Many of the most pressing challenges of the 21st Century are environmental ones. We must find ways to feed a growing human population while maintaining the natural life support system provided by the Earth's ecosystems; to make built environments more efficient as urban areas continue to grow dramatically in size; and to meet the challenges posed by rising sea-level and increasing global temperatures. These challenges are complex, multifaceted and can best be solved with expertise from multiple, relevant disciplines. To prepare students to meet these challenges, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) offers two undergraduate degrees: an A.B. in Environmental Studies and a Sc.B. in Environmental Science. The two degrees vary primarily in the number of course requirements; the Sc.B. is a more in-depth treatment of a single field. Both degrees provide interdisciplinary exposure to the natural and social sciences, as well as public policy. Both degrees also develop depth in a primary field by requiring students to select one of five tracks of study. Concentrators might also consider pursuing the Engaged Scholars Program, which allows them to connect theory and practice and gain hands-on experience working with community partners.
Through a rigorous set of core courses, track requirements, and a course or project-based capstone experience, our students are primed to make meaningful contributions to environmental scholarship and outreach at local, national and global scales.
If you have administrative questions regarding theses concentrations or wish to be added to the email directory listing upcoming events, then please contact Jeanne Loewenstein, the academic program manager.
Standard program in Environmental Studies and Environmental Science:
The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society administers two concentrations, one offering an A.B. degree in Environmental Studies (requires 14-15 courses) and the other a Sc.B. degree in Environmental Science (requires 19-20 courses). Below are a set of course offerings arranged into four tracks:
- Air, Climate & Energy
- Conservation Science & Policy
- Environment & Inequality
- Land, Water & Food Security
- Sustainability in Development
Requirements for the A.B. Degree
| Core Requirements | ||
| ECON 0110 | Principles of Economics 1 | 1 |
| or HIST 0150A | History of Capitalism | |
| ENVS 0490 | Environmental Science in a Changing World 2 | 1 |
| ENVS 0110 | Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century | 1 |
| BIOL 0210 | Diversity of Life | 1 |
| or EEPS 0240 | Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet | |
| Methods - one course | 1 | |
| Methods for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research | ||
| Electives - three courses | 3 | |
These electives provide increased environmental expertise and further enhance a student’s ability to customize a course of study. Acceptable courses include prerequisites for track requirements, any ENVS course, and classes with significant environmental content. | ||
| Capstone - one or two courses | 1-2 | |
| 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. | ||
| Track Specific Requirements | 5 | |
| Track 1 - Air, Climate, and Energy | ||
| Foundational courses (choose two): | ||
| Equilibrium, Rate, and Structure | ||
| Earth Processes | ||
| Introduction to Engineering | ||
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Basic Physics A | ||
| Foundations of Mechanics | ||
| Climate (choose one): | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Principles of Planetary Climate | ||
| Air Pollution & Chemistry | ||
| Policy (choose one): | ||
| Powering the Past: Environmental Histories of Energy Use and Social Change | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Energy Technology and Infrastructure (choose one): | ||
| Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering | ||
| Thermodynamics | ||
| Renewable Energy Technologies | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| Sustainable Design in the Built Environment | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Track 2 - Conservation Science and Policy | ||
| Ecology: | ||
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| Conservation: | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Ecology & Conservation Topics: Select One | ||
| Community Ecology | ||
| Terrestrial Biogeochemistry and the Functioning of Ecosystems | ||
| Conservation in the Genomics Age | ||
| Policy: Select One | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Urban Agriculture: The Importance of Localized Food Systems | ||
| Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, DC | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| Globalization and the Environment | ||
| Animals and Plants in Chinese History | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Statistics: Select One | ||
| Essential Statistics | ||
| Statistical Inference I | ||
| Statistical Analysis of Biological Data | ||
| Statistical Methods | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Track 3 – Environment and Inequality | ||
| Track Intro Course: | ||
ENVS 0705 - Equity and the Environment: Movements, Scholarship, Solutions | ||
