Welcome to the Environmental Science Program
The strength and uniqueness of the Environmental Sciences program is a strong foundation in the natural sciences, which is crucial to understanding the scientific concepts that underlie all environmental issues. Majors will work through a course of study that will develop an understanding of the basic principles and concepts of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics, and then move on to a series of upper division courses on the areas that most interest them and are tailored to their unique needs. Each student will have the ability to design a personalized course of study that will prepare him or her for a particular environmentally related career. The requirements for majors and minors are described on the accompanying pages. A semester-long internship and the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research allow students to gain hands-on experience working in the field of environmental science.
Students have the opportunity to work closely with faculty through external and internal research grants to individual faculty and through funding from the intramural Summer Scholars Program. The program awards the Environmental Science prize each year to the student with the highest GPA of their graduating class. Environmental Science majors and minors are active in the environmental student group G.R.E.E.N.C.O.W. which organizes hikes, field trips and on-campus lectures, plants trees on-campus, helps with campus recycling programs, and is active in coordinating Earth Day activities on campus.
Dr. Jean Smolen, Associate Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the ES Program, can be reached at jsmolen@sju.edu or in person in the Science Center (Room 420).