The Environmental Quality Track
Students in the environmental quality track
gain expertise in scientific approaches to the recognition, evaluation, and management
of threats to the aquatic, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments and to human
populations.
Students in environmental quality have the option of pursuing advanced study and research in environmental assessment and planning, environmental toxicology, ecosystems analysis, and air quality monitoring and modeling by judiciously choosing appropriate elective courses and dissertation or thesis topics.
| Research Specialization Areas in Environmental Quality | |
| Ecosystem analysis addresses environmental issues at the
ecosystem and landscape level. This area includes field sampling, laboratory
analyses, and simulation modeling of environmental interactions in streams, lakes,
wetlands, and their associated terrestrial landscapes.
Environmental assessment and planning includes: water, air, and land pollution, quality measurements and monitoring, food web and species/populations interactions, environmental impact assessment, environmental regulation, and cost/benefit analysis. Environmental toxicology includes biological effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, aquatic toxicology, mammalian biochemical toxicology, environmental physiology, impacts on target and non-target species, effects of pesticides and other chemicals, toxic interactions of mixtures, and assessment of risks to human health. |
Air quality monitoring and modeling is the application of quantitative
methods to assess the current and future impact of pollutant emissions and the
exposure of human and animal populations. Air quality monitoring includes the
development, evaluation, and application of sampling methods and strategies for
determining the concentrations of materials in the atmosphere.
Environmental microbiology and trophic studies addresses the infuence of microorganisms on the mobility, concentration, biotransformation and trophic-transfer to animals of contaminants such as metals and organics (PAHs, pesticides, etc.). This area includes the study of how microbial biofilms affect these processes. Studies are conducted in fresh water, estuarine and marine environments. |