| Race, Class, and Gender Inequality: Select One | ||
| An Introduction to Africana Studies | ||
| Afro Latin Americans and Blackness in the Americas | ||
| How Structural Racism Works | ||
| Race and Inequality in the United States | ||
| Introduction to American/Ethnic Studies | ||
| Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History | ||
| Modern Africa: From Empire to Nation-State | ||
| Sex, Gender, and Society | ||
| Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the Modern World | ||
| Environment and Inequality: Select One | ||
| Anthropology and Global Social Problems: Environment, Development, and Governance | ||
| Powering the Past: Environmental Histories of Energy Use and Social Change | ||
| The Anthropocene: The Past and Present of Environmental Change | ||
| 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 | ||
| Current Topics in Environmental Health | ||
| Tools: Select One | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Statistical Inference I | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Spatial Thinking in Social Science | ||
| Policy: Select One | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Urban Agriculture: The Importance of Localized Food Systems | ||
| Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, DC | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| International Law | ||
| City Politics | ||
| Introduction to International Politics | ||
| Politics of Globalization | ||
| Fieldwork in the Urban Community | ||
| Planning Sustainable Cities | ||
| The Political Foundations of the City | ||
| Track 4 - Land, Water & Food Security | ||
| Climate: Select One | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Principles of Planetary Climate | ||
| Air Pollution & Chemistry | ||
| Biology: Select One | ||
| Plants, Food, and People | ||
| Diversity of Life | ||
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| The Evolution of Plant Diversity | ||
| Inquiry in Plant Biology: Analysis of Plant Growth, Reproduction and Adaptive Responses | ||
| Environmental History: Select One | ||
| Anthropology of Food | ||
| Powering the Past: Environmental Histories of Energy Use and Social Change | ||
| Birding Communities | ||
| The Anthropocene: The Past and Present of Environmental Change | ||
| Histories of Global Wetlands | ||
| Animals and Plants in Chinese History | ||
| Foods and Drugs in 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 | ||
| Environmental History of East Asia | ||
| Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Environmental Histories of Non-Human Actors | ||
| Imperialism and Environmental Change | ||
| Policy: Select One | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Urban Agriculture: The Importance of Localized Food Systems | ||
| Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, DC | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Tools: Select One | ||
| Statistical Inference I | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Track 5 - Sustainability in Development | ||
| Environment and Development: Select Two | ||
| Anthropology and Global Social Problems: Environment, Development, and Governance | ||
| Health, Hunger and the Household in Developing Countries | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Urban Agriculture: The Importance of Localized Food Systems | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Globalization and the Environment | ||
| Policy: Select Two | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, DC | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Analysis Tools: Select One | ||
| Infrastructure! | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Statistical Inference I | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Total Credits | 14-15 | |
| 1 | The ECON 0110 core requirement can be waived for students with an AP exam score of 4 or 5 in both Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. |
| 2 | The core requirement of ENVS 0490 can be waived for students with an AP exam score of 5 in Environmental Science. |
Requirements for the Sc.B. Degree
| Requires ALL 14-15 course requirements as listed in the A.B. Program | 14-15 | |
| Additional Track specific requirements for the Sc.B. | 5 | |
| Track 1 - Air, Climate, and Energy | ||
| Math: | ||
| Introductory Calculus, Part I 1 | ||
| Policy (choose one): | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Engaged Climate Policy in the U.S.: Rhode Island and Washington, DC | ||
| Making Connections: The Environmental Policy Process | ||
| Globalization and the Environment | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Infrastructure! | ||
| Geopolitics of Oil and Energy | ||
| Tools (choose one): | ||
| Methods of Applied Mathematics I, II | ||
| Essential Statistics | ||
| Statistical Inference I | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Climate and Thermal Change (choose two): | ||
| Geochemistry: Earth and Planetary Materials and Processes | ||
| Paleoceanography | ||
| Environmental Geochemistry | ||
| Introduction to Atmospheric Dynamics | ||
| Thermodynamics | ||
| Design of Thermal Engines | ||
| Industrial Design | ||
| Air Pollution & Chemistry | ||
| Track 2 - Conservation Science and Policy | ||
| Math: Select One | ||
