Program Overview

Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Major (BS, HBS)

The Environmental Sciences undergraduate degree provides a rigorous education that can lead to helping to understand and resolve some of today's most challenging scientific and policy issuesincluding global climate change, pollution, biodiversity conservation, sustainability, and balancing resource use and preservation.

Overview

To help reach these objectives, the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences offers an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problem solving. As an Environmental Sciences major, a student completes course work in four general areas:

• OSU's general education courses (the baccalaureate core)
• Basic science and math
• Environmental sciences and humanities core
• A specialization area

In addition, each student completes a minimum of 3 credits of experiential learning as an internship, research, study abroad, or field course.

Major Code

The major code for the Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Major is 657.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the program, students will be able to:

• Identify and define concepts in the natural sciences (e.g., chemistry, atmospheric sciences, ecology, geology, oceanography, soil science).
• Identify and define concepts in the humanities and social sciences (e.g., economics, environmental law, ethics, resource policy, and human-environment interaction fields like agronomy and geography).
• Integrate concepts in the natural sciences with those in the humanities and social sciences.
• Demonstrate a rigorous cross-disciplinary science base (biological, physical, and social sciences) with a deeper knowledge in a specialization area by using quantitative tools to analyze and interpret data.
• Communicate ideas clearlyorally, graphically, or in writingto address environmental sciences issues.
• Engage in and experience the application of the environmental sciences beyond the classroom through fieldwork, participation in an internship, research, study abroad, or other forms of experiential learning.

Major Curriculum

The Environmental Sciences major requires credits in seven categories:

• 48 credits of baccalaureate core
• 5153 credits of basic science and math
• 2736 credits of environmental sciences and humanities
• 2731 credits of specialization
• 3 credits writing intensive course
• 3 credits minimum of experiential learning
• 453 credits of elective courses (depends on the number of baccalaureate core electives that will also meet requirements of the major)

Baccalaureate Core

The university baccalaureate core course (BCC) requirement is met with 48 credits and a writing intensive course (WIC). The environmental sciences student satisfies the general education requirement by selecting 27 unrestricted credits from the general list of approved courses and 21 credits from a restrictive list of BCC courses, which simultaneously satisfy requirements for the Environmental Sciences major.

Specialization Area

The program offers several specialization options, including:

• Alternative Energy
• Applied Ecology
• Aquatic Biology
• Chemistry and the Environment
• Conservation, Resources, and Sustainability
• Earth Systems
• Environmental Agriculture
• Environmental Policy and Economics
• Environmental Science Education
• Environmental Water Resources

Experiential Learning

Students must complete at least 3 credits of experiential learning through an internship, research, study abroad, or other approved experiential courses.

Plan of Study

A sample plan of study is provided, outlining the courses to be taken each term for four years to complete the degree.

Total Credits Required for Graduation

The total credits required for graduation is 180.