Shaping tomorrow: Master solutions for integrated social, economic, and environmental sustainability
The Master of Environmental Sustainability (MES) is an accelerated one-year, 36 credit-hour degree program that will prepare you for a career leading the business of sustainability in the public, private, or nonprofit sector.
With an enhanced, cutting-edge core curriculum that focuses on social, economic, and environmental sustainability, as well as a newly added concentration on environmental policy and planning, you’ll master the quantitative, economic, and management skills required to meet the exploding demand for “green” jobs across the nation.
By starting the MES in early August, you can complete your degree in just one year. If you finish the program in the summer term (May-July), you will be eligible to participate in the May commencement ceremony and will have your degree conferred at the end of the summer term.
Upon completion of this degree, international students will be eligible for the STEM OPT extension.
Take the first step to get started
You are not required to complete the program in one year — you may take the degree more slowly if that is better for your schedule.
100% of O'Neill master's students are considered for funding.
Competitive funding packages are available to assist in making our top-ranked school affordable. Email us about funding your degree.
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.
