The Ecosystem Sustainability program includes core study in biophysical/ecosystem science and applications to global change and sustainability issues. Maintaining ecosystem services in the face of global challenges such as climate change, population growth, globalization, land use intensification, and invasive species requires core competency in ecosystem science coupled with the ability to effectively communicate and work with experts from a variety of disciplines. Our program will provide students with the training to develop and implement solutions to global problems related to water resources, food supplies, energy, greenhouse gas management, land use change, and climate change.
A minimum of 30 credits are required to complete the MS program.
A minimum of 72 credits are required to complete the Ph.D. program with 42 additional credits allowed from the following:
- A maximum of 30 credits accepted from a master’s degree
- Additional courses not previously taken from the areas listed below
- Additional credits completed under ESS 798 or ESS 799
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses: | ||
| ESS 501 | Principles of Ecosystem Sustainability | 3 |
| ESS 692 | Seminar | 1 |
| Choose a minimum of 20 credits from the four areas listed below: | ||
| Ecosystem Science (at least one course [2-3 credits] with an ESS prefix): | ||
| ESS 524 | Foundations for Carbon/Greenhouse Gas Management | 3 |
| ESS/ATS 543 | Current Topics in Climate Change | 2 |
| ESS/F 625 | Ecology of Forest Production | 3 |
| ESS 660 | Biogeochemical Cycles in Ecosystems | 3 |
| ATS 753 | Global Hydrologic Cycle | 3 |
| ATS 760 | Global Carbon Cycle | 3 |
| BZ 572 | Phytoremediation | 3 |
| BZ 642 | Plant Metabolism | 3 |
| ECOL 505 | Foundations of Ecology | 2 |
| ECOL 600 | Community Ecology | 3 |
| ECOL 620 | Applications in Landscape Ecology | 4 |
| F 510 | Ecophysiology of Trees | 3 |
| F 624 | Fire Ecology | 3 |
| FW 555 | Conservation Biology | 3 |
| HORT 571 | Soil-Plant-Water Relations/Water Stress | 3 |
| RS 531 | World Grassland Ecogeography | 3 |
| RS 630 | Ecology of Grasslands and Shrublands | 3 |
| RS 651 | Primary Production and Decomposition | 3 |
| SOCR 522 | Micrometeorology | 3 |
| SOCR 540 | Soil-Plant-Nutrient Relationships | 3 |
| WR 574 | Advanced Snow Hydrology | 4 |
| WR 616 | Hillslope Hydrology and Runoff Processes | 3 |
| Ecosystem Sustainability (at least one course [2-3 credits] with an ESS prefix): | ||
| ESS 542 | Greenhouse Gas Policies | 2 |
| AGRI 500 | Advanced Issues in Agriculture | 3 |
| AGRI 521 | Emerging Issues and Challenges for Global Agriculture | 3 |
| AGRI 602 | Bioenergy Policy, Economics, and Assessment | 3 |
| AGRI 632 | Managing for Ecosystem Sustainability | 3 |
| AGRI 635 | Integrated Forage Management | 3 |
| AGRI 637 | Understanding Policy and Emerging Issues | 3 |
| AGRI 638 | Ecosystem Services on Agricultural Lands | 3 |
| ANTH 529 | Anthropology and Sustainable Development | 3 |
| ANTH 530 | Human-Environment Interactions | 3 |
| ANEQ 548 | Issues in Manure Management | 4 |
| AREC 542 | Applied Advanced Water Resource Economics | 4 |
| AREC/SOC 566 | Contemporary Issues in Developing Countries | 3 |
| ECOL 592 | Interdisciplinary Seminar in Ecology | 3 |
| NR 515 | Natural Resource Policy and Biodiversity | 3 |
| NR 535 | Action for Sustainable Behavior | 3 |
| NR 550 | Sustainable Military Lands Management | 3 |
| PHIL 565 | Seminar in Environmental Philosophy | 3 |
| POLS 670 | Politics of Environment and Sustainability | 3 |
| POLS 709 | Environmental Politics in U.S. | 3 |
| POLS 729 | Political Theory and the Environment | 3 |
