Environmental Science

Overview

UW-Superior’s environmental science major will provide you with excellent insight into the ways humans interact with land, water and air, and enable you to delve into some of the most pressing issues of our time.

With our ideal location next to the largest freshwater lake in the world, the program emphasizes environmental issues of regional importance to the Lake Superior area. You will also benefit from access to forests, wetlands, lakes and other natural resources. The program is strongly interdisciplinary, with courses taught by faculty from four departments along with research scientists at the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve (LSNERR) and Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI). You’ll have ample opportunities to participate in hands-on laboratory research, fieldwork, internships and paid student employment positions.

Experiential Learning

Students complete a capstone research or internship experience and benefit from ample hands-on research opportunities with faculty and scientists at LSRI and LSNERR.

State-of-the-Art Laboratories

Facilities include a greenhouse, GIS computer lab, and the new “floating classroom” research vessel arriving in 2025.

Location

Located near the shore of Lake Superior and the Superior National Forest, students have access to one of the most abundant and pristine natural resource areas in North America.

What You’ll Learn

Environmental Science is a comprehensive major that will provides a broad array of coursework yet allows flexibility to add electives in your field of interest, such as chemistry, biology, water resources, geographic information systems or sustainability management.

Courses in this major will expose you to:

• Major Earth systems and their interactions
• Social and economic aspects of the environment
• Ecology and aquatic science
• Geographic information systems

Facilities & Research

Located near the shores of Lake Superior and the Superior National Forest, students have access to one of the most abundant and pristine natural resource areas in North America. Some of these unique resources include:

• The Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI), located on the UW-Superior campus, is one of the nation’s only research facilities devoted to freshwater and invasive species research. LSRI’s ballast-water research facility of Lake Superior and on-campus laboratory provide unique hands-on opportunities for employment and laboratory research.
• Coming soon, UW-Superior will introduce the Sadie Ann Floating Classroom and Research Vessel. This vessel will provide an intimate connection to Lake Superior and allow advanced scientific research and exploration of the Big Lake.
• The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve (LSNERR) is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve system and is one of two on the Great Lakes. UW-Superior is an LSNERR partner and our students can benefit from the experiential learning opportunities within the Reserve.

For an institution the size of UW-Superior, the opportunities for research can parallel those of large research institutions. Students often will have more opportunities for hands-on research, occurring at earlier points in their college career due to the smaller class sizes and enrollment. Students with this major often work with instructors and faculty members on research about:

• Lake Superior and St. Louis River ecology
• Microplastic pollution and aquatic toxicology
• Aquatic invasive species
• The geological history of Lake Superior region
• Water resources

Program Outcomes/Career Opportunities

Many of our students choose to further their study in graduate school, and often report that they are better prepared than their peers from other institutions.

In addition, career opportunities are abundant within the following career fields for environmental sciences graduates: