The Concentrations in Environmental Science
Strengths, Facilities and Expertise
EARTH
SCIENCE
Students
interested in the earth science track of the environmental science major
have the opportunity to prepare themselves for careers with government
agencies, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations through
formal course work and participation in research projects dealing with
the atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic aspects of our planet and its
resources. Housed in the recently
renovated Lennon Hall, the Environmental Sciences program is surrounded
by state-of-the-art classrooms, data analysis and visualization facilities,
and laboratories. Faculty and
students affiliated with the program have the ability to observe and analyze
various earth processes and materials using inductively coupled plasma
atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES), ion chromatography, x-ray diffraction,
laser particle size analyzer, BET surface area analyzer, portable radiosonde,
automated weather station, and ground water monitoring wells.
Faculty interested in earth sciences have
undertaken research projects dealing with local, regional, national, and
global issues. They include evaluating
anthropogenic effects on wetlands, compiling the Quarternary Geologic
Map of the Holley Quadrangle, studying the effect of anions on heavy metal
desorption from clay minerals, determining levels of and identifying locations
of nutrient loss from watersheds, examining the cycling of heavy metals
and nutrients in an urban wetland system, modeling lake-effect snow, studying
the water level fluctuations on the Great Lakes, examining the evolution
of the Holocene Mississippi River floodplain, probing the soil formation
in the lower Mississippi River, and diagnosing feedback mechanisms of
the climate system. Undergraduate
students have actively participated in many of these research projects. Governmental agencies such as the National
Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Soil
and Water Conservation Districts, and United States Geological Survey
and other private organizations have supported many of these research
projects. In addition, paid and unpaid internship opportunities
with governmental agencies and private enterprises are available to students.
After graduating, qualified students
have gained employment with the National Weather Service, United States
Geological Survey, United States National Park Service, and other private
companies. By properly tailoring their studies, many motivated
students have succeeded in getting admission to graduate studies at places
such as Texas A & M, Pennsylvania State and Oklahoma Universities.
