Water Resource Science and Management Specialization

The Specialization builds student expertise in the science, policy, and management of water resources in preparation for careers that call for solutions to challenges posed by the world's emerging and longstanding water-related issues.

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    Students seeking employment within federal and state environmental agencies (e.g., USGS, USEPA, DEP), environmental non-governmental organizations (e.g., WRI, Nature Conservancy), international development agencies, local and interstate watershed commissions, industry, and environmental consulting firms should consider this specialization.

    Note that a capstone course used to fulfill the MEM capstone requirement cannot also be used toward fulfilling an MEM Specialization requirement; a capstone course taken once cannot be used to fulfill multiple requirements. Learn more about YSE capstone courses by visiting the MEM Capstone page.

    Program Courses

    Core

    Required for all Water Resource Science and Management students.

    Course 1

    Course Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Fall Spring
    ENV 712
    Water Management
      Anisfeld

    Course 2

    Course Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Fall Spring
    ENV 735
    Hydrologic Science for Environmental Managers
    Saiers  

    Elective

    Students must take at least one course from each category.

    Management

    Course Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Fall Spring
    ENV 639
    Food Systems and Climate Services
    Hernandez-Aguilera  
    ENV 641
    Market-Based Mechanisms for Water Management
      Pilz
    Tentative
    ENV 824
    Environmental Law and Policy
      Klee
    ENV 828
    Risk Assessment & Management: Climate Change
      Wargo
    ENV 834
    Environmental Economics and Policy
      Faculty
    ENV 840
    Climate Change Policy and Perspectives
    Klee  
    ENV 971
    Land Use Clinic
      Bacher
    EHS 537 / EMD 537
    Water, Sanitation, and Global Health
    Ying Chen and Michael Cappello      

    Science

    Course Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Fall Spring
    ENV 586
    Fisheries & Aquaculture
      Freidenburg
    ENV 594
    Global Carbon Cycle
    Denning  
    ENV 646
    Regenerative Agriculture Systems
      Wood
    ENV 705
    Global Climate Change: Simple, Serious, and Solvable
    Denning  
    ENV 706
    Toxic Organic Chemicals in the Environment
      Anisfeld
    ENV 708
    Aquatic Chemistry
    Faculty  
    ENV 713
    Coastal Ecosystems
    Anisfeld  
    ENV 723
    Wetlands Ecology, Conservation & Management
    Freidenburg  
    ENV 725
    Water, Energy, and Food Interconnections in a Changing Climate
      Saiers
    ENV 734
    Biological Oceanography
      Decker

    Methods, Tools, and Quantitative Analysis

    Course Fall 2025 Spring 2026 Fall Spring
    ENV 603
    Environmental Data Visualization for Communication
    Queenborough  
    ENV 617
    Real World Environmental Data Science
      Grewal
    Tentative
    ENV 730
    Environmental Data Science in R: Introduction to Data Integration and Machine Learning
    Malone  
    ENV 755
    Modeling Geographic Space
      Faculty
    ENV 756
    Modeling Geographic Objects
    Faculty  
    ENV 757
    Data Exploration and Analysis
    Reuning-Scherer Reuning-Scherer
    ENV 762
    Foundations of Applied Math for the Environment (FAME) Fall-2 meets Oct 20-Dec 17
    Fenichel  
    ENV 795
    Nature as Capital: Merging Ecological and Economic Models
      Fenichel
    ENV 819
    Measuring and Visualizing Urban Environments
      Salazar Miranda

    Cross-Over Electives

    One Course
     
    Water management influences, and is influenced by, a wide range of natural-resource issues, environmental challenges, and policy actions. Students are encouraged to explore the core courses of other MEM specializations to fulfill the cross-over elective. (Some core courses for other specializations are listed in the Management bin above – each of those core courses can satisfy the requirement for the Management bin or the Cross-Over bin, but a single course cannot be used to satisfy the requirement for both bins.) Courses outside the specialization cores may also be suitable, subject to approval by the Water Learning Community Faculty Coordinator. 
    Illustration: lab bottels and test tubes filled with water samples, looking through to lanscape in background

    Learning Community

    There is a corresponding “Learning Community” for each specialization, where anyone interested in the topic can find related news, spotlights, colleagues, and events.

    Explore the Community

    Faculty Coordinator