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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Analytical Skill Development Areas (ASDA) and Environmental System Emphasis Areas (ESEA)
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Students must select one area within Analytical Skill Development Area and one Environmental System Emphasis Area and complete nine hours of course work in each area from the list of courses provided below. Students must select from the courses listed under each ASDA and ESEA but may request one (1) substitute course per ASDA and ESEA, subject to approval by both their academic advisor and the DUS. For the 18 hours of ASDA and ESEA course work, all classes must be 200-level or above and at least twelve (12) credit hours must be in 300 level or above courses. Classes taken to complete the ASDA requirement may not count towards the ESEA course requirement and vice versa. Research experiences, internships, or apprenticeships cannot be used to satisfy the ASDA and ESEA requirements, including individualized options.
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Analytical Skill Development Areas
Economic and Policy Analysis
This economic and policy analysis skill development area will provide students with the theoretical and analytical tools necessary to evaluate the economic and social effects of resource and environmental policy decisions. The policy courses will help students understand how environmental policy is made, the public agencies that manage resources, and how policies are evaluated for impact on humans and the environment. Notably, this area includes the recognition that humans and their organizations may need to be encouraged to protect environmental resources through economic and policy mechanisms.
Field and Laboratory Analysis of Ecosystems
Students will learn the theory and application of sample collection techniques, field and laboratory analysis, statistical analysis, and data interpretation required to evaluate the quality of water, soil, wildlife, and ecosystem resources. This analytical skill development area is geared towards students pursuing careers in environmental science, as well as ecosystem conservation roles, particularly in data-driven contexts.
Geospatial Analysis
Geospatial technologies are often used by professionals in natural resources and environmental science careers as a supplement to their roles, providing spatial analysis of whatever environmental concern is under consideration. This analytical skills development area will provide students with enhanced skills beyond the major requirements in the use of geospatial software, approaches, and products. Students will learn the theory and application required to address a variety of environmental conditions. This area is geared toward students wishing to pursue careers that depend on extensive applications of geospatial technologies to natural resources and environmental science issues or benefit from advanced study in geospatial science.
Environmental Education and Communication
The environmental education and communication area provides students with an understanding of the concepts, techniques, and theories utilized to address environmental topics through education and communication. The knowledge and skills learned in this area allow students to apply their environmental knowledge in an educational (formal or non-formal) setting as well as other avenues of communication. This skills area includes a participatory approach, giving students hands-on experience and the opportunity to earn, through NRE 365 , certificates in two nationally acclaimed environmental education curricula (Project Learning Tree, https://www.plt.org/ and Project WET, https://www.projectwet.org/). Please note that students are strongly encouraged to take two key courses: NRE 360 and NRE 365 .
Individualized Analytical Skill Development
With advisor approval, a student may submit a formal request for an individualized ASDA. This request must present a coherent package of nine credits in an area of skill development relevant to the student’s current professional goals. Once the package is completed by the student and approved by their advisor, the advisor forwards the materials to the NRES Steering Committee (SC) chair. The chair then solicits independent review of the proposal from all members of the SC; approval shall be by consent of the SC as a whole. The chair will communicate the results of the SC review to the proposing student and their advisor; should that review be favorable, the student’s academic record will be updated.
Environmental System Emphasis Areas
Conservation Biology
The conservation biology emphasis area will provide students with foundational knowledge of the processes and patterns that characterize global biological diversity, as well as strategies to understand, manage, and conserve that diversity. Depending upon the courses chosen, students will: (1) gain a solid foundation in field botany by learning tree identification and by developing a taxonomic framework for plant identification; (2) become familiar with the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians of Kentucky and surrounding states; (3) gain an introduction to the vegetation, flora, and forests of Kentucky and surrounding states; or (4) develop an understanding of ecosystem patterns and processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Students who choose courses in this environmental systems emphasis area may be qualified to pursue careers with organizations dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and management of species and their habitats, through education about nature or through environmental consulting. This emphasis area also prepares students for graduate studies in ecology, evolutionary biology, zoology, or botany.
Forestry
Students interested in this systems area may choose to emphasize forestry in general or to focus on “urban and community forestry.” By taking both UCF 300 and UCF 410 , along with nine credit hours from a range of possibilities (see the UCF website at: https://ucf.ca.uky.edu/courses), NRES students can earn the UCF undergraduate certificate. A more traditional focus on forestry provides students with knowledge in dendrology (FOR 219 ) and silviculture (FOR 350 ). In dendrology, students will learn basic concepts of botany of woody species and their uses, along with basic soil and site characteristics used in the identification of trees and other forest vegetation. In silviculture, students will learn the fundamentals of ecologically-based management of forest ecosystems to achieve a desired objective. Students who choose this emphasis area may be qualified to pursue careers in natural resource management with an emphasis on forest ecosystems. [Note: The NRES program is not a professional forestry degree program, and is not accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF). Students with a B.S. in Forestry from an SAF-accredited program gain greater breadth and depth in professional competencies relevant to forestry, may be more competitive for certain forestry positions, and, where applicable, may better meet state licensure requirements associated with forester-credentialing laws.]
