Students in IBES' Environmental Sciences and Studies (ENVS) concentration learn how to tackle today’s urgent climate and sustainability challenges through a truly multidisciplinary education. Core faculty with joint appointments across the University—from sociology to geology to anthropology and more—provide diverse perspectives, equipping students with the skills to address complex issues through innovative problem-solving and interdisciplinary exploration.
Through a rigorous set of core courses, track requirements, and a capstone experience — as well as immediate access to real-world research opportunities and expert faculty — students gain the knowledge and skills needed to address the complex relationships between human systems and the natural world. These programs prepare our future leaders to make meaningful contributions toward building a more sustainable and equitable planet.
- The A.B. in Environmental Sciences and Studies ensures undergraduates obtain a holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of the environment.
- The Sc.B. in Environmental Sciences and Studies is a more in-depth treatment of a single field: Climate and Energy; Conservation and Natural Systems; Environmental Justice and Health; or Sustainable Development and Governance.
Both degrees provide interdisciplinary exposure to the natural and social sciences, as well as public policy.
Standard program in Environmental Sciences and Studies:
Requirements for the A.B. Degree
| Core Requirements | ||
| ENVS 0110 | Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century | 1 |
| ENVS 0490 | Environmental Science in a Changing World 1 | 1 |
| Tools - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on building qualitative or quantitative research tools | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Scientific Computing | ||
| Applied Ordinary Differential Equations | ||
| Applied Partial Differential Equations I | ||
| Introduction to Probability and Statistics | ||
| Introduction to Probability and Statistics with Calculus | ||
| Mathematics and Climate | ||
| Statistical Analysis of Biological Data | ||
| Statistical Methods | ||
| Introduction to programming | ||
| Computing Foundations: Data | ||
| Accelerated Introduction to Computer Science | ||
| Data Science Fluency | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Computational Approaches to Modelling and Quantitative Analysis in Natural Sciences: An Introduction | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Machine Learning for the Earth and Environment | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Cartography and Geovisualization | ||
| Narrating the Anthropocene | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Infectious Disease Modeling | ||
| Methods of Social Research | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Investigating the City: Hands-on Research Methods for Urban Analysis | ||
| Foundations in Earth Sciences and Technology - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focusing on earth, atmospheric, engineering or water sciences. | ||
| Introduction to Oceanography | ||
| Natural Disasters | ||
| Understanding Earth and Environmental Processes | ||
| Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet | ||
| Solving the Climate and Carbon Challenge | ||
| Water in Our World | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Global Water Cycle | ||
| Environmental Geochemistry | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Dynamic Meteorology | ||
| Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning | ||
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Groundwater Flow and Transport | ||
| Historical Climatology and Global Climate Change | ||
| Ecology/Biological Sciences - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on ecological or conservation biology | ||
| Diversity of Life | ||
| The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease | ||
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| The Evolution of Plant Diversity | ||
| Rhode Island Flora: Understanding and Documenting Local Plant Diversity | ||
| Marine Biology | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Conservation in the Genomics Age | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| Environmental Justice and Equity - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on environmental issues through a justice and/or equity lens | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions | ||
| Land Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Justice | ||
| Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| The Environmental History of Subsistence and Extraction in Africa before 1900 | ||
| An Environmental Sociology for a Rapidly Warming World | ||
| Environmental Policy and Politics - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on the policy, politics and/or governance of environmental issues | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Political Ecology | ||
| Ocean Resilience: Ecology, Management, and Politics | ||
| People and Oceans: How we Inhabit and Inhibit our Blue Planet | ||
| Local Food Systems and Urban Agriculture | ||
| Climate Policy Research: Organizations and Obstruction | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Policy Process | ||
| Ocean Governance and Policy | ||
| Climate Media, Discourse, and Power | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Environmental politics in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants' perspectives | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Politics of Climate Change | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Environmental History and Humanities - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on the role of history, culture, and the arts in the environment | ||
| Power + Water: Material Culture and its Environmental Impact | ||
| Water, Culture and Power | ||
| Environment, Food, and Health in China | ||
| Writing Climate, Writing Community | ||
| Nature Writing | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Birding Communities | ||
| Commodity Natures: Supply Chains From Extraction to Waste and Alternatives to Endless Growth | ||
| From Fire Wielders to Empire Builders: Human Impact on the Global Environment before 1492 | ||
| From the Columbian Exchange to Climate Change: Modern Global Environmental History | ||
| The Environmental History of Subsistence and Extraction in Africa before 1900 | ||
| Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present | ||
| The Environmental History of Latin America | ||
| Environmental History of East Asia | ||
| Environmental Pressures of South Asia | ||
| The Practice of History | ||
| Imperialism and Environmental Change | ||
| Earth Histories: From Creation to Countdown | ||
| The Amazon, Climate Change, and Conservation | ||
| Religion Gone Wild: Spirituality and the Environment | ||
| Electives - three courses | 3 | |
| Electives provide increased environmental expertise and further enhance a student’s ability to customize a course of study. Acceptable electives include any ENVS courses, a class that's MAIN FOCUS is on the environment, and prerequisites for classes students take to fulfill requirements within their declared track. | ||
| Capstone - one or two courses | 1-2 | |
| The College expects that a capstone will be completed in semesters 7 or 8 - with the intention of providing an opportunity for students to integrate many aspects of their course of study, or area of focus. This requirement can be met with a two-semester thesis (ENVS 1970 & ENVS 1971), one-semester research project (ENVS 1970 or ENVS 1971), or an approved capstone course. | ||
| Total Credits | 12-13 | |
- 1
The core requirement of ENVS 0490 can be waived for students with an AP exam score of 5 in Environmental Science.
