The ESS program prepares student for careers and graduate work in the rapidly growing environmental disciplines of energy and sustainable systems. These disciplines encompass renewable energy, sustainable development and redevelopment of urban areas, energy planning and policy analysis, and climate change analysis. The coursework is designed to provide students the necessary scientific foundation, planning skills, analytical methods and requisite knowledge of key energy and sustainability issues at the regional, national and international levels, so that they can become effective performers in their future careers or graduate-level academics. As graduates, a sampling of the areas student will be professionally qualified for include: knowledge of the interaction between climate change and the current/proposed energy uses, the ability to assess and prepare technical planning and policy documents related to various energy uses and their environmental impacts, knowledge of the distribution and capabilities of current and alternative/renewable energy sources, green building and energy auditing techniques, and urban and regional planning methods such as innovative zoning and “smart growth” for improving the local and regional environments with respect to their energy efficiency, water quality, and other general systems of infrastructure (e.g., electrical grids and fiber optic networks). If available, the Urban Alternative House – an ERS departmental initiative where sustainable urban energy, water and natural ecosystems can be studied – will be the site of several courses in the program.
Prerequisites. PHY 143 or PHY 243 , CIS 128 , GEO 180 , ACC 201 (13-14 credits).
Requirements. Sixty-two credits, as follows:
A. Science foundations (11 credits). GEO 150 , GEO 272 , GEO 282 .
B. Techniques (18 credits). GEO 203 , GEO 304 , RPL 260 , RPL 370 , RPL 371 .
C. Lifestyle analysis and economics (9 credits). RPL 390 , ECN 202 , ECN 376 .
D. Energy and sustainable development (24 credits). GEO 380 , GEO 385 , GEO 490 , GEO 491 , GEO 498 , RPL 311 , RPL 411 , RPL 476 .
E. Optional elective sequences for further specialization:
Ecology (12 credits). BIO 111 , BIO 113 , BIO 327 .
Economics (3 credits). ECN 374 .
Policy analysis (3 credits). PUB 418 /HCR 418 .
F. Minimum GPA of 2.75.
G. All requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Bachelor of Science degree, including General Education requirements .
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