CSU Launches New Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Bachelor of Science Degree

The Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability in Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources has announced the launch of a new bachelor of science degree in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability.

The department is accepting students into the new major now, and classes start in spring 2013. The new undergraduate degree brings the total number of natural resource majors offered by Warner College to eight, helping to make it one of the most comprehensive natural resource colleges in the nation.

The new degree integrates advanced ecosystem science with real-world environmental decision-making and public policy to provide students with thorough knowledge of intricate ways in which organisms interact with their environments to form complex ecosystems, and the intertwined impacts and effects that challenge societal and ecosystem sustainability. The new degree is designed to meet the growing demand for well-qualified scientists, researchers, and professionals who can help create integrative solutions for sustainability and promote environmentally sound decision making.

“As more communities and businesses around the world work to achieve sustainability, it is vital that future natural resource leaders have an advanced scientific understanding of bio-diverse communities, the dynamics that drive them, and the challenges that humans face in managing them,” said Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Department Head John Moore. “The Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Bachelor of Science degree will provide the academic foundation and experience that will enable graduates to pioneer innovative science and solutions that will shape our environmental future.”

The Ecosystem Science and Sustainability department was established as part of CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources in 2011 to serve as a cornerstone of education and research excellence specializing in ecosystem science and sustainability. Watershed science was the first undergraduate degree offered by the department, and both it and the new degree give students opportunities to learn from and interact with faculty who are global leaders in ecosystem science. The department is also closely affiliated with CSU’s renowned Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, which has a 45-year history of world-class ecosystem research, giving undergraduate students coveted opportunities for hands-on research experience early in their academic careers.

As with all Warner College of Natural Resource degrees, the new degree balances classroom, laboratory and field work throughout the curriculum to provide students with a comprehensive learning experience that helps them translate classroom knowledge to real-world situations after graduation. Coursework includes Foundations of Ecosystem Science, Systems Theory and Information Management, Natural Resources Ecology and Management, Quantitative Reasoning, Earth System Ecology, and Sustainability and Ecosystem Science.

For more information about the new Bachelor of Science in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and other degrees offered by Warner College, visit http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/FindYourPath.
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