Bioenvironmental Sciences - BS

Major breakthroughs are taking place locally, regionally and globally concerning environmental awareness. Environmental hazards take many forms, including microbial threats, toxic wastes and the indirect impact of man’s activities on a fragile ecosystem. As a result, there is a growing recognition that the solutions to environmental problems require innovative multi-disciplinary perspectives and technologically-intensive approaches. The Bioenvironmental Sciences curriculum (BESC) was designed in consultation with numerous industry representatives in order to comply with the most current thinking on the talents needed for tomorrow’s environmental fields. Students will be prepared for a breadth of career choices in the environmental sciences. These choices include such areas as research and development, environmental consulting, remediation of wastes, site assessment and environmental sampling, and environmental law. Graduates from BESC find employment in federal, state and municipal environmental agencies; in industries concerned with the generation and clean-up of hazardous wastes; with environmental advocacy and educational groups. In addition, the strong science base in BESC prepares students for professional and graduate schools in a variety of disciplines.

The curriculum described combines a foundation of required courses of technical and free electives to allow the student the maximum flexibility to design a personalized course of study. Students are advised to focus on an area of emphasis with those electives that come from such categories as conservation/ecology, policy/ethics/regulations, the physical environment, engineering, plant studies, genetics/biotechnology and general environmental. The Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology also supports the extracurricular activities needed to support a successful environmental professional.