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Environmental Science

Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary program that addresses environmental issues in the context of what we know about Earth, ecology, and society. In addition to its science core, the major also seeks to provide students with some appreciation of social, cultural, and policy dimensions of environmental issues, as well as exposure to the technologies of pollution control. For more information, contact the major advisor Dr. André Droxler at andre@rice.edu.

This is an unofficial listing. Consult the General Announcements for official requirements.

Overview

The B.A. in Environmental Science double major is designed to accommodate:

  • Students wishing to obtain a solid preparation for later graduate study in environmental science or other careers as environmental professionals (e.g., environmental economics or environmental law), and
  • Students pursuing other careers (e.g., historians, lawyers, mechanical engineers, chemists) who hope to contribute to solutions to one of the major global issues of the 21st Century.

The 67-semester-hour (minimum) double major in environmental science may be taken in conjunction with any stand-alone major offered in any school of the university.

The key components of the double major include:

  • Foundation course work in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.
  • A set of 5 undergraduate core courses, required of all double majors, that acquaint undergraduates with a range of environmental problems encountered by scientists, engineers, managers, and policy makers. Core courses stress the components of the global environment and their interactions.
  • 24 semester hours of environmental electives from four categories (1) social sciences and economics, (2) humanities and architecture, (3) natural sciences, and (4) engineering. Students may petition to have electives, in addition to those currently listed, apply toward the double major.

Major tracking forms are available in the Center for the Study of Environment and Society (CSES) office for declared Environmental Science majors.

Academic advisors for the double major are:

  • André Droxler, Earth Science - andre@rice.edu, x4885, Geology Labs 205
  • David Queller, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology - queller@rice.edu, x5220, Anderson Biological Lab 137A

Specific Course Requirements

General Prerequisites:

BIOS 201 Introductory Biology
BIOS 202 Introductory Biology
CHEM 121 or 151 General Chemistry with Laboratory
CHEM 122 or 152 General Chemistry with Laboratory
MATH 101 or 111 Single Variable Calculus I
MATH 102 or 112 Single Variable Calculus II
PHYS 101 or 125 or 111 Mechanics
PHYS 102 or 126 or 112 Electricity and Magnetism

Core Courses
F BIOS 325 Ecology
F ESCI 321 Earth System Evolution and Cycles
 

One of the following two courses:

 
S CEVE 411 Air Resources Management
F PHYS 203 Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate
  Two of the following three courses:
F CEVE 401 Introduction to Environmental Chemistry
S CEVE 412 Hydrology and Watershed Analysis
F

ESCI 454/
CEVE 453

Geographic Information Science

Advanced Electives - 24 hrs, min. 6 hrs per category
Students may petition to substitute alternative courses for the courses listed. All substitutions will have to be documented.
 
Category A - Social Sciences and Business
S CEVE 306 Global Environmental Law & Sustainable Development
S CEVE 406/ENST 406 Environmental Law
S ECON 480/ENST 480 Environmental Economics
S ENST 302/SOCI 304 Environmental Issues: Rice into the Future
S ENST 312

Environmental Battles in the 21st Century: Houston as a Microcosm

S POLI 317 The Congress
S POLI 318 The Presidency
S POLI 331 Environmental Politics & Policy
  POLI 332 Urban Politics
S POLI 334 American Political Parties
F SOCI 313 Demography
F SOCI 367/ENST 367 Environmental Sociology
     
Category B - Humanities and Architecture
F ARCH 313/ENST 313 Sustainable Architecture
S ENGL 367 American Ecofeminism
F ENGL 368/ENST368 Literature and the Environment
S ENST 301 Introduction to the Environment: Environmental History and Literature
  HIST 376 Caribbean Natural Disaster
     
Category C - Natural Sciences
F BIOS 316 Lab Module in Ecology
F BIOS 321 Animal Behavior
S BIOS 323/ENST 323 Conservation Biology
F BIOS 334 Evolution
S BIOS 336 Plant Diversity
F CHEM 211 Organic Chemistry
F CHEM 395 Advanced Module in Green Chemistry
S ESCI 323 Earth Structure and Deformation
F

ESCI/BIOS/ENST 340

Global Biogeochemical Cycles
F ESCI 421 Paleoceanography
  ESCI 430 Trace Element and Isotope Geochemistry for Earth and Environmental Sciences
F ESCI 442 Exploration Geophysics
S ESCI 450/CEVE 450 Remote Sensing
F ESCI 454/CEVE 453 Geographic Information Science
  ESCI 468/ANTH 368 Climate Variability & Human Response
     
Category D - Engineering
F BIOS 338 Design and Analysis of Biological Experiments
F CEVE 201/HEAL 201 Urban and Environmental Systems
  CEVE 203 Principles of Environmental Envineering
  CEVE 315 Sustainable Technologies for Developing Countries
F CEVE 401 Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science
S CEVE 411 Atmosferic Processes
S CEVE 412 Hydrology and Watershed Analysis
  CEVE 434 Fate and Transportation of Contaminants in the Environment
S CEVE 451 Analysis of Environmental Data
F CEVE 470 Basic Soil Mechanics
F/S CEVE 490 Special Study and Research
  ENST/CEVE/ESCI 307 Energy and the Environment
S ENST 281/CHBE 281 Engineering for Sustainable Communities
  STAT 300 Model Building
F STAT 305 Introduction to Statistics for the Biosciences
F/S STAT 310/ECON 382 Probability and Statistics
F/S PSYC 339 Statistical Methods - Psychology

     
last updated 2/9/10
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