Environmental sciences

Tracks, or areas of concentration, lend focus to your studies and allow for flexibility in response to changing employment demands. You’ll work with your academic advisor to choose one of the tracks below depending on which program type you pursue:

M.S. in Environmental Sciences

• Biogeochemistry
• Climate change
• Ecology
• Environmental education
• Natural resources
• Quantitative analysis
• Social science
• Water resources

PSM in Environmental Sciences

• Biogeochemistry
• Ecology
• Environmental education
• Natural resources
• Quantitative analysis
• Social science
• Water resources
• Climate change

A graduate certificate may be pursued in conjunction with the PSM degree based on your area of concentration and interest.

In order to fulfill the PSM in Environmental Sciences program requirements, you will take part in a 6-credit internship experience that is equivalent to three months of full-time work. Internships can take place in a variety of venues, including environmental consulting or engineering firms, businesses involved in land-use planning, NGOs and governmental agencies in the public sector.

State of Colorado: This program requires an internship. Although Oregon State University participates in the National Council of State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA), due to Colorado’s Workers’ Compensation Act, we have limited authorization to offer programs that require internships in the state of Colorado. The Colorado internship site must provide workers’ compensation. In some cases, a proposed internship site may not provide workers’ compensation insurance and, as a result, is not available as an internship site. Please contact Shannon Riggs, associate vice provost for educational programs and learning innovation, with questions.

The M.S. in Environmental Sciences program will require you to complete a research thesis or non-thesis project report. Learn more about the thesis and the project report guidelines.

For working professionals who wish to further their careers with a science-only degree, the M.S. non-thesis option provides a streamlined way for you to incorporate a project rather than an internship into your current place of employment.

Explore the detailed admissions information for the environmental sciences master’s programs, including any application deadlines and required documents, on the Oregon State Graduate School website.

Students are admitted to these programs four times per year, and you can begin your studies in summer, spring, winter and fall. Visit Oregon State's academic calendar for term start dates.

Oregon State's PSM in Environmental Sciences program is recognized by the National Professional Science Master's Association. It is a collaborative that supports internship and job placement opportunities for PSM students and graduates.

Oregon State makes it possible for you to apply the credits you earn in OSU's online graduate certificates in environmental management or water resources engineering directly toward a master’s degree in environmental sciences. Up to 22 graduate credits may be transferred toward a 45-credit master’s degree.

Applying credits like this, an approach known as stacking, can help you build credentials over time and advance your career. It's also a great way to test a field of study through a series of courses before committing to a full degree program. For students like Ali Lanenga, stacking can make a journey to a degree feel more manageable.

Get a jump-start on your environmental sciences master’s degree while working toward your bachelor’s degree. Through Oregon State’s Accelerated Master’s Platform, current undergraduate students can take graduate-level courses online that will be applied to their bachelor’s degree.

The credits you earn will be transferred to the environmental science master’s degree program. Students enrolled in Oregon State’s online graduate courses will pay the graduate tuition and fees rate.

You can gain highly specialized skills that are in demand by employers — and do it with less of a time and financial commitment — when you earn a certificate or microcredential online from Oregon State. Choose from a large collection of short-form offerings that can help you upskill quickly.