*Students are strongly encouraged to take these key courses.
Human Dimensions and Natural Resource Planning
The human dimensions and natural resource planning emphasis area will provide students with an understanding of the interaction between society and natural systems as well as with the skills and knowledge to develop into tomorrow’s effective conservation leaders. This emphasis area builds upon the core NRES curriculum with course work focused on land use planning, legal aspects of land and water, landscape ecology, biogeography, and geospatial technologies. Private foundations and government entities are funding land conservation efforts, and increasingly, real estate developers and their consultants are incorporating land conservation into their development projects. There is a professional community working in a variety of capacities for conservation organizations globally and there are opportunities for advanced study in a variety of graduate programs.
Soil Science
Students choosing this emphasis area will learn about the dynamic and interrelated processes taking place within the thin skin of the Earth (i.e., the Critical Zone) and the services provided by these processes to ensure adequate and sustainable food, feed, fuel and fiber production, clean air and water, and healthy habitats. Topics covered include bioremediation, phytoremediation, soil fertility, microbiology, soil chemistry, biogeochemistry, and ecotoxicology as well as other emerging issues. Students completing this emphasis area will be equipped to evaluate soils for a range of management options and be eligible for positions with public and private agencies (e.g., the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and environmental consulting firms, etc.)
Water Resources
The water resources emphasis area will provide students with a fundamental understanding of the hydrologic cycle so that students may grasp how climate, soils, vegetation, and land-use affect the amount, timing and quality of water in a given ecosystem. Use of this information is important in natural resource management so that one may determine where water resource management objectives are compatible with - and where they conflict with - other resource management objectives. Ultimately, students will gain an understanding of the role of watershed management and multiple use approaches in planning and implementing natural resource programs while becoming familiar with current issues in watershed management and water resources.
Wildlife Ecology and Management
This emphasis area will provide opportunities for students to gain knowledge and experience, understand fundamental concepts, and develop basic skills in the area of wildlife ecology and management. The curriculum provides students with a pathway to complete a minor in Wildlife Biology and Management and the option to take courses toward the certification requirements to become a registered Associate Wildlife Biologist with The Wildlife Society (TWS). For more information on the minor, visit: http://www.uky.edu/academics/minor/wildlife-biology-and-management-minor. For more information regarding certification, go to https://wildlife.org/certification-programs/. To complete either the minor or the TWS certification, students will need to take additional course work (beyond the nine credits required to complete this systems area).
Global Sustainable Food Systems
Students who choose this area will be exposed to basic principles in sustainable agriculture, issues in global food systems (e.g., food security) and the ecology of agricultural systems, emphasizing the overlap and complementarities between systems emphasized through NRES major requirements and food production systems. Some students choosing this ESEA may want to obtain the minor in Sustainable Agriculture, which requires the selection of SAG 210 (not listed below because all 9 credits must be 200 or above), in addition to SAG 310 and SAG 386 .
Earth System Sciences
The Earth Systems Science emphasis area will provide context for understanding the processes that operate within and at the interface among Earth systems: lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, (that is, the environmental contexts in which bedrock, soil, organisms, water, and air interact. Students choosing this systems area may pursue the minor in Geological Sciences, which can be partly satisfied with NRES required courses (EES 220 and PLS 366 ), plus EES 230 and EES 235 from this area, along with an additional five credits at the 300 level or higher in the EES prefix (or a related field). All courses listed below at the 300+ level would count toward the minor. Students choosing to take EES 385 as part of their NRES major hydrology requirement may count that course toward the minor. Details available at: https://www.uky.edu/academics/minor/college-arts-sciences/geological-sciences-minor.
Individualized System Emphasis Area
With advisor approval, a student may submit a formal request for an individualized ESEA. This request must present a coherent package of nine credits in an environmental systems area relevant to the student’s current professional goals. Once the package is completed by the student and approved by their advisor, the advisor forwards the materials to the NRES Steering Committee (SC) chair. The chair then solicits independent review of the proposal from all members of the SC; approval shall be by consent of the SC as a whole. The chair will communicate the results of the SC review to the proposing student and their advisor; should that review be favorable, the student’s academic record will be updated.
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