Program Overview

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Introduction to the Applied Environmental Science Program

The Applied Environmental Science Program is a residential semester for senior majors taught each fall at the W.H. Miner Institute in Chazy, N.Y. Students completing 12 credits at Miner, including undergraduate research, receive the AESP graduation certificate.

What Will I Learn?

Students in the program take courses in:

• Forest ecology and management
• Soil science
• Water quality and modeling
• Wildlife ecology and management
• Wetland ecology and management
• Agriculture and the environment

What is Unique About Our Program?

Most students live at the Institute in spacious dormitories with other majors. The program features five field/lab courses, taught in an alternative, day-long format, utilizing the Institute's 8,000 acres of forests and fields, as well as extensive laboratory and computer facilities.

What Are My Career Opportunities?

Many graduates are employed by environmental consulting firms and work with both government and industry in the areas of environmental regulation and compliance. Others work with environmental advocacy groups to conserve and protect the natural environment. Students majoring in environmental science have a wide variety of career choices, including:

• Environmental biology
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental geology
• Environmental planning
• Environmental policy and management
• And more

Graduates may also attend graduate school, with the program preparing them for advanced study. Many alumni have entered graduate school to receive training as:

• Environmental engineers
• Land use planners
• Environmental lawyers
• Ecologists

Center for Earth & Environmental Science

The Center for Earth and Environmental Science at SUNY Plattsburgh is an interdisciplinary unit consisting of geology, geography, environmental science, environmental studies, and ecology programs. With over 200 students and 20 faculty members, CEES offers a great diversity of courses with small class sizes. Ten academic programs within the center integrate courses across the disciplines.

Facilities and Equipment

The Miner Institute campus has:

• Laboratories for chemical and physical analyses of water, soil, and plant tissue samples
• A computer laboratory
• Classrooms
• Library
• Cafeteria
• Dormitory The natural resources owned by the Miner Institute include more than 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) of forests and agricultural land in the Little Chazy and Great Chazy river watersheds.

Ecosystem Studies Field Lab

The upper Little Chazy River watershed contains a sandstone pavement pine barrens known locally as Altona Flat Rock. This portion of the watershed has become the site for the Ecosystem Studies Field Laboratory. The hydrological and meteorological equipment at the field laboratory is dedicated to undergraduate teaching and research.

Combined Benefits of a Campus & Field Station

The AESP academic program features day-long classes, allowing for the timely integration of lecture theory with hands-on science in the laboratories or in the field. This teaching format has been extremely popular with the more than 1,100 students who have participated in the program since its inception in 1972.

Additional Degrees in Earth & Environmental Science

Majors

• Earth Science Major
• Ecology Major
• Environmental Geoscience Major
• Environmental Planning & Management Major
• Environmental Science Major
• Environmental Studies Major
• Earth Science Adolescence Education
• Geology Major

Minors

• Applied GIS Minor
• Ecology Minor
• Environmental Science Minor
• Geography Minor
• Geology Minor
• Hydrogeology Minor
• Perspectives on the Environment Minor
• Planning Minor