Earth System Science

Earth System Science (ESS) is an interdisciplinary, science-oriented, undergraduate program focusing on the interactions between the various components composing the Earth system: the biosphere, geosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and anthrosphere. Students earning a BS degree in ESS are required to declare a Concentration in one of the participating programs, which include Anthropology, Atmospheric Science, Biology, Botany, Geography, Geology and Geophysics, Secondary Education, and Soil Science. This list will expand as the program grows. ESS is administered under a committee of Deans, and the program Departments reside in the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Education, and Engineering. The program is currently administered in Atmospheric Science.

ESS was designed to be rigorous enough to prepare individual students for graduate studies in their chosen Concentration. Students are asked to approach both the ESS office and program faculty in their respective Concentration for advising. A library of various printed ESS resources is maintained in the program office. Seminars addressing various aspects of the Earth system are organized and announced by the program office.

The ESS curriculum includes four areas. First, the ESS Core consists of five courses (16 credit hours), including academic credit for a required internship. Second, it requires Foundation courses (37-39 credit hours) in math, physics, chemistry, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and biogeochemistry. Third, courses are required by the Concentration (up to 50 hours). And fourth, some of the requirements of the University Studies Program are met with a combination of new and existing ESS Core, Foundation, and Concentration courses. The Secondary Education degree, "Earth Sciences Education" (ESSE), requires the ESS Core and many of the Foundation and USP courses, in addition to those from Education and most of the ESS Concentrations.

The required Core courses start with ESS/GEOL 2000, introducing the physical Earth system. This is followed by ESS/GEOG 3480, which brings human activities into the network. Next, the Earth system is studied in more detail, including computer and conceptual modeling, in ESS/ATSC/BOT/GEOL 4001. Please note: BOT/ATSC/GEOL 4001 (Modeling the Earth System. 4.) is required for the major and is part of the Core classes. It will be cross listed as ESS 4001. Academic credit for ESS 4970 is earned with the required internship, which is overseen and approved by a faculty committee, and usually occurs between the junior and senior years. And, finally, a senior-level capstone course, ESS 4950, includes some hands-on research addressing various interdisciplinary questions about the Earth system.

The required courses are set for each Concentration, and may be obtained from the program office or the ESS office.