Environmental Science Major & Minor

Understand and solve environmental issues

Baby plant growing in a pile of soil against a white background to represent our Environmental Science major

With a blend of geology, biology, chemistry, geography, and environmental courses, FLC’s Environmental Science program immerses you in an interdisciplinary approach to scientific inquiry and practice.

Your path to this Bachelor of Science degree or minor includes exploring how the air and water connect us to the Earth and one another in a region with a long history of resilience in the face of environmental change.

Kaitlin Moss, Ph.D.

"The fascinating part about environmental science is the way it connects so many other natural and physical science disciplines together to help comprehensively understand the world around us and build on scientific knowledge. Environmental science is always solutions-oriented – we need to understand our planet in order to protect it!"

Kaitlin, Mattos, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environment & Sustainability & Teacher Education
Environmental Science major Mike Ward

Mike Ward, Environmental Science

Investigating the bio-transformations of hops.

The science of our one amazing planet

Combine courses from geology, biology, chemistry, geography, and environmental science for an interdisciplinary approach to a scientific understanding of our environment. The complexity of questions around climate change, water quality, resource extraction, energy and food production, and rising ocean temperatures demand a knowledge not of one specific field of science, but a blend of them all.

Place-based learning

Our campus is situated where the Rocky Mountains meet the canyon lands of the Southwest—the earth’s crust rises and water ways carve deep channels through it, wind and sand efface its surfaces, and plants devise strategies to live in the alpine tundra at 14,000 feet, and the sun-baked sandstone at 4,000 feet. Additionally, humans have made significant impact on the region, mining, growing food, extracting resources such as oil, gas and timber, damming rivers and enjoying outdoor recreational activities. The Southwest is rich grounds for studying environmental processes—and our campus sits at the heart of it all.

Senior capstone: experiential and original

Studying in the Environmental Science program you have the opportunity to engage in authentic projects delving into relevant questions, and even to design and complete original research in a senior capstone project. This multidisciplinary, science-based research project ties together the breadth of your coursework, with faculty mentorship. It involves field and/or lab work, data analysis and compilation, and includes the presentation of results in a public forum as well as a written thesis.