Ecosystem Management and Conservation Specialization

Program Courses

Core

 Two courses required.

Course 1

Choose one of the following 2 courses. The Goal of Core I is a strong foundation in natural science theory in relation to conservation and land stewardship 

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 646 Regenerative Agriculture Systems		Wood Tu 2:30-5:20		Wood
ENV 752 Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Forests	Harris M,W 10:30-11:50		Comita

Course 2

Choose one of the following 2 courses. The Goal of Core II is a strong theoretical foundation in sociology and environmental anthropology as it relations to conservation and land stewardship.

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 764 The American West: Culture, Policy, and Public Lands	Farrell Th 9:00-11:50		Farrell
ENV 839 Power in Conservation		Carpenter M 2:30-5:20

Elective

Four required courses. Students must take at least one course from each of the following four bins:

Social Science Principles

The Goal of the Social Science elective is to apply social science principals to applied conservation topics or issues. It is typical to take these courses after fulfilling your Core 2 requirement. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 573 Urban Ecology for Local and Regional Decision Making	Grove W 1:00-3:50		Grove
ENV 618 Anthropology of Smallholder Agriculture in Developing Countries	Carpenter Tu 1:00-3:50
ENV 620 History of Environmental Thought and Activism		Taylor Tu,Th 1:00-2:20
ENV 631 Poverty, Environment and Inequality			Taylor
ENV 685 Engaging Landholders and Communities in Conserving and Restoring Tropical Forest Landscapes		Garen M,W 10:30-11:50		Garen Tentative
ENV 740 Understanding Environmental Philanthropy: Funding, Financing, and Grant Writing	Taylor Tu,Th 1:00-2:20		Taylor Tentative
ENV 742 Fundamentals of Working with People		DeCew Tu,Th 8:30-9:50		DeCew
ENV 759 Power, Knowledge, and the Environment: Social Science	Dove M 1:00-3:50		Dove
ENV 796 Biopolitics of Human-Nonhuman Relations		Dove Th 1:00-3:50		Dove
ENV 951 Strategic Environmental Communication		Leiserowitz M,W 1:00-2:20		Leiserowitz

Natural Science Principles

The Goal of the Natural Science elective is to natural science principals to applied conservation problems and topics. It is typical to take these courses after fulfilling your Core 1 requirement. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 586 Fisheries & Aquaculture		Freidenburg Tu,Th 1:00-2:15		Freidenburg
ENV 610 Managing Ecosystems for Climate Change Solutions	Brando Tu,Th 1:00-2:20		Brando
ENV 629 North American Drylands: Ecology and Land Use				Lauenroth
ENV 634 Ecology of Global Drylands		Lauenroth Tu,Th 9:00-10:20
ENV 659 The Practice of Silviculture: Principles in Applied Forest Ecology (Friday field trips)		Ashton M,W 8:30-10:20		Ashton
ENV 660 Forest Dynamics	Duguid Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Duguid
ENV 692 Science and Practice of Temperate Agroforestry	Orefice M 2:30-5:20		Orefice
ENV 709 Lectures, Discussions and Applications of Soil Science			Bradford
ENV 713 Coastal Ecosystems			Anisfeld
ENV 723 Wetlands Ecology, Conservation & Management	Freidenburg Tu,Th 9:00-10:15		Freidenburg
ENV 744 Conservation Science and Landscape Planning		Schmitz M,W 10:30-11:50		Schmitz
ENV 745 Global Human-Wildlife Interactions	Harris M,W 2:30-3:45

Quantitative Analysis

The Goal of this elective is to give you exposure and applied skills to applications and methods used by conservation professionals and scientists. Understanding the analysis and interpretation of quantitative data is a crucial skill for solving environmental problems. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 603 Environmental Data Visualization for Communication	Queenborough M,W 9:00-10:20		Queenborough
ENV 617 Real World Environmental Data Science		Grewal M,W 1:00-2:20		Grewal Tentative
ENV 726 Observing Earth from Space		Lee Tu,Th 9:00-10:20		Lee
ENV 728 Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences			Reuning-Scherer
ENV 730 Environmental Data Science in R: Introduction to Data Integration and Machine Learning	Malone Tu 2:30-5:20		Malone
ENV 748 Wildlife Movement and Migration under Global Change Scenarios	Harris Tu 2:30-5:20
ENV 753 Regression Modeling of Ecological and Environmental Data	Gregoire M,W 10:30-11:50
ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space		Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50		Faculty Tentative
ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects	Tomlin Th 1:00-3:50		Faculty Tentative
ENV 757 Data Exploration and Analysis	Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 9:00-10:15	Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 9:00-10:15	Faculty	Faculty
ENV 758 Multivariate Data Analysis in the Environmental Sciences		Reuning-Scherer Tu,Th 1:00-2:15		Reuning-Scherer
ENV 762 Foundations of Applied Math for the Environment (FAME) Fall-2 meets Oct 20-Dec 17	Fenichel M,W 10:30-11:50		Fenichel
ENV 819 Measuring and Visualizing Urban Environments		Salazar Miranda Th 2:30-5:20		Salazar Miranda

