Environmental Analysis Program

Environmental consulting companies seek to hire motivated individuals with a solid background in applying quantitative skills to solve and prevent environmental problems. In addition, as consultants, these individuals need to be able to communicate effectively and have a keen sense of management and business practices. Graduates from Rice University's Professional Master's Program in Environmental Analysis will possess these qualities and be a tremendous asset to us and others in our field.

– Chuck Newell, Vice President, Groundwater Services, Inc.

Overview

Environmental Analysis is geared to teach students rigorous methods that are needed by industrial and governmental organizations to deal with environmental issues. It is a cross-disciplinary effort incorporating courses from environmental science, earth science, statistics, chemistry, ecology and evolutionary biology, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, chemical engineering, economics, computer science, and sociology. Graduates will be prepared with skills and knowledge valuable to environmental consulting firms, energy production companies, and government agencies. In addition to track courses, the students will take a management course, a policy and ethics course, and a seminar jointly with the students involved in the other Professional Master's Program tracks.

The objectives of this interdisciplinary degree are:

  • To teach quantitative skills such as statistics, remote sensing, data analysis, and modeling
  • To teach how to apply technical and analytical skill, and scientific evaluation methods to help solve problems affecting the environment
  • To give students the ability to anticipate problems, not just solve them
  • To teach business and management skills and professional ethics to be effective in a business environment

Students can choose from three focus areas: Environmental Sustainability, Management and Policy, and Quantitative Decision Making.

Faculty involved in the Environmental Analysis Program:

Dan Cohan Program Advisor (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
Evan Siemann Program Director (BioSciences)
Scott Egan Program Advisor (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
Thomas Killian (Dean of the School of Natural Sciences)
Philip Bedient (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
James Blackburn (Adjunct Faculty, Lecturer of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Mary Purugganan (PSM Professional Communication)
Mason Tomson (Faculty, Civil and Environmental Engineering)