2018-19 Catalog

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https://esci.ucsc.edu

Faculty | Course Descriptions

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Program Description

The UC Santa Cruz environmental sciences (ESCI) major is an interdepartmental, undergraduate-only program. The purpose of the ESCI major is to educate students interested in environmental science problems and issues, with a focus on issues within the physical sciences (as opposed to focusing on biological sciences). The major specializes primarily on the following areas:

• Hydrosphere: water resources, water quality, aquatic chemistry, physical oceanography, chemical oceanography, glaciology
• Pollution and transport: environmental toxicology, environmental transport/fluid mechanics, environmental monitoring
• Global scale environment: climate, climate dynamics, global cycles of water, carbon and nutrients, remote sensing of the environment
• Atmosphere: meteorology, air quality, atmospheric chemistry

The core faculty of the major are primarily from two departments, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Ocean Sciences. Faculty from other departments such as Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology and Environmental Studies may also be involved.

Graduates of the ESCI major are expected to continue on to a variety of careers, such as:

• Business and industry
• Environmental consulting
• Governmental agencies at the federal, state, and local level
• Non-profit organizations
• Research at universities, governmental research institutions, or other scientific agencies
• Graduate/professional school in areas such as science, engineering, teaching, law, public health, business

For more information about the affiliated faculty and staff for the major, including areas of interest and facilities, contact e-mails and phone numbers, and how to declare this major, please see our web site.

Program Learning Outcomes

The ESCI major has three broad program learning outcomes, each with three specific learning outcomes:

PLO 1:  Disciplinary Knowledge Goals

• Reservoirs: Understand and describe the properties of the various environmental “reservoirs”, which represent different, interacting physical regimes. For example, a global model might have the atmosphere, oceans, plants and soils as four primary interacting reservoirs. 
• Processes: Understand and describe the processes governing the properties and evolution of Earth’s physical environment, i.e., the properties and evolution of reservoirs and their interactions.
• Application: Apply the knowledge of reservoirs and processes to explain, analyze and predict phenomena within the environmental sciences.

PLO 2: Quantitative Reasoning Goals

• Calculation: Utilize mathematical tools (e.g. algebra, calculus) to address questions in the environmental sciences.
• Visualization: Interpret and produce visual representations of data in the environmental sciences (e.g. graphs and charts) that conform to disciplinary standards.
• Analysis: Use quantitative analysis as the basis for drawing insights and conclusions, while expressing the appropriate assumptions and qualifications.

PLO 3: Written Communication Goals

• Mechanics: Write sentences with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling.
• Conventions: Accurately utilize the formatting, stylistic, citation and bibliographic conventions of environmental sciences in the written document.
• Organization: Construct paragraphs, sections and an overall document that flows logically and persuasively argues a thesis.

Academic Advising

A student who wants to become an ESCI major should contact the environmental sciences undergraduate staff adviser as soon as possible. Students will submit a declaration of major petition, and are recommended to meet with the undergraduate adviser to plan his or her program in detail. Relevant courses taken at UCSC or other institutions may be substituted for degree requirements by approved petition. Please see the undergraduate adviser for the substitution petition form and more information about this process.

Bachelor of Science Degree

The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program is designed for students who intend to pursue professional careers in environmental sciences, engineering, policy, law, teaching, or business or who otherwise desire the broad, quantitative training available at UCSC. In addition to providing comprehensive preparation in the basic physical sciences, and particular breadth and depth in environmental sciences, the curriculum is structured to prepare students for the competitive graduate school and career marketplace.

The core of the major includes calculus, physics, chemistry, and core foundational upper-division environmental sciences courses. Students also select at least five additional courses from a diverse list of upper-division electives. These electives provide the student with expertise in one or more subdisciplines within environmental sciences. A senior comprehensive experience is required of all majors, and may be fulfilled in two ways, either completion of an intensive senior seminar course or a senior thesis.