Environmental Policy and Economics

The Goal of this elective is to apply the social science principals of political science and economics to applied conservation topics or issues. Substitutions are allowed with specialization coordinator permission.

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 639 Food Systems and Climate Services	Hernandez-Aguilera Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Hernandez-Aguilera
ENV 641 Market-Based Mechanisms for Water Management		Pilz M 1:00-3:50	Pilz Tentative
ENV 642 Environmental Justice/Climate Justice	Torres M,W 10:30-11:50
ENV 701 Seminar on Climate Change Economics		Mendelsohn M,W 10:30-11:50
ENV 760 Conservation in Practice: An International Perspective		Vedder Tu,Th 10:30-11:50		Vedder
ENV 795 Nature as Capital: Merging Ecological and Economic Models		Fenichel M,W 10:30-11:50		Fenichel
ENV 821 Environmental Policymaking: From Local to Global	Sanford M,W 10:30-11:50		Sanford
ENV 824 Environmental Law and Policy		Klee M,W 1:00-2:20		Klee
ENV 834 Environmental Economics and Policy		Kotchen M,W 9:00-10:20
ENV 852 Food Systems & US Environmental Law		Lehner W 4:10-6:00

Additional Electives

In addition to the two required courses and the four electives, students may select additional electives to complete the requirements for the MEM degree. Additional electives that may support students’ focus area in the Ecosystem Management & Conservation Specialization are listed below.  

Course	Fall 2024	Spring 2025	Fall 2025	Spring 2026
ENV 644 Coastal Environments in a Changing World	Decker Tu 12:00-4:00		Decker Tentative
ENV 677 Ecological Restoration				Duguid
ENV 683 Seminar in Tropical Forest Restoration				Ashton
ENV 686 Synthesizing Science for Policy and Practice	Bradford M 9:00-10:20
ENV 694 Invasive Species: Ecology, Policy, and Management		Duguid Tu,Th 10:30-11:50
ENV 697 Science for Policy and Practice: A Seminar		Bradford Tu 1:00-2:20
ENV 712 Water Management	Anisfeld M,W 1:00-2:20
ENV 725 Water, Energy, and Food Interconnections in a Changing Climate		Saiers Tu,Th 10:30-11:50
ENV 767 Tools for Conservation Project Design & Management		Vedder M,W 2:30-3:50		Vedder
ENV 768 Data-Driven Urban Forestry		Murphy-Dunning Tu,Th 10:30-11:50
ENV 774 "Framing" Climate Migration: Science, Policy, Ethics & Politics of a Growing Crisis		Gelobter Tu 2:30-5:20
ENV 794 Climate Ethics: Principles and Model Applications		Rao Tu 1:00-2:20
ENV 817 Urban, Suburban, and Regional Planning Practice	Kooris W 4:00-6:50
ENV 836 Agrarian Societies: Culture, Society, History, and Development	Faculty Tentative		Faculty Tentative
ENV 892 Introduction to Planning	Smotrich M,W 10:30-11:50		Faculty Tentative
ENV 954 Management Plans for Protected Areas (includes Friday and Saturday Field trips)	Ashton M,W 1:00-2:20
ENV 956 Strategies for Land Conservation		Gentry Tu 2:30-5:20		Gentry
ENV 965 Regenerative Agriculture & Just Food Systems Lab	Engel W 1:00-3:50
ENV 971 Land Use Clinic		Bacher W 10:30-11:50		Bacher
ENV 975 Field Craft: Writing Society, Science, and Nature		Farrell Th 4:00-6:50
ENV 991 Advanced Climate, Animals, Food, and Environment Law and Policy Lab