Environmental Studies is a multidisciplinary program created to promote the study of our natural surroundings, designs that help minimize degradation of those surroundings, and the social and political tools needed to preserve and improve the environment. The program provides training in social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and humanities.
Begun in 1984, the Tufts Environmental Studies program was one of the first multidisciplinary environmental programs in the United States. For ten years our students and alumni have been effective advocates for the environment in medicine, law, finance, industry, government, and various academic fields.
Environmental Studies is offered as a second major in conjunction with any departmental major in the School of Arts and sciences and the School of Engineering–normally excluding interdisciplinary programs.
The program has three tracks:
Track I: Environmental Science focuses on basic principles, theories, and methods of the natural sciences (biology, physics, chemistry, and geology) and their application to environmental problems.
Track II: Environment and Technology emphasizes engineering and applied science aspects of resource management, environmental impacts, and pollution prevention and abatement.
Track III: Environment and Society examines sociopolitical, humanistic, economic, and cultural aspects of managing environmental problems.
Students in each track are required to complete a core curriculum which captures the fundamental principles of disciplines in the three tracks. The core requires students to master basic scientific principles of environmental processes, to examine interactions between technology and the environment, and to explore the societal context for implementing environmental policy. The major requires completion of eight core courses, plus four courses in any one track, and an internship.
Since the environmental studies curriculum is designed as a second major, students may double count courses (but no more than fifty percent of the courses counted in the primary major) to fulfill both their first and second majors. A course in statistics is recommended.
This two-major program (which must also satisfy the other university requirements for a degree) combines the depth of a major in a specific field with a wide breadth of environmentally-oriented courses offered in any one of the three tracks.
