Education & Resources

Education

The IoE has three broad initial objectives for interdisciplinary education in the environmental and ecosystem sciences:

1. Expand opportunities for students to participate in basic and applied research, develop critical thinking and communications skills, and receive state-of-the-art education to increase their competitiveness in the workforce.

2. Increase state and national visibility for environmental and ecosystem science research and education programs by showcasing the strengths within and across institutions.

3. Increase capacity to recruit and retain nationally competitive graduate and undergraduate students in environmental areas.

Graduate

IoE Graduate Fellows

IoE Graduate Fellows are MUS graduate students working interdisciplinary topics related to the IoE. These outstanding student scholars receive direct support from the IoE to advance their research and education goals. The IoE works with Graduate Fellows to engage them with the IoE community of scholars, provide opportunities for important skills training such as science communication, and, in many cases, fostering the development of an outreach activity that brings their science to a targeted audience.



MSU Ph.D. in Ecology and Environmental Sciences

The Ph.D. in Ecology and Environmental Sciences (EES) is a cross-college doctoral degree representing a broad collaboration among departments and faculty from across MSU. It provides the opportunity for motivated students to integrate MSU's world-class faculty research programs in diverse aspects of ecology and environmental sciences, often within the unparalleled natural laboratory that is the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Particular program strengths include terrestrial and aquatic ecology, environmental biogeochemistry, evolutionary biology, hydrology and watershed analysis, quantitative ecology, agroecology, environmental risk assessment, invasive plant ecology and management, conservation biology, land rehabilitation/restoration ecology, environmental microbiology, remote sensing and spatial sciences, chemical ecology and land-atmosphere interactions.



UM Systems Ecology Graduate Program

The University of Montana's Systems Ecology graduate program is an intercollegiate program between the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the College of Forestry and Conservation (CFC). Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ecological systems that focuses on interactions and transactions within and among biological systems. Systems ecology recognizes the strongly interactive role that humans play affecting most of the earth's ecosystems. As such, this program plays a vital role in developing a fundamental, interdisciplinary understanding of interactions of physical, chemical and biological factors affecting ecological systems across spatial and temporal scales and the factors affecting coupled natural and human systems. Systems Ecology focuses on transdisciplinary approaches to understanding ecological systems and fosters faculty and graduate students who desire to synthesize that understanding across multiple scales ranging from genes to ecosystems and minutes to millennia while coupling the natural and cultural sciences.

Undergraduate

IoE Undergraduate Internships

IoE Undergraduate Interns gain hands-on interdisciplinary research experiences working with IoE affiliated faculty and partners. The IoE additionally works with interns to engage them with a diverse range of people, topics, and IoE activities, ensuring an overall experience that enhances the student's educational objectives.



MSU Water Resources Minor

The Montana State University Water Resources Minor is designed to encourage a student from any discipline to explore water resources beyond course work in their major. As a result, the minor includes courses from the College of Agriculture, the College of Engineering, and the College of Letters and Science. With a minor in Water Resources, students can enter the workforce with a broad knowledge of water issues and with experience in the field. This minor has an optional internship that will provide students with hands-on experience with researchers, water groups, or other focus areas that suit the student's interests. The interdisciplinary nature of the minor guarantees that students learn to view water with critical thinking skills, strengthening their degrees by adding dimension to the student's knowledge base.



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