Qualifying for the Major

To declare the environmental sciences major, a student must complete (with a minimum grade of C) the following introductory courses:

MATH 11A and MATH 11B
CHEM 1A, CHEM 1C and CHEM 1N
PHYS 6A and PHYS 6L

Once a student has passed all of these required courses (or equivalent), they are eligible to declare the environmental sciences major.

Students who qualify start the declaration process by submitting a petition to the department staff adviser.

Transfer Students

The Environmental Sciences program welcomes applications from community college students who are prepared to enter as junior-level majors. To be considered for admission to UC Santa Cruz as an environmental science major, transfer students must pass equivalents of the following courses with a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher:

CHEM 1A, General Chemistry
CHEM 1C and CHEM 1N, General Chemistry and Laboratory
MATH 11A and MATH 11B, Calculus with Application (or equivalent; see "Requirements for the Environmental Sciences Major (B.S.)", "Required Lower-Division Courses" below.)
PHYS 6A and PHYS 6L, Introductory Physics I with Laboratory

In addition, we strongly recommend that all transfer students complete equivalents of the following preparatory courses prior to transfer:

PHYS 6B and PHYS 6M, Introductory Physics II with Laboratory

Students planning to transfer to UCSC as an environmental sciences major from a California community college should reference assist.org to determine which courses are equivalent to these required courses. Having this coursework completed prior to transferring allows students greater flexibility in scheduling and completing their major. Transfer students planning on attending UCSC to pursue an environmental sciences major should contact the undergraduate adviser for transfer preparation information.

Letter Grade Policy

All courses used to satisfy requirements for the environmental sciences major must be taken for a letter grade, with the exception of the following courses, which may be taken Pass/No Pass: ESCI 195 Senior Thesis, EART 198 Earth Sciences Internship, and EART 199 Tutorial.

Requirements for the Environmental Sciences Major (B.S.)

Required Lower-Division Courses

CHEM 1A, CHEM 1C, and CHEM 1N
MATH 11A and MATH 11B, or MATH 19A and MATH 19B, or AMS 15A and AMS 15B
PHYS 6A and PHYS 6L, and PHYS 6B and PHYS 6M
EART 20 and EART 20L
ENVS 25
ESCI 30

Required Upper-Division Courses

ESCI 100A and ESCI 100B
ESCI 160

At least five elective courses (5+ credits each) from upper-division Earth sciences or ocean sciences offerings must be completed (see below for a list of courses that are particularly suitable). Courses from other departments may also be considered for upper-division elective credit by permission of a faculty adviser. Please consult with an adviser for more details.

Students also complete the senior comprehensive requirement as described above.

Students are encouraged to take more than the minimum number of elective courses and may craft an elective distribution from many areas of specific research and career interests.

Potential Upper-Division Electives by Subject Area

The below is a list of courses organized by subject area that are especially suitable upper-division electives for environmental science majors. Not all courses are offered every year. Please consult an adviser for a schedule of when electives will be taught. Courses outside this list may also be appropriate. Please discuss possible substitutions with an adviser.

Climate and global-scale environment:

OCEA 111 Climate Dynamics
OCEA 113 Biogeochemical Cycles
EART 121 The Atmosphere
EART 124 Modeling Earth's Climate
EART 129 Global Change
EART 172 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Oceans:

OCEA 100 Physical Oceanography
OCEA 101 The Marine Environment
OCEA 118 Marine Microbial Ecology
OCEA 120 Chemical Oceanography
OCEA 130 Biological Oceanography

Water and pollution:

EART 116 Hydrology
EART 146 Groundwater
EART 148 Glaciology
OCEA 120 Aquatic Chemistry
OCEA 121 Aqueous Geochemistry
OCEA 124 Aquatic Organic Geochemistry

Atmosphere:

EART 121 The Atmosphere
EART 122 Air Pollution
EART 124 Modeling Earth's Climate
EART 123 Meteorology