| POLS 739 | International Environmental Politics | 3 |
| POLS 749 | Comparative Environmental Politics | 3 |
| POLS 759 | Environmental Policy and Administration | 3 |
| RS 565 | Riparian Ecology and Management | 3 |
| SOC 564 | Environmental Justice | 3 |
| SOC 666 | Globalization and Socioeconomic Restructuring | 3 |
| SOC 668 | Environmental Sociology | 3 |
| SOC 669 | Global Inequality and Change | 3 |
| WR 510 | Watershed Management in Developing Countries | 2 |
| Quantitative Methods (at least one course [2-3 credits] with an ESS prefix): | ||
| ESS 545 | Applications in Greenhouse Gas Inventories | 4 |
| ESS/ANTH 554 | Ecological and Social Agent-based Modeling | 4 |
| ESS 565 | Niche Models | 4 |
| ESS 575 | Models for Ecological Data | 4 |
| AREC/ECON 535 | Applied Econometrics | 3 |
| AREC/ECON 540 | Environmental and Natural Resource Economics | 3 |
| ECOL 620 | Applications in Landscape Ecology | 4 |
| F 521 | Advanced Quantitative Methods in Forestry II | 3 |
| GEOL 551 | Groundwater Modeling | 3 |
| GEOL 562 | Statistical Data Analysis in Earth Resources | 3 |
| LAND 520 | Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
| NR/GR 503 | Remote Sensing and Image Analysis | 4 |
| NR 504 | Computer Analysis of Remote Sensing Data | 4 |
| NR 505 | Concepts in GIS | 4 |
| NR 512 | Spatial Statistical Modeling-Natural Resources | 3 |
| NR/STAT 523 | Quantitative Spatial Analysis | 3 |
| NR 565 | Principles of Natural Resources Ecology | 3 |
| RS 532 | Rangeland Ecosystem Sampling | 2 |
| SOCR 620 | Modeling Ecosystem Biogeochemistry | 3 |
| SOCR 670 | Terrestrial Ecosystems Isotope Ecology | 3 |
| STAA 551 | Regression Models and Applications | 2 |
| STAA 552 | Generalized Regression Models | 2 |
| STAA 553 | Experimental Design | 2 |
| STAA 554 | Mixed Models | 2 |
| STAA 561 | Probability with Applications | 2 |
| STAA 562 | Mathematical Statistics with Applications | 2 |
| STAA 565 | Quantitative Reasoning | 1 |
| STAA 566 | Data Visualization Methods | 1 |
| STAA 567 | Computational and Simulation Methods | 1 |
| STAA 571 | Survey Statistics | 2 |
| STAA 572 | Nonparametric Methods | 2 |
| STAA 573 | Analysis of Time Series | 2 |
| STAA 574 | Methods in Multivariate Analysis | 2 |
| STAA 575 | Applied Bayesian Statistics | 2 |
| STAA 576 | Methods in Environmental Statistics | 2 |
| STAR 511 | Design and Data Analysis for Researchers I | 4 |
| STAT 512 | Design and Data Analysis for Researchers II | 3 |
| STAT 521 | Stochastic Processes I | 3 |
| STAT 525 | Analysis of Time Series I | 3 |
| STAT 540 | Data Analysis and Regression | 3 |
| STAT/ERHS 544 | Biostatistical Methods for Quantitative Data | 3 |
| STAT/CIVE 547 | Statistics for Environmental Monitoring | 3 |
| STAT 560 | Applied Multivariate Analysis | 3 |
| STAT 570 | Nonparametric Statistics | 3 |
| STAT 600 | Statistical Computing | 3 |
| STAT 605 | Theory of Sampling Techniques | 3 |
| STAT 640 | Design and Linear Modeling I | 4 |
| STAT 645 | Categorical Data Analysis and GLIM | 3 |
| STAT 650 | Design and Linear Modeling II | 3 |
| WR/CIVE 524 | Modeling Watershed Hydrology | 4 |
| WR 575 | Snow Hydrology Field Methods | 1 |
| WR 674 | Data Issues in Hydrology | 3 |
| Communication/Collaboration (at least one course [1-3 credits] from the following): | ||
| ECOL 693 | Research Seminar | 1 |
| JTC 614 | Public Communication Campaigns | 3 |
| JTC 660 | Communication and Innovation | 3 |
| JTC 661 | Information Design | 3 |
| JTC 662 | Communicating Science and Technology | 3 |
| NR 501 | Leadership and Public Communications | 3 |
| Research and Thesis or Dissertation | ||
| ESS 698 or 798 | Research | 3 |
| ESS 699 or 799 | Thesis or Dissertation | 3 |