This master's program meets the increasing need for trained environmental professionals who can address the problems of land and water management, land use and urbanization, wetland loss, microbial ecology, bioremediation, conservation biology, and ecosystem preservation. These professionals will also contribute to the analysis and resolution of global problems, such as deforestation, insufficient world food supplies, acid deposition, population growth and public health, global climate change/warming, and depletion of the stratospheric ozone. Areas of specific departmental focus include ecosystems; conservation; environmental biocomplexity; molecular ecology; sustainability science; environmental policy and management; and human/environmental interactions.

Environmental problems are defined in the real world and do not necessarily conform to traditional academic disciplines. As such, solutions require creative combinations of diverse interests and subjects. Effective training requires rigorous, problem-focused interdisciplinary action in a setting in which research is an essential element supporting instruction.