Environmental geosciences:

EART 110A Evolution of Earth
EART 110B Earth as a Chemical System
EART 128 Isotopes: Fundamentals and Applications in Earth and Marine Sciences
EART 140 Geomorphology
EART 142 Engineering Geology for Environmental Scientists

Data analysis and computing:

EART 119 Scientific Computing
EART 125 Statistics and Data Analysis in the Geosciences

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students fulfill the Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement through successful completion of either (1) one of the environmental sciences senior capstone seminars (ESCI 191) or (2) a senior thesis based on original research performed by the student (completion of ESCI 195, Senior Thesis is required).

Comprehensive Requirement (B.S.)

Students select one of two options to satisfy their senior comprehensive requirement (or senior capstone):

1. Take an environmental science, major-only, senior seminar, capstone class (ESCI 191). This course also satisfies the DC requirement. Enrollment in these courses is limited to environmental science majors with senior standing.
2. Write a senior thesis based on original research performed by the student. Approval from a faculty sponsor is required prior to embarking on a senior thesis. Completion of the senior thesis is necessary to pass ESCI 195, Senior Thesis. ESCI 195 also satisfies the DC requirement.

Other capstones will not be considered unless they also satisfy the DC requirement.

Courses that are used to satisfy the capstone may not also count toward fulfilling the upper-division elective requirement.

Environmental Sciences B.S. Major Planner

Students planning a professional career in environmental sciences should take more than the minimum number of courses required for the major, if possible. Four-year students have ample flexibility to take additional electives if they begin with the required courses in their second year. Junior transfers also have flexibility if they have taken most of their lower-division preparatory courses before entry. Further advice can be obtained from the undergraduate adviser and from faculty members.

Sample Four-Year Planner

Note: Chemistry 1A, 1B/M and 1C/N and Mathematics 11A-B are offered every quarter. Physics 6A/L is offered every quarter but Physics 6B/M is not offered in fall.

Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
1st (frosh)	CHEM 1A	MATH 11A	EART 20/L
		CHEM 1C/N	MATH 11B
2nd (soph)	ESCI 30	ESCI 100A	ESCI 100B
	PHYS 6A/L	PHYS 6B/M	UD elective
3rd (junior)	ESCI 160	ENVS 25	UD elective
		UD elective
4th (senior)	UD elective	UD elective	ESCI 191 or 195†

†Students expecting to write a senior thesis (course 195) for their comprehensive requirement should contact the department at least three quarters before graduation to identify the intended project and faculty adviser. Senior theses usually require at least three quarters for completion.

Sample Transfer (Two-Year) Planner

This planner assumes that students have completed all lower-division requirements other than ESCI 30, ENVS 25, and EART 20/L.

Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
3rd (junior)	ESCI 30	ENVS 25	ESCI 100B
	ESCI 160	ESCI 100A	EART 20/L
4th (senior)	UD elective	UD elective	ESCI 191 or 195†
	UD elective	UD elective	UD elective

†Students expecting to write a senior thesis (course 195) for their comprehensive requirement should contact the department at least three quarters before graduation to identify the intended project and faculty adviser. Senior theses usually require at least three quarters for completion.

Honors

Honors in the major are determined by a review of grades (typically 3.50 or above) at the time a student applies for graduation. A faculty committee makes the decision based on the quality of all coursework, but especially in the courses required for the major. Extra coursework or independent study as well as more intensive or rigorous coursework and the quality of a capstone project may also be taken into consideration. Highest honors may also be awarded in exceptional cases when a student’s overall grade point average (GPA) is above 3.75 and performance in the senior capstone requirement is equally outstanding. The program reserves the right to withhold honors and highest honors based on other criteria, such as an incident of academic dishonesty.

Honors in the senior thesis are determined independently of major honors, and must be approved by two faculty readers.

Minor

There is currently no minor in environmental sciences.

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Revised: 07/15/18