitivity, inquisitiveness, and propensity for teamwork.