University of California, Los Angeles
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, together with the Departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health Sciences and Geography, offers an innovative dual-component degree program in Environmental Science.

The first component, the Environmental Science Major, provides students with disciplinary breadth in areas important to environmental science. The second component, a concentration in one of eight environmental science areas, provides students with focused, disciplinary depth in an area of their choosing.

Our bachelor’s degree in environmental science is an immersive, multifaceted experience. Drawing on the resources of a diverse, world-class university, it emphasizes real-world practice -- getting students off campus to solve problems with companies, organizations and communities. Along the way, students create their experience, using the campus, city and vast natural areas of California as living laboratories. After they graduate, 80 percent go on to work in environmental professions, while others use what they’ve learned to pursue careers in social science, business, the arts and more.

The classroom portion of the degree is rooted in physical and life sciences, including chemistry, biology, mathematics and physics. And because environmental issues are human issues, all students also take multiple classes in social sciences and humanities—learning subjects such as public policy, politics, journalism and justice. To make this happen, IoES partners with departments across campus. This broad education prepares them to take on the complex, pressing environmental issues the world faces.

The major in Geography/Environmental Studies develops and deepens students' understanding of environmental issues; it explores problem-solving approaches from an interactive people/nature viewpoint and involves analysis of social, physical, and biotic environmental systems. The major's uniqueness lies in its emphasis on its geographical perspective of human impacts on natural systems, as well as of implications of global change on local and regional human systems.

https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/our-programs/

The Environmental Systems and Society minor is designed for students who wish to augment their major program of study with courses addressing the relationships between environmental science and associated social and political issues. The minor seeks to impart a deeper understanding of environmental systems related to air, land, water and biological resources. A main goal of the program is to provide students with a foundation for sound decision making as a professional and a citizen.

Intended to develop and deepen your understanding of environmental issues. It emphasizes a systems approach to gaining an understanding of major environmental problems facing our society and the world at large. You will gain an understanding of geographical perspectives of human impacts on natural systems, and on the implications of environmental change on local, regional and global human systems.

This is an especially attractive major for liberal arts students as well as those who want to specialize in areas such as international issues, development, the environment and remote-sensing GIS. Its body of theory and its methodologies provide ideas and techniques applicable to a wide range of questions about our environment; it also provides both the regional and world perspectives required of responsible citizens.