School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability
College of Social & Behavioral Science
Gardner Commons 4625
Phone: 801-581-8218
Website: https://ess.utah.edu/
School Director: Philip Dennison, Ph.D.
Academic Advisors: Amanda Brown, M.A. and Stacy Morris, M.S.
Graduate Student Coordinator: Pam Mitchell
The School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability fosters an interdisciplinary understanding of the environment, societies, and the interactions between them. The curriculum is rooted in diverse approaches from physical and natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to address important issues including climate change, environmental and health disparities, land conservation and management, water resources, urbanization, food systems, global sustainability, and natural hazards.
Students gain training in diverse technical skills and critical ways of thinking. These include foundations of ecosystem science, the use of powerful technologies like geographic information science (GIS), remote sensing from satellites and drones, and spatial modeling, as well as mixed methods focused on understanding and promoting environmental justice and long-term sustainability. Students have opportunities to engage in field, laboratory, and community-based research that range from local to international.
Upon graduation, students will have learned how to contribute to forging resilient and sustainable systems, emphasizing the interaction between society and the environment. Students will have the ability to assess complex social and environmental issues at all scales, and be able to think critically about their role as creative problem-solvers, and their responsibility as citizens and members of an extended ecological community. A degree from the School of Environment, Society, and Sustainability will provide students with the expertise needed to embark on rewarding careers across the private and public sectors.
Undergraduate Programs
The School offers undergraduate degrees in three focus areas. The BS and BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies provide interdisciplinary understanding of ecological systems, human societies, and the consequences of human-environment interactions. The BS and BA in Geography also focus on human-environment interactions with additional depth examining these interactions and global change across space and time. The BS in Geographic Information Science provides specialization in skills like geospatial analysis, visualization, and modeling, and is a great option for students preparing for growing career opportunities in GIS and related fields. All of these degrees are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Certificate Programs
The School offers undergraduate certificates in Climate Change, Geographic Information Science (including GIS and Remote Sensing tracks), and Hazards and Emergency Management. Certificate programs are described in the Program and Course Offerings section.
Graduate Programs
The School offers a MS and PhD in Geography, and a MS in Geographic Information Science. The MS and PhD in Geography require coursework and research, with opportunities for specialization aligning with student interests in air quality, arid lands, biogeography, climate, conflict/extremism, critical geography, development/political economy, economic geography, energy, environment, environmental justice, food systems, GIS, geomorphology/paleoecology, glaciology/snow and ice, hazards, health, political geography, political ecology, population, remote sensing, spatial data science, and urban systems. The MSGIS is a professional degree focused on coursework and a capstone experience, and does not require a thesis.
The School is home to several well-equipped research laboratories. The Digitally Integrated Geographic Information Technologies Laboratory (DIGIT Lab) is a GIS research and production facility that provides support for both theoretical and applied geographic information analysis and application development. Visit digit.utah.edu for more information. The Center for Natural and Technological Hazards (CNTH) focuses on research and teaching about hazard analysis, policy, and mitigation. The Utah Remote Sensing Applications (URSA) Lab engages in cutting-edge, applied remote sensing research, including remote sensing of vegetation, wildfire danger, and drought impacts. The Snow and Ice Lab focuses on studying the climate change aspects of mountain glaciers, ice sheets, and seasonal snow. The lab currently conducts field work in Alaska, Greenland, Nepal, and Antarctica and uses remote sensing data acquired from satellites, airborne and ground-based systems. The Utah Geo-Health Lab (UGHL) focuses on using GIS and spatial methods to explore how the interactions among individuals, society, and the environment influence population health. Current projects include disparities in health and access to healthcare, exposure to environmental pollutants such as agricultural pesticides and PM 2.5 and its health consequences, and smartphone applications in physical activity monitoring and aging. The SPARC environmental justice lab is a collaboration between engaged faculty, students, community members, and scholars who are committed to enacting principles of community-based participatory research to understand issues of social and environmental health and working to co-create strategies to achieve justice.
The Donald R. Currey Paleoenvironmental Research Group includes multiple research laboratories studying aspects of past environments. The Records of Environment and Disturbance (RED) Lab conducts research on past environments as recorded in lake or wetland sediments. Proxies of past change (pollen, charcoal, plant and insect remains) are examined from the sediment record and interpreted to describe changes in forest composition, fire regime, and insect population over thousands of years. The Nicoll Lab for Quaternary Sedimentology and Geomorphology focuses on landforms and how they represent changes in past climate with particular interest on the Bonneville basin and fluctuations in the Great Salt Lake over time. The Power Paleoecology Lab conducts environmental change research using biological and geochemical proxies for exploring past global change.