Environmental Science, BS

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

The Environmental Science program at Northern bridges education in traditional practices in agriculture and forestry to modern day environmental monitoring procedures. Course work ranges from wildlife and range science to ecotoxicology and radiation protection. Our students gain hands-on experiences in areas from research with the on-campus Sostenga farm, forestry experiments at the wildfire ecology research lab in El Rito, environmental monitoring in the Valles Caldera, and sampling of local waterways relating to Stream Ecology. The environmental sciences at Northern provide students with a strong background for graduate school and to compete for positions with federal, state, and local land management agencies, Los Alamos National Laboratories, and within private industry.

General Education (31 CR)

See Northern’s General Education Offerings .

Area I. Communications (6 CR)

ENGL 1110 - Composition I 3 CR
ENGL 1120 - Composition II 3 CR
or
ENGL 1210 - Technical Communications 3 CR

Area II. Mathematics (3 CR)

MATH 1220 - College Algebra 3 CR

Area III. Laboratory Sciences (4 CR)

Area IV. Social/Behavioral Sciences (3 CR)

Area V. Humanities (3 CR)

Area VI. Creative & Fine Arts (3 CR)

Additional Nine Credit Hours (9 CR)

Choose one of the following Civics Courses (3 CR):

Program Requirements (89 CR)

Required Science Courses (35 CR)

ENVS 1110 - Environmental Science I 3 CR and
ENVS 1110L - Environmental Science I Lab 1 CR
CHEM 1120 - Introduction to Chemistry 3 CR and
CHEM 1120L - Introduction to Chemistry Lab 1 CR
CHEM 1215 - General Chemistry I for STEM Majors 3 CR and
CHEM 1215L - General Chemistry I for STEM Majors Lab 1 CR
CHEM 1225 - General Chemistry II for STEM Majors 3 CR and
CHEM 1225L - General Chemistry II for STEM Majors Lab 1 CR
MATH 1250 - Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus 4 CR
MATH 1350 - Introduction to Statistics 3 CR
MATH 1510 - Calculus I 4 CR
BIOL 2310 - Microbiology 3 CR and
BIOL 2310L - Microbiology Lab 1 CR
BIOL 2110 - Principles of Biology: Cellular and Molecular Biology 3 CR and
BIOL 2110L - Principles of Biology: Cellular and Molecular and Biology Lab 1 CR
or
CHEM 2120 - Integrated Organic & Biochemistry 3 CR and
CHEM 2120L - Integrated Organic & Biochemistry Lab 1 CR

Required ES Courses (31 CR)

ENVS 2140 - Introduction to GIS/GPS and Cartography 3 CR
ENVS 2160 - Principles of Agriculture Ecology 3 CR
BIOL 3105 - Organismal Biology 4 CR
ENVS 3307 - Atmospheric Science 3 CR
ENVS 3336 - Environmental Sampling and Instrumentation 3 CR and
ENVS 3336L - Environmental Sampling and Instrumentation Lab 1 CR
ENVS 3338 - Environmental Law and Regulations 3 CR
BIOL 3360 - Plant Biology 3 CR and
BIOL 3360L - Plant Biology Lab 1 CR
ENVS 3375 - Environmental Geology 3 CR
BIOL 4451 - General Ecology 3 CR and
BIOL 4451L - General Ecology Laboratory 1 CR

Additional Program Requirements (23 CR)

All 23 credit hours must be science courses relevant to the ES program. 15 credit hours out of the 23 credit hours MUST be upper division (3000-4499) ES courses. Please seek departmental advisement to tailor your course selection from the list below to your individual career objectives.

BIOL 2410 - Principles of Biology: Genetics 3 CR and
BIOL 2410L - Principles of Biology: Genetics Lab 1 CR
ENVS 3319 - Principles of Wildlife Science and Management 3 CR
ENVS 3380 - Undergraduate Research Experience 3 CR
ENVS 4480 - Senior Capstone 3 CR
ENVS 3317 - Rangeland Management 3 CR
ENVS 3318 - Silviculture 3 CR
ENVS 3345 - Climate Change Biology 3 CR
ENVS 3308 - Invasive Species 3 CR
ENVS 3311 - Plant Pathology 3 CR
ENVS 3325 - Principles of Physical Hydrology 3 CR
ENVS 3365 - Principles of Sustainable Agriculture 3 CR
ENVS 4404 - Forest Health, Restoration, and Management 3 CR
ENVS 4410 - Soil Testing and Interpretation 3 CR and
ENVS 4410L - Soil Testing and Interpretation Lab 1 CR
BIOL 3101 - Evolution 4 CR
BIOL 3371 - Invertebrate Biology 3 CR
BIOL 3371L - Invertebrate Biology Lab 1 CR
BIOL 3386 - Vertebrate Biology 4 CR
BIOL 4405 - Animal Behavior 4 CR
BIOL 4410 - Bioinformatics 3 CR