The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists Environmental Scientist as the top job in science in terms of growth. UW-Stout's Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Biology provides a broad foundation that includes fieldwork, internships, and a new $43 million science facility. Graduates of the Environmental Science program have practical skills in the field and lab, and real-life experience solving environmental problems.
Concentrations
Our concentrations allow students to specialize in fields of expertise within the industry while still providing a strong foundation experience to cover the breadth needed to be successful within Environmental Science throughout their careers.
The curriculum, research experiences, service opportunities, and internships that our students participate in provide them with a vast array of skills in various environmental fields. Technical report writing, data analysis, interpersonal communication, and experimental design are stressed across the curriculum.
The faculty in the Environmental Science program is dedicated to providing you with the hands-on experience you'll need to develop skills for the workforce. Teaching at UW-Stout is applied and student-centered, so you can pursue a wide variety of environmental activities, such as:
- Student organizations
- Individual/group projects with faculty members
- Class projects that work with the community for real on-the-ground change
In addition to working with instructors from a wide range of disciplines, you’ll gain significant hands-on experience through a field internship or cooperative education opportunities. You’ll develop the qualities that employers are looking for in today’s college graduates – interpersonal communication, problem-solving skills, and good judgment.
100% of Our Graduates are Employed or Continuing Education
A capstone course will integrate previous coursework into a transformative experience that prepares you for a professional career. Foreign language and foreign study programs are also highly encouraged to enhance your professional development.
To succeed in this program, you should have an aptitude for science and an understanding of human relations. As a high school student, you should complete four years of math and one year each of biology, chemistry and physics. College preparatory English, basic computer, communication, and business courses will also be helpful in your preparation for college.
The Environmental Science program prepares you for a wide array of career choices. The program offers interdisciplinary courses to provide you with a background in many areas.
Your coursework in the first year will be a combination of introductory courses in biology, chemistry, mathematics and general education. You’ll also take a one-credit Environmental Science Profession course to better identify possible career tracks. General education courses include English composition, ethics, and speech courses. Ecology, botany, zoology, geology, and geographic information systems (GIS) round-out your second year’s courses.
I learned a lot about how to be more professional in many aspects as well as how to write a good scientific paper. As well as the various components that make a good scientist and the amount of time and effort it takes to be successful in whatever career path you choose.
-Jake Daugherty
The UW-Stout Environmental Science program helped me to stay on track to be able to graduate on time. I feel very prepared on my job searches thanks to all the knowledge I have gained from my classes.
-Sidney Cottew
I originally went to stout unsure of what I wanted to do. I then changed majors and entered the environmental science program. From there on out I felt like I had found where I was supposed to be. I enjoyed the professors, the students in the program, and the material taught. It’s been a great four years.
-Peter Kleinschmidt
The Environmental Science program prepared me for the "real world".
-McKenna Sperberg
The program prepared me to accomplish the tasks that employers is all different fields of science are looking for, from the lab to the field, I never felt unprepared.
-Tyler Christensen
The UW-Stout Environmental Science program prepared me for the natural resource field by providing me with knowledge and an abundance of opportunities to obtain hands-on experience both in the classroom and outside of it.
-Chandra Wiley
This program helped me realize what I wanted from my degree and career. I came in knowing that I wanted to be an active member within the environmental community, yet I had no real direction or focus and this program has helped remedy that. This program has positively affected not only my communication skills, but also given me the opportunity to break into the academic discourse surrounding the environmental community so that I feel more at home and centered then if I was an outsider looking in. Overall, this program has helped me become more communicative, social, hardworking and understanding, while also giving me the necessary tools to succeed in the environmental field.
-Jeremy Eckert
The Environmental Science program at UW-Stout has offered so many opportunities that I would not have gotten elsewhere, allowed me hands-on learning which has benefited me as a student, a person, and as a future employee.
-Kayla Christianson
Stout's broad spectrum of classes/minors allows you to tailor your diploma to what you like to do. Adding GIS, Plant Science, Chemistry, or other minors to your degree can open up pathways that you weren't even aware of.
-Tim Jackson
The environmental science program helped me be successful because it allowed me to grow as a scientist and researcher. This program allowed me to experience different opportunities that led me to what career I would want to be working in the future.
-Kat Cardinal
The Environmental Science program at Stout literally gave me everything I could have wanted. Personable professors, close-knit group of students that are all ambitious to learn something new, professional experience in class and in labs, and exploiting the passion that I have for the outdoors.
-Austin Littmann
Superior Research Facilities
The Environmental Science program provides cutting-edge labs and equipment designed with your needs in mind. Dubbed “the finest science building in the UW System,” Jarvis Hall provides you with the foremost facilities and instruments, so you can become an innovator in your chosen field.
- Ultrasonic Cell Disrupter
- UV/VIS Diode Array Spectrophotometer
- Differential Scanning Calorimeter System
- TGA
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
- NMR Spectrophotometer
- Gas Chromatography System
- Gas Chromatography Integrator
- Gas Chromatography Auto Sampler
- X-Ray Diffractometer
- Student Mac Lab and laser printer
- Ultracentrifuge System
- High Performance Liquid Chromatography System
- WISP Autosampler
- Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
- Rotary Evaporator
- Fluorimeter
- Polarized Light Microscopy
- Phase Contrast Microscope
- Capillary Electrophoresis
- Stereo Microscope
- Millikan Oil Drop
- E/m Ratio
- Helmholtz Coil
- Cathode Ray Tube
- Geiger-Mueller Tube
- Bragg Scattering
- Rydberg Constant
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 19% increase in demand for environmental scientists over the next 10 years and suggest that heightened public interest in the hazards facing the environment, as well as the increasing demands placed on the environment by population growth, are expected to spur demand for environmental scientists and specialists. Further, the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists Environmental Scientist as the top job in science in terms of growth (21,000 new jobs by 2016).
The coursework, research experiences, service opportunities and internships that our students participate in provide them with a vast array of skills in various environmental fields. Graduates of the Environmental Science program have both practical skills in the field and lab, and real-life experience with solving environmental problems in independent and collaborative settings. Graduates have the opportunity to work at:
- Governmental agencies
- Non-profit organizations
- Environmental consulting firms
- Water quality testing labs
- Ag industry
- Biofuel industry
Graduates also pursue careers as GIS analysts, biological or water resource technicians, or pursue advanced degrees.
Many students combine this major with minors in Geographic Information Systems, Plant Science, or Sustainability.
2018 ES Advisory Board
- Krista James, Program Director
- Becky Anderson, Director of Compliance, WRR Environmental Services Co., Inc
- Mike Bessert, Professor, Biology Department
- Julie Beston, Assistant Professor, Biology Department
- Adam Cameron, Wetland Ecologist and GIS Specialist, Kjolhaug Environmental Services Company
- Christina Dinauer, Senior Lecturer, Food and Nutrition Department
- Keith Gilland, Assistant Professor, Biology Department
- Kelly Gilliland, Environmental Health and Safety Manager, DiaSorin Inc.
- Bill James, Research Scientist, Sustainability Sciences Institute
- Jeanette Kelly, Citizen Science Director, Beaver Creek Department
- Shelby Kilibarda, Wildlife Biologist, Wisconsin DNR-Menomonie Field Station
- Arthur Kneeland, Senior Lecturer, Biology Department
- Matthew Kuchta, Professor, Physics Department
- Jodi Lepsch, Water Resources Management Specialist, Wisconsin DNR-West Central Region
- McKenzie Librande, Current student in program, Current UW-Stout student-Aquatic Biology Concentration
- Mandy Little, Associate Professor, Biology Department
- Amanda Mallet, Environmental Health Inspector, Hennepin County, Human Services and Public Health Department, Epidemology and Environmental Health
- Nicole Vars McCullough, Application Engineering Manager, 3M, Personal Safety Division
- Scott McGovern, Senior Lecturer, Biology Department
- Innisfree McKinnon, Assistant Professor, Social Sciences Department
- Lindsay Olson, Water Quality Specialist, Environmental Department; Dunn County Land and Water Conservation Division
- Shane Sanderson, Director of Environmental Health & Laboratory, Eau Claire City-County Health Department
- Bill Schmidt, Natural resource Specialist, Eau Galle Recreational Area
- Greg Schneider-Bateman, Assistant Professor, English and Philosophy Department
- John Sippl, District Conservationist, Dunn County Natural Resource Conservation Service
- Peter Strand, GIS-Specialist, Eau Claire County
- Emi Stuemke, Assistant Professor, English and Philosophy Dept.
- Ana Vande Linde, Professor, Chemistry Department
- John Weinand, Environmental Health Supervisor, City of Minnetonka
