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Why Major in ENVS

With everything going virtual these days we prepared this page to introduce you to the ENVS major. Watch the videos, compete for some fascinating prizes, contact faculty for more information, go on fieldtrips, or download the ENVS major planning sheet. Enjoy!

Why should you major in Environmental Science? Good question. Watch the video to learn about our faculty and hear from students what they have to say about the major.

The strengths of an ENVS major are:

  • flexible course requirements: cover the breath of natural sciences but allow you to focus on an area of interest, our requirements also allow you to pursue two majors: popular majors are: anthropology, biology, chemistry, economics, engineering, public policy and law
  • hands-on curriculum: many lab classes and our integrating experience give you the opportunity to apply what you learned in the classroom
  • research-driven: we all do research and we want you to be a part of it!
  • many study-away options: ranging from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in nearby MA to James Cook University in far-away Australia (and many places in-between). Most programs are easy to integrate into the major.
  • a community of scholars: we learn together, work together, explore the world together (fieldtrips!)
  • one major – many options: our alums work as researchers, doctors and veterinarians, economists, lawyers, consultants, teachers, artists, sustainability experts …

Ready to learn more? Watch the videos:

Just in case you didn’t get the link at the end of the video. You can submit your answer here.
The next video tells you about the various major requirements. You can also download the ENVS course requirements (most recently updated version).
You can also check out our requirements for the ENVS major and ENVS minor.

For more information you can contact us directly:

Dr. Christoph Geiss (program director)
Dr. Arianne Bazilio (environmental chemistry)
Dr. Jonathan Gourley (earth sciences, GIS)
Dr. Amber Pitt (conservation biology)

We will also have a few Zoom sessions on advising
(click on the dates to join us):
Wednesday 10/14 – noon to 1:00 PM
Thursday 10/15 – 1:00PM to 2:00 PM
Monday 10/19 – 10:00AM to 11:00 AM
Friday 10/30 – noon to 1:30

If you are ready to declare – you can do that right now, right here!

Finally, if you want to see some real videos, check out Cassia Armstrong’s (’18) videos of our field trips to Iceland and Utah. Cassia double-majored in environmental science and chemistry  and is now a graduate student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In contrast to me, she actually knows how to do video …

Cassia still owes us a video about the Galapagos Islands, but that might be my retirement present one day. We had planned to returning to iceland in 2020, but Covid19 nixed these plans. We still have our reservation vouchers, so you are in luck: most likely we’ll head back north in the next two years.