The newly enhanced core curriculum of your MES program emphasizes management and critical thinking skills to develop and implement environmental sustainability solutions. Comprised of 21 credit hours, the core curriculum is split into two parts focusing on environmental, and social and economic sustainability.
The MES Core
Environmental Sustainability Core (15 credits)
Features foundations in science, assessment, management, and quantitative analysis
Social and Economic Sustainability Core (6 credits)
Features a foundations course in leadership and a choice of social and economic context
Choose one of five concentrations
By choosing one of our five MES concentrations, you will turn your area of interest into an area of expertise. Each MES concentration will be 9 credit hours and composed of both fundamental science courses and applications courses.
Created in 2024, this concentration allows you to gain expertise into the policy and planning behind environmental sustainability. You will have the opportunity to learn about applied ecology or environmental chemistry, along with law, management, and policy courses studying planning and community development, benefit cost analysis, environmental policies (domestic or international), water policy and economics, sustainability in a Tri-Sectoral World, environmental economics and policy, environmental law, energy economics and policy, planning for climate change and resilient urban communities, as well as energy and climate law and policy.
This concentration will teach you how to be a forward thinker with skills in environmental protection including air, water, and waste management, and toxicology. You’ll develop the management and critical thinking skills necessary to remediate environmental threats posed by energy production and consumption, hazardous waste, and climate change before they can make a negative environmental impact.
Our Municipal Sustainability concentration emphasizes actions that cities and towns can take to maximize sustainability at the nexus of energy, water, waste, sewage, housing, and food. Coursework will cover municipal management topics to ensure you know the challenges public agencies face and how to address them. This concentration will prepare you for careers in municipal sustainability, including water, waste, and power utilities operators, sustainability coordinators, and managers of parks, forests, and greenways.
The MES Sustainable Water Resources concentration emphasizes the science behind water quality and availability to help you develop solutions for sustainable water management. In this concentration, you will have the opportunity to look at ecosystem aspects of water, such as sustainable management of fisheries, lakes, watersheds and wetlands, as well as developing skills in water quality and water resource management, applications of pollution prevention, and storm and wastewater management.
Recognizing our planet’s bounty while also respecting its limits, our concentration in Sustainable Natural Resource Conservation and Management will prepare you to better understand and manage natural resources and biodiversity. You’ll take courses that focus on a variety of ecosystems and how to manage them, including forest and wetland ecology and management, fisheries and wildlife management, and climate change impacts on natural resources.
The above are examples of your course options. For a complete listing, see the current curriculum and work with your advisor as you make your schedule.
