Master in Environmental Analysis Rice University | Wiess School of Natural Sciences

"Environmental consulting companies seek to hire motivated individuals with a solid background in applying quantitative skills to solve and prevent environmental problems. In addition, as consultants, these individuals need to be able to communicate effectively and have a keen sense of management and business practices. Graduates from Rice University's Professional Master's Program in Environmental Analysis will possess these qualities and be a tremendous asset to us and others in our field."

– Chuck Newell, Vice President, Groundwater Services, Inc.

Environmental Analysis is geared to teach students rigorous methods that are needed by industrial and governmental organizations to deal with environmental issues. It is a cross-disciplinary effort incorporating courses from environmental science, earth science, statistics, chemistry, ecology, and evolutionary biology, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, chemical engineering, economics, computer science, and sociology. Graduates will be prepared with skills and knowledge valuable to environmental consulting firms, energy production companies, and government agencies. In addition to track courses, the students will take a management course, a policy and ethics course, and a seminar jointly with the students involved in the other Professional Master's Program tracks.

The objectives of this interdisciplinary degree are:

• To teach quantitative skills such as statistics, remote sensing, data analysis, and modeling.
• To teach laboratory and computer skills.
• To give students the ability to anticipate problems, not just solve them.

Students can choose from three focus areas: Environmental Sustainability, Management and Policy, and Quantitative Decision Making.

Internship

An internship under the guidance of a hosting company, government agency, or national laboratory. A summary of the internship project is required in both oral and written form as part of the Professional Master’s Seminar.

Program Track Electives

Students will choose 21 credit hours elective courses from the following three focus areas and satisfy the following requirements:

• one course (3 credits) from each of EBIO, CEVE, and STAT i.e. total of 9 credits,
• one course (3 credits) from the Management and Policy focus area,
• three courses (9 credits) from one focus area.

Recommended courses include, but are not limited to, the following:

Environmental Sustainability

• CEVE 507: Energy and the Environment
• CEVE 501: Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science
• CEVE 509: Hydrology and Watershed Analysis
• CEVE 502: Sustainable Design
• CEVE 508: Introduction to Air Pollution Control
• CEVE 511: Atmospheric Processes
• CEVE 512: Hydrologic Design Lab
• CEVE 520: Environmental Remediation and Restoration
• CEVE 534: Fate and Transport of Contaminants in the Environment
• CEVE 536: Environmental Biotechnology and Bioremediation
• CEVE 550: Environmental Organic Chemistry
• EBIO 523: Conservation Biology / EBIO 524 Conservation Biology Lab
• EBIO 525: Ecology
• EBIO 563: Current Topics in Ecology
• EBIO 566: Applied Psychology
• EBIO 336: Plant Diversity
• EBIO 540 Global Biochemical Cycles
• EBIO 568: Current Topics in Conservation Biology
• EBIO 579: Core course in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• EBIO 580 Sustainability Development and Reporting
• ESCI 424: Earth Science and the Environment
• ESCI 618: Quantitative Hydrogeology
• ESCI 650: Remote Sensing
• ESCI 654: Geographic Information Science
• POST 411: Integrated Approach to Sustainability
• STAT 684: Environmental Risk Assessment and Human Health

Management and Policy

• CEVE 505: Engineering Project Management and Ethics
• CEVE 528: Engineering Economics
• CEVE 529: Ethics and Engineering Leadership
• ESCI 617: Petroleum Industry Economics and Management
• ECON 437: Energy Economics
• ECON 480: Environmental Economics
• MGMT 609: Managing in a Carbon-Constrained World
• MGMT 610: Fundamentals of the Energy Industry
• MGMT 661: International Business Law
• MGMT 674: Production and Operations Management
• MGMT 676: Social Enterprise
• MGMT 721: General Business Law
• POST 501: Energy Policy

Quantitative Decision Making

• EBIO 538: Design and Analysis of Biological Experiments
• CEVE 313: Uncertainty and Risk in Urban Infrastructures
• CEVE 528: Engineering Economics
• ESCI 650: Remote Sensing
• ESCI 654: Geographic Information Science
• ECON 480: Environmental Economics
• STAT 312: Probability and Statistics for Civil and Environmental Engineers
• STAT 605: Statistical Computing
• STAT 615: Introduction to Linear Models
• STAT 553: Biostatistics
• STAT 606: SAS Statistical Programming
• STAT 684: Environmental Risk Assessment and Human Health

NOTE: Each of these courses is not offered every year, and some courses may have pre-requisites that require instructor permission.

The General Announcements (GA) is the official Rice curriculum. In the event that there is a discrepancy between the GA and any other websites or publications, the GA shall prevail as the authoritative source.

Coursework

The Environmental Analysis program focuses on the quantitative and analytical aspects of environmental studies. The degree is composed of nine required science core hours, nine required cohort hours (which includes the internship), and 21 credit hours of program track elective courses.

The Environmental Analysis degree requires a total of 39 credit hours, not including the internship:

Science Core Courses 9 hours
Cohort Courses 9 hours
Elective Courses 21 hours Total 39 hours

Recommended Background

Applicants for the Professional Master's in Environmental Analysis must have:

• B.S. or B.A. degree in a related field.
• Completed coursework in chemistry, biology or physics, calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.
• Scores from the general Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
• Strong quantitative abilities.
• Statistics and computer skills are preferred, but not required.

Required Science Core Courses

• EBIO 570 Ecosystem Management and Conservation (S)
• CEVE 510 Principles of Environmental Engineering (TBA) or
• CEVE 501 Chemistry for Environmental Engineering and Science (F)
• STAT 685 Quantitative Environmental Decision Making (S)

Required Cohort courses (9 hours):

• NSCI 610 Management in Science and Engineering (F, S)
• NSCI 501 Professional Master’s Seminar (F, S) [required for two semesters]
• NSCI 512 Professional Master's Project (F, S)
• NSCI 511 Science Policy & Ethics (S)