| Introductory Calculus, Part I 1 | ||
| Evolution: Select One | ||
| Evolutionary Biology | ||
| Organismal Diversity: Select One | ||
| Invertebrate Zoology | ||
| The Evolution of Plant Diversity (BIOL 0460 - Insect Biology) | ||
| Inquiry in Plant Biology: Analysis of Plant Growth, Reproduction and Adaptive Responses | ||
| Comparative Biology of the Vertebrates | ||
| Env. Econ: Select One | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Environmental Economics and Policy | ||
| Environmental Issues in Development Economics | ||
| Tools: Select One | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Spatial Thinking in Social Science | ||
| Track 3 – Environment and Inequality | ||
| Tools: Select One | ||
| Ethnographic Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Econometrics | ||
| Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods | ||
| Introduction to Environmental GIS | ||
| Introduction to Geographic Information Systems for Environmental Applications | ||
| Global Environmental Remote Sensing | ||
| Introductory Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Focus Groups for Market and Social Research | ||
| Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems | ||
| Spatial Thinking in Social Science | ||
| Race, Class and Gender Inequality: Select One | ||
| Race and Inequality in the United States | ||
| History and Resistance in Representations of Native Peoples | ||
| Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the Modern World | ||
| SELECT A FOCUS AREA (pick three courses from only one focus area) | ||
| FOCUS ONE - Environmental Inequality in Globalization and Development: Select Three | ||
| Anthropology and Global Social Problems: Environment, Development, and Governance | ||
| Environmental Issues in Development Economics | ||
| Economic Development | ||
| Health, Hunger and the Household in Developing Countries | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Animals and Plants in Chinese History | ||
| Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History | ||
| Caribbean and Pacific Small States: On the Margins of Development | ||
| The Burden of Disease in Developing Countries | ||
| Security, Governance and Development in Africa | ||
| Politics of Globalization | ||
| Economic Development and Social Change | ||
| FOCUS TWO - Environmental Health and Inequality: Select Three | ||
| Policy, Culture and Discourse that Shape Health and Access to Healthcare | ||
| International Health: Anthropological Perspectives | ||
| Environmental Health and Disease | ||
| Medicine and Public Health in Africa | ||
| Introduction to Public Health | ||
| The Burden of Disease in Developing Countries | ||
| Current Topics in Environmental Health | ||
| Climate Change and Human Health | ||
| Social Determinants of Health | ||
| FOCUS THREE - Environmental Inequalities in Food, Water, and Energy: Select Three | ||
| Food in American Society and Culture | ||
| Powering the Past: Environmental Histories of Energy Use and Social Change | ||
| Power, Justice, and Climate Change | ||
| Urban Agriculture: The Importance of Localized Food Systems | ||
| Environmental Stewardship and Resilience in Urban Systems | ||
| Histories of Global Wetlands | ||
| Energy Policy and Politics | ||
| Treaty Rights and Food Fights: Eating Local in Indian Country | ||
| Caribbean and Pacific Small States: On the Margins of Development | ||
| Track 4 - Land, Water & Food Security | ||
| Math: Select One | ||
| Introductory Calculus, Part I 1 | ||
| Chemistry: Select One | ||
| Equilibrium, Rate, and Structure | ||
| Earth/Life Systems: Select Three | ||
| Conservation Biology | ||
| Terrestrial Biogeochemistry and the Functioning of Ecosystems | ||
| Earth: Evolution of a Habitable Planet | ||
| Paleoceanography | ||
| Ocean Biogeochemical Cycles | ||
| Global Water Cycle | ||
| Environmental Geochemistry | ||
| Introduction to Atmospheric Dynamics | ||
| Water Supply and Treatment Systems - Technology and Sustainability | ||
| Track 5 - Sustainability in Development | ||
| Sociology and Politics: Select One | ||
| Climate Futures and a Sociology of Just Transitions | ||
| Globalization and the Environment | ||
| Introduction to International Politics | ||
| Critical Perspectives on Development: Select One | ||
| Anthropology and Global Social Problems: Environment, Development, and Governance | ||
| Race and Inequality in the United States | ||
| Sophomore Seminar in Development Studies | ||
| Infrastructure! | ||
| Reimagining Capitalism | ||
| Globalization and Social Conflict | ||
| Economic Perspectives: Select Two | ||
| Intermediate Microeconomics | ||
| Economics of Global Warming | ||
| Environmental Issues in Development Economics | ||
| Economic Development | ||
| Health, Hunger and the Household in Developing Countries | ||
| Economic Growth | ||
| Climate: Select One | ||
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Air Pollution & Chemistry | ||
| Total Credits | 19-20 | |
| 1 | The track requirement of MATH 0090 can be waived for students with an AP exam of 4 0r 5 on Calc AB; or students with an AP exam score of 4 or 5 on Calc BC in place of Math 0090 & 0100 |
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.