Bridge science and policy to become an environmental leader with an MSES degree from the O’Neill School.
Description of the video:
The Master of Science in Environmental Science is a marketable asset. People know O'Neill. They know that it's a quantitative serious scientific degree and you're taking the math and you're taking the chemistry. The rigor of scientific analysis really does translate. You can take these things straight into your work.
The Master of Science in Environmental Science gives students a broad foundation across the environmental sciences and then allows them to develop depth in the areas in which they'd like to pursue careers. There is laboratory experience and field experience available in all of the concentrations to ensure that students are not just book learned.
I chose O'Neill because it offered a plethora of courses and it had a very wide range and I would get the opportunity to tailor it to the portfolio that I wanted to build.
My time at O'Neill gave me a lot of specific tools for my toolkit. Skills not only a communicator but a scientific communicator.
In my first semester here at O'Neill for my Master of Science in Environmental Science degree, I joined an aquatic laboratory called the Royer Laboratory where I researched biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon in agricultural systems. There's a broad access to lab space and professional researchers and I think the interactions I get with the faculty of those labs and the PhD students has been very formidable for my career.
The MSES degree will prepare you for a career working in the lab or in the field or working with the public in the sciences, but still savvy enough to understand how policy and law are affecting the science that you're dealing with and the public that's facing it with you.
I became interested in working for NRCS my first semester of the master's program. Because it's a federal job, there are certain requirements that you have to have before you apply. So, I made sure I would have the opportunity to get those covered in my master's program.
The main reason why I'm in the position I am today is because of the connections I made at O'Neill. To know that there's a large network across federal agencies, state agencies, local consulting groups, it's exciting for me to have that network.
Professors were always available to put me in contact with someone that they knew in a field that I was particularly interested in.
I was fortunate to have a lot of great faculty mentors, but also alumni mentors who helped shape my career and position me and are still giving me opportunities even as an alum.
What I think makes an O'Neill degree valuable is the accessibility of the professors, the rigor of the research that's available, all the different opportunities they make available for you from graduate assistantships to research courses to customized coursework.
The O'Neill School is special because of where it is. It's here at IU, which is a beautiful campus. There's a lot of natural area also around the Bloomington area. So, there's lots of places for the students to get out, do their research, explore, and then also just connect with nature.
If you want the greatest, most rewarding challenge of your academic career, choose O’Neill. There's a lot of opportunity here, and there's no limit to what you can do by choosing to get an O'Neill education.
