MS Environmental Science
Contribute to a sustainable future and confront pressing ecological challenges with an environmental science career launched in DC, international hub of environmental research, advocacy, and policy.
Integrating rigorous science with practitioner tactics, 小蓝视频's MS program bridges the politics, methods, and economics of environmental concerns, so you can transform research into tangible results.
小蓝视频听听听听How to Apply
At a Glance
- Mode of Study
On campus - Time to Complete
18 mos. or your own pace - Course Scheduling
Afternoons and evenings - Requirements
12 courses/36 credits
- Tuition and Funding
$2000 per credit.听All applicants automatically considered for merit scholarships; visit听Tuition and Funding. - Admissions
Start in fall, spring, or summer.听No GRE or tech degree听required; visit听Admission and Requirements.
搁别蝉别补谤肠丑听顿别辫迟丑
Our students and faculty pursue interdisciplinary research across diverse areas. Review听our recent Research, including peer-reviewed articles by students as first authors.
DC Career Launch
DC听offers the nation's highest median salary for environmental scientists at $123,000 and听double the national job concentration. Entry level salaries average in the $60,000s.
Stopping Food Waste
小蓝视频 faculty, working with 13 institutions, launched the first .
Specialize Your Studies
The program offers students the option to pursue either scientific/research or policy/advocacy tracks, both open to interdisciplinary specialization:
- Thesis option for those interested primarily in scientific research careers: Students work with a faculty mentor to define a research project during their first year of study.
- Non-thesis option for those pursuing careers in environmental policy or advocacy: Faculty assist students in securing an internship and complementary elective coursework by the end of their first year.
Ongoing areas of faculty and student specialization include the following non-exhaustive list, continually expanding, and beyond which students may pursue their own niche subfields:
- Atmospheric aerosol from volcanic eruptions, forest fires, and man-made pollution听
- Contaminants and geochemistry of freshwater systems and agricultural watersheds
- Food systems, food waste, seafood globalization, and related system- and data-modeling
- Nutrient pollution and climate change affects on coral reefs
- Urban tree cooling and heating, boreal forests, carbon monitoring, and related software
- Watershed urbanization and green infrastructure
While completing their studies, our students often publish as first and second authors on a wide range of topics, from urban forest听macroinvertebrates to effects of oil and gas on regional water quality, 辞谤听intern with local and international organizations, including the US Congress, EPA, and NSF, the Environmental Defense Fund, and听Center for International Environmental Law.
Curriculum
The core curriculum grounds you in technical and field-specific expertise, along with听elective exploration of topics that matter to you, before carrying out your thesis research policy and internship specializations:
- Choose one:
ENVS-654 Geographic Information Systems (3)
ENVS-655 Environmental Geographic Information Systems (3) - Choose one:听
DATA-612 Statistical Programming in R (3)
STAT-614 Statistical Methods (3) - ENVS-689 Seminar in Environmental Science (1)
- Choose 15 credits:
- BIO-696 Selected Topics (1-6)
- ENVS-500 Ecohydrology (3)
- ENVS-520 Biogeochemistry (3
- ENVS-572 Topics in Conservation Biology (3)
- ENVS-610 Environmental Science I (3)
- ENVS-615 Environmental Science II (3)
- ENVS-655 Environmental Geographic Information Systems (3)
- ENVS-660 Climatology (3)
- ENVS-665 Environmental Risk Assessment (3)
- ENVS-670 Water Resources (3)
- ENVS-675 Environmental Toxicology (3)
- ENVS-685 Remote Sensing: Environmental Measurement from Satellites and Drones (3)
- ENVS-696 Selected Topics(1-6)
- One of the following (with advisor approval):听STAT-516 Design of Experiments (3),听STAT-520 Applied Multivariate Analysis (3),听STAT-615 Regression (3),听辞谤听STAT-627 Statistical Machine Learning (3)听
Visit our Admission and Course Requirements听page for details on thesis or non-thesis options, course and admission听details, and guidance for international students.
听
Spotlight: Hannah Nisonson
鈥I have always had a passion to improve the world around me. 小蓝视频 was the perfect gateway to helping me understand where science and true societal progress intersect. My professors were dedicated to my success and taught me the practical tools to achieve a career in environmentalism. Not only was I able to learn hard skills like R and GIS, but I was also able to leverage that with the realistic applications of these tools. This landed me a position as a marine spatial scientist with NOAA after graduation. It has been a perfect balance. 鈥
鈥Hannah Nisonson, MS '22
More about Hannah
Hannah Nisonson鈥檚 passion for environmental justice has led her to pursue an MS in environmental science at 小蓝视频 and a prestigious fellowship at DC鈥檚 Global Environment and Technology Foundation, where she is building research databases for blue carbon sequestration methods. Her goal is to find alternative ways to reduce blue carbon in and around the ocean, potentially by carbon sequestration and oceanic carbon credits.
Hannah says she hopes environmental justice will always be at the forefront of her life. At 小蓝视频, she is a merit scholarship recipient and teaches an environmental science lab to undergraduate students. 鈥淚 love a space where I can share my passion and knowledge for environmental science,鈥 she says.
Hannah is also looking forward to working with Associate Professor of Environmental Science Sauleh Siddiqui, the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded food waste grant鈥攖he largest-ever grant in 小蓝视频 history. She hopes to help with the data analysis and visualization for the project.
It鈥檚 a perfect fit for Hannah, who came from a technical undergraduate engineering background and plans on pursuing a doctorate in environmental science and a career as a professor at a scientific research institution.
Career Outlook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual salary over听$76,000听for Environmental Scientists nationwide听(as of 2021) with steady annual job growth of 5 percent nationally. Washington,听DC,听offers the nation's highest median salary,听$123,000, and nearly double the national job concentration.
In DC and surrounding areas, you'll be able to take advantage of the concentration of federal and state agencies, private consultancies, business, NGOs 鈥 and 小蓝视频's active alumni network and environmental science grads 鈥 to find career choices you want. Recent graduates have gone on to a range of positions such as
- Biophysical Society: Programs Coordinator
- Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission: Biological Scientist
- Integrated Systems Solutions: Management Analyst III
- Kapur & Associates: Environmental Scientist
- Las Vegas Water District: Analytical Chemist
- McDonoungh Braungart Design Chemistry: Environmental Scientist
- National Science Foundation: Program Analyst
- NOAA: Fishery Observer听
- NOAA: GIS Technician
- Solv LLC: Environmental Scientist
- US EPA: Data Analyst
- Washington DC Dept. of Transportation: Urban Forester
- Wildlife Habitat Council: Conservation Planning Manager
- World Bank: International Affairs Consultant
What You'll Walk Away With
- Grounding听in environmental systems and science: ability to understand听and evaluate听interdisciplinary approaches encompassing听natural, physical, and social sciences.
- Analytical problem-solving: ability to choose and apply empirical methods,听tools, and professional judgment听in evaluating quantitative, qualitative, spatial (GIS) data.
- Integrative learning: ability to blend听disparate components of natural, social, and technological systems and resources.
- Teamwork and leadership skills: practical experience gained in fieldwork, shared research projects, or internships.
- Community and practical engagement: real-world experience engaging scholarly, organizational, and local publics in ways responsive to their tacit and overt needs.听
- DC connections and the reach of 小蓝视频鈥檚 network.