Honors
Students interested in graduating with honors in their concentration must complete a thesis determined to be of the highest quality and must have excelled in their coursework required for the concentration, which is defined here as receiving a grade of "A" in the majority of courses taken to fulfill the concentration. You can learn more by visiting the honors page on the IBES website.
Students pursuing a ScB ENVS degree must choose 5 courses from one of the track options below:
- Climate and Energy
- Conservation Science and Natural Systems
- Environmental Justice and Health
- Sustainable Development & Governance
Requirements for the Sc.B. Degree
| Core Requirements | ||
| ENVS 0490 | Environmental Science in a Changing World | 1 |
| ENVS 0110 | Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century | 1 |
| Tools - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on building qualitative or quantitative research tools | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Scientific Computing | ||
| Applied Ordinary Differential Equations | ||
| Applied Partial Differential Equations I | ||
| Introduction to Probability and Statistics | ||
| Introduction to Probability and Statistics with Calculus | ||
| Mathematics and Climate | ||
| Statistical Analysis of Biological Data | ||
| Statistical Methods | ||
| Introduction to programming | ||
| Computing Foundations: Data | ||
| Accelerated Introduction to Computer Science | ||
| Data Science Fluency | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Computational Approaches to Modelling and Quantitative Analysis in Natural Sciences: An Introduction | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Machine Learning for the Earth and Environment | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Cartography and Geovisualization | ||
| Narrating the Anthropocene | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Infectious Disease Modeling | ||
| Methods of Social Research | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Investigating the City: Hands-on Research Methods for Urban Analysis | ||
| Foundations in Earth Sciences and Technology - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focusing on earth, atmospheric, engineering or water sciences. | ||
| Introduction to Oceanography | ||
| Natural Disasters | ||
| Understanding Earth and Environmental Processes | ||
| Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet | ||
| Solving the Climate and Carbon Challenge | ||
| Water in Our World | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Global Water Cycle | ||
| Environmental Geochemistry | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Dynamic Meteorology | ||
| Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning | ||
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Groundwater Flow and Transport | ||
| Historical Climatology and Global Climate Change | ||
| Ecology/Biological Sciences - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on ecological or conservation biology | ||
| Diversity of Life | ||
| The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease | ||
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| The Evolution of Plant Diversity | ||
| Rhode Island Flora: Understanding and Documenting Local Plant Diversity | ||
| Marine Biology | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Conservation in the Genomics Age | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| Environmental Justice and Equity - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on environmental issues through a justice and/or equity lens | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions | ||
| Land Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Justice | ||
| Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| The Environmental History of Subsistence and Extraction in Africa before 1900 | ||
| An Environmental Sociology for a Rapidly Warming World | ||
| Environmental Policy and Politics - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on the policy, politics and/or governance of environmental issues | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Political Ecology | ||
| Ocean Resilience: Ecology, Management, and Politics | ||
| People and Oceans: How we Inhabit and Inhibit our Blue Planet | ||
| Local Food Systems and Urban Agriculture | ||
| Climate Policy Research: Organizations and Obstruction | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Policy Process | ||
| Ocean Governance and Policy | ||
| Climate Media, Discourse, and Power | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Environmental politics in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants' perspectives | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Politics of Climate Change | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Environmental History and Humanities - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on the role of history, culture, and the arts in the environment | ||
| Power + Water: Material Culture and its Environmental Impact | ||
| Water, Culture and Power | ||
| Environment, Food, and Health in China | ||
| Writing Climate, Writing Community | ||
| Nature Writing | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Birding Communities | ||
| Commodity Natures: Supply Chains From Extraction to Waste and Alternatives to Endless Growth | ||
| Animals and Plants in Chinese History | ||
| From Fire Wielders to Empire Builders: Human Impact on the Global Environment before 1492 | ||
| From the Columbian Exchange to Climate Change: Modern Global Environmental History | ||
| The Environmental History of Subsistence and Extraction in Africa before 1900 | ||
| Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present | ||
| The Environmental History of Latin America | ||
| Environmental History of East Asia | ||
| Environmental Pressures of South Asia | ||
| The Practice of History | ||
| Imperialism and Environmental Change | ||
| Earth Histories: From Creation to Countdown | ||
| The Amazon, Climate Change, and Conservation | ||
| Religion Gone Wild: Spirituality and the Environment | ||
| Electives - three courses | 3 | |
| Electives provide increased environmental expertise and further enhance a student’s ability to customize a course of study. Acceptable electives include any ENVS courses, a class that's MAIN FOCUS is on the environment, and prerequisites for classes students take to fulfill requirements within their declared track. | ||
| Capstone - one or two courses | 1-2 | |
| The College expects that a capstone will be completed in semesters 7 or 8 - with the intention of providing an opportunity for students to integrate many aspects of their course of study, or area of focus. This requirement can be met with a two-semester thesis (ENVS 1970 & ENVS 1971), one-semester research project (ENVS 1970 or ENVS 1971), or an approved capstone course. | ||
| Additional Track specific requirements: | 5 | |
| Total Credits | 17-18 | |
Tracks
| TRACK 1 - Climate and Energy | ||
| This track is intended for students interested in climate change science, energy systems, and energy/climate change policy | ||
| FOUNDATIONS - pick two | 2 | |
| These courses serve as a foundation to understanding energy, climate systems, and data analysis 1 | ||
| Introduction to Scientific Computing | ||
| Computing Foundations: Data | ||
| Accelerated Introduction to Computer Science | ||
| Equilibrium, Rate, and Structure | ||
| Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet | ||
| Computational Approaches to Modelling and Quantitative Analysis in Natural Sciences: An Introduction | ||
| Machine Learning for the Earth and Environment | ||
| Environmental Geochemistry | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning | ||
| Introduction to Engineering | ||
| Introduction to Engineering: Design | ||
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Electricity and Magnetism | ||
| Fluid Mechanics | ||
| Basic Physics A | ||
| Foundations of Mechanics | ||
| ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL TECH, & INFRASTRUCTURE - pick one | 1 | |
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Water Supply and Treatment Systems - Technology and Sustainability | ||
| Renewable Energy Technologies | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| Sustainable Design in the Built Environment | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| CLIMATE - pick one | 1 | |
| Solving the Climate and Carbon Challenge | ||
| Water in Our World | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Climate Modeling I | ||
| Principles of Planetary Climate | ||
| The Chemistry of Environmental Pollution | ||
| Climate Solutions - A multidisciplinary perspective | ||
| Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution | ||
| ENERGY & CLIMATE POLICY - pick one | 1 | |
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Climate Policy Research: Organizations and Obstruction | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Politics of Climate Change | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Total Credits | 5 | |
- 1
Students can use a prerequisites for any of the courses selected to fulfill an "Elective" requirement.
| TRACK 2 - Conservation Science and Natural Systems | ||
| This track is intended for students interested in ecological and conservation sciences 1 | ||
| ECOLOGY | 1 | |
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| CONSERVATION | 1 | |
| Conservation Biology | ||
| ORGANISMAL DIVERSITY, ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION TOPICS - pick two | 2 | |
| Invertebrate Zoology | ||
| The Evolution of Plant Diversity | ||
| Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology | ||
| Evolutionary Biology | ||
| Rhode Island Flora: Understanding and Documenting Local Plant Diversity | ||
| Conservation in the Genomics Age | ||
| Biogeography | ||
| POLITICS & HISTORY OF NATURAL SYSTEMS - pick one | 1 | |
| Political Ecology | ||
| Ocean Resilience: Ecology, Management, and Politics | ||
| People and Oceans: How we Inhabit and Inhibit our Blue Planet | ||
| Land Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Justice | ||
| Local Food Systems and Urban Agriculture | ||
| Ocean Governance and Policy | ||
| The Practice of History | ||
| Environmental politics in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants' perspectives | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Politics of Climate Change | ||
| Politics and Nature | ||
| Total Credits | 5 | |
- 1
Most students with an intention of going to grad school in this field will also need: At least one semester of calculus and a statistics course
| TRACK 3 – Environmental Justice and Health | ||
| This track is intended for students interested in exploring environmental issues through a justice/equity lens | ||
| RACE, CLASS, & GENDER INEQUALITY - pick one | 1 | |
| Any class focused on race, class, or gender - these courses do not have an environmental theme | ||
| An Introduction to Africana Studies | ||
| Health Inequality in Historical Perspective | ||
| Indians, Colonists, and Africans in New England | ||
| Race and Inequality in the United States | ||
| Introduction to Ethnic Studies | ||
| Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies | ||
| Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History | ||
| Sex, Gender, and Society | ||
| Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the Modern World | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE & EQUITY - Pick 2 | 2 | |
| These courses focus on environmental issues through a justice and/or equity lens | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions | ||
| Land Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Justice | ||
| Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| The Environmental History of Subsistence and Extraction in Africa before 1900 | ||
| An Environmental Sociology for a Rapidly Warming World | ||
| FOUNDATIONS IN HEALTH & INEQUALITY - pick one | 1 | |
| These courses offer a foundation or an additional tool to study environmental health and inequality | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Cartography and Geovisualization | ||
| Health Care in the United States | ||
| Introduction to Public Health | ||
| Health Law and Policy | ||
| Intro. to Health Disparities & Making Connection btw Structure, Social Determinants&Health Equity | ||
| Race, Racism and Health | ||
| Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice | ||
| Infectious Disease Modeling | ||
| Social Determinants of Health | ||
| Methods of Social Research | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - pick one | 1 | |
| These courses focus specifically on public health and the environment | ||
| Environmental Health and Disease | ||
| Climate Change and Public Health in a Warming World | ||
| Public Health and the Environment | ||
| Global Burden of Disease | ||
| World of Food: Personal to Global Perspectives on Nutrition, Agriculture and Policy | ||
| Current Topics in Environmental Health | ||
| Environmental Exposure Assessments in Practice | ||
| Rural Public Health | ||
| Climate Risks and Health Solutions | ||
| Total Credits | 5 | |
- 1
Many AFRI, ETHN, and GNSS classes count with IBES Curriculum Committee approval.
| TRACK 4 - Sustainable Development & Governance | ||
| This track is intended for students interested in the interplay between environmental governance and economics on the global stage, with an emphasis on the non-Western world | ||
| GLOBAL GOVERNANCE & DEVELOPMENT - pick one | 1 | |
| Courses focused on global governance or development (some are non environmental) | ||
| Ocean Resilience: Ecology, Management, and Politics | ||
| Climate Change, Human Rights, and the Policy Process | ||
| Ocean Governance and Policy | ||
| Foundations of Development | ||
| Economic Development in Latin America | ||
| Economic Development of China and India | ||
| Introduction to Comparative Politics | ||
| Introduction to International Politics | ||
| Politics of Climate Change | ||
| Security, Governance and Development in Africa | ||
| The International Law and Politics of Human Rights | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Political Economy of Development | ||
| Power, Knowledge and Justice in Global Social Change | ||
| ENVIRONMENT, JUSTICE, & NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES - pick two | 2 | |
| Any class focused on the Environment and the Global South and/or other non-Western perspectives | ||
| Power + Water: Material Culture and its Environmental Impact | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions | ||
| Land Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Justice | ||
| Farm Planet: Hunger, Development, and the Future of Food and Agriculture | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Reimagining Climate Change | ||
| Commodity Natures: Supply Chains From Extraction to Waste and Alternatives to Endless Growth | ||
| Indigenous Laws, Environmental Racism, and LandBack | ||
| Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present | ||
| The Environmental History of Latin America | ||
| More-Than-Human Histories of Africa | ||
| The Amazon, Climate Change, and Conservation | ||
| Environmental politics in Latin America: Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants' perspectives | ||
| ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES - pick one | 1 | |
| These courses are intermediate-level economic tools courses | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Intermediate Microeconomics | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Environmental Issues in Development Economics | ||
| Urban Economics | ||
| Current Global Macroeconomic Challenges | ||
| Health, Hunger and the Household in Developing Countries | ||
| Economic Growth | ||
| FINANCE & ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES - pick one | 1 | |
| These courses are either intermediate-level economic tools courses, courses focused on sustainable investing and finance, or the social science of economics systems | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Intermediate Microeconomics | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Environmental Issues in Development Economics | ||
| Urban Economics | ||
| Current Global Macroeconomic Challenges | ||
| Health, Hunger and the Household in Developing Countries | ||
| Economic Growth | ||
| Eco-Entrepreneurship | ||
| The Theory and Practice of Sustainable Investing | ||
| Finance and the Environment | ||
| History of Capitalism | ||
| Climate Change, Power, & Money | ||
| Are We Doomed? Ethics, Economics, and the Future | ||
| Total Credits | 5 | |
Honors
Students interested in graduating with honors in their concentration must complete a thesis determined to be of the highest quality and must have excelled in their coursework required for the concentration, which is defined here as receiving a grade of "A" in the majority of courses taken to fulfill the concentration. You can learn more by visiting the honors page on the IBES website.