Requirements for the Environmental Sciences Major (B.S.)
Required Lower-Division Courses
- CHEM 3A, CHEM 3B/BL, CHEM 3C/CL: General Chemistry
- MATH 11A and MATH 11B, or MATH 19A and MATH 19B: Intro Calculus
- PHYS 6A/L, and PHYS 6B/M: Intro Physics with Calculus for Scientists and Engineers
- EART 5/L or 10/L or 20/L: Intro Geology
- ENVS 25: Environmental Policy and Economics
- ESCI 30: Biological Principles of Environmental Sciences
Required Upper-Division Courses
- ESCI 100A: Introduction to Environmental Sciences
- ESCI 100B: Introduction to Environmental Processes
- ESCI 160: Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences (also satisfies the Statistical Reasoning general education requirement)
- At least five elective courses (5+ credits each) from upper-division Earth sciences, Environmental sciences or Ocean sciences offerings must be completed. Courses from other departments may also be considered for upper-division elective credit by permission of a faculty adviser. Please consult with an adviser for more details.
- Senior comprehensive: Capstone seminar (ESCI 191) or senior thesis (ESCI 195). These also satisfy the Disciplinary Communication (DC) general education requirement.
Students are encouraged to take more than the minimum number of elective courses and may craft an elective distribution from many areas of specific research and career interests.
Electives
The following curriculum tracks may be used to guide your course selection, if you would like to focus your coursework on a particular topic:
Air/Climate Track:
ESCI 122 - Air Pollution
EART 121 - The Atmosphere
EART 124 - Modeling Earth’s Climate
EART 129 - Global Change
EART 131 - Sea Level Change
EART 148 - Glaciology
OCEA 111 - Climate Dynamics
OCEA 172 - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
Freshwater Track:
ESCI 150 - Field and Lab Methods in Aquatic Science
EART 116 - Hydrology
EART 146 - Groundwater
OCEA 120 - Aquatic Chemistry
OCEA 124 - Aquatic Organic Geochemistry
Ocean Track:
ESCI 150 - Field and Lab methods in Aquatic Science
EART 102 - Marine Geology
OCEA 100 - Physical Oceanography
OCEA 101 - The Marine Environment
OCEA 118 - Marine Microbial Ecology
OCEA 122 - Chemical Oceanography
OCEA 130 - Biological Oceanography
OCEA 141 - Marine Ecosystems
OCEA 172 - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (requires PHYS 107)
Coastal Track:
ESCI 150 - Field and Lab methods in Aquatic Science
EART 105 - Coastal Geology
EART 106 - Coasts in Crisis
EART 131 - Sea Level Change
Biogeochemistry Track:
ESCI 150 - Field and Lab methods in Aquatic Science
EART 128 - Isotopes
OCEA 118 - Marine Microbial Ecology
OCEA 120 - Aquatic Chemistry
OCEA 122 - Chemical Oceanography
OCEA 124 - Aquatic Organic Geochemistry
OCEA 130 - Biological Oceanography
OCEA 141 - Marine Ecosystems
Environmental Data Science Track:
ESCI 167 - Applied Environmental Time Series Analysis
EART 112 - Geophysical Data Science
EART 125 - Statistics and Data Analysis in the Geosciences
EART 119A - Intro to Scientific Programming
EART 119B - Advanced Scientific Programming
Environmental Sciences B.S. Major Planner
Students planning a professional career in environmental sciences should take more than the minimum number of courses required for the major if possible. Four-year students have ample flexibility to take additional electives if they begin with the required courses in their second year. Junior transfers also have flexibility if they have taken most of their lower-division preparatory courses before entry. Further advice can be obtained from the undergraduate adviser and from faculty members.
Note: Chemistry 3A, 3B/BL and 3C/CL and Mathematics 11A-B are offered every quarter. Physics 6A/L is offered every quarter but Physics 6B/M offerings vary.
|
Year |
Fall Quarter |
Winter Quarter |
Spring Quarter |
|
1st (frosh) |
CHEM 3A
|
MATH 11A CHEM 3B/BL |
CHEM 3C/CL MATH 11B |
|
2nd (soph) |
ESCI 30 EART 5/L PHYS 6A/L |
ESCI 100A PHYS 6B/M |
ESCI 100B ESCI elective |
|
3rd (jr) |
ESCI 160 ESCI elective(s) |
ENVS 25 ESCI elective(s) |
ESCI elective(s) |
|
4th (sr) |
ESCI elective(s) |
ESCI elective(s) |
ESCI 191 or 195† ESCI elective(s) |
