Earth, Water, and Climate Science B.S.
General Degree Requirements
To earn a baccalaureate degree, all students must complete successfully, in addition to any other requirements, the University of Montana General Education Requirements. Please refer to the General Education Requirements page for more information.
Additional requirements for graduation can be found on the Degree/Certificate Requirements for Graduation page.
Unless otherwise noted in individual program requirements, a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all work attempted at the University of Montana-Missoula is required for graduation. Please see the Academic Policies and Procedures page for information on how your GPA is calculated.
Courses taken to satisfy the requirements of a major, minor, or certificate program must be completed with a grade of C- or better unless a higher grade is noted in the program requirements.
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE - EARTH, WATER, AND CLIMATE SCIENCE
This major is designed for students who seek post-graduate employment as a professional geoscientist or preparation for graduate study in Geosciences.
Course Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Lower-Division Core | ||
| Complete one of the following courses: | 4 | |
| Earth Systems Science and Earth Systems Science Lab | ||
| Natural Disasters | ||
| Complete all of the following courses: | ||
| ERTH 194 | Getting to Know Earth, Water, and Climate Science | 1 |
| GEO 201 | The Rocky Planet | 4 |
| GEO 202 | The Water Planet | 4 |
| Upper-Division Core | ||
| Complete all of the following courses: | ||
| GEO 323 | Computational Methods for Earth and Environmental Scientists | 3 |
| GEO 428 | Field Methods: Earth, Water, and Climate Science | 3 |
| Upper-Division Electives | ||
| Earth Science | ||
| Complete two of the following courses: | 6-8 | |
| Mineralogy and Optical Mineralogy | ||
| Igneous & Metamorph Petrology | ||
| Sedimentation/Stratigraphy | ||
| Earth Resources and Sustainability | ||
| Geophysics | ||
| Principles of Sedimentary Petrology | ||
| Water Science | ||
| Complete two of the following courses. At least one must be a Geosciences (GEO) course. | 6-8 | |
| Global Water Crises | ||
| Hydrogeology | ||
| Hydrology | ||
| Process Geomorphology | ||
| Watershed Hydrology | ||
| Climate Science | ||
| Complete 3 credits of the following courses: | 3 | |
| Weather and Climate | ||
| Earth's Changing Climate | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| Snow, Ice and Climate Change | ||
| Natural Climate Solutions | ||
| Upper-Division Experiential Learning | ||
| Complete 3 credits of the following courses: | 3 | |
| Getting Started in Research | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Careers in Geosciences | ||
| Internship | ||
| Senior Thesis /Capstone | ||
| Cognate Sciences | ||
| Physics | ||
| Complete one of the following sequences: | 10 | |
Algebra- and Trigonometry-based Physics: | ||
| College Physics I and College Physics I Laboratory | ||
| College Physics II and College Physics II Laboratory | ||
Calculus-based Physics: | ||
| Fundamentals of Physics with Calculus I and Physics Laboratory I with Calculus | ||
| Fundamentals of Physics with Calculus II and Physics Laboratory II with Calculus | ||
| Chemistry | ||
| Complete one of the following: | 3-5 | |
| Introduction to General Chemistry | ||
| College Chemistry I and College Chemistry I Lab | ||
| Mathematics and Statistics | ||
| Complete all of the following courses: | ||
| M 171 | Calculus I | 4 |
| M 172 | Calculus II | 4 |
| or STAT 216 | Introduction to Statistics | |
| Computer Science | ||
| Complete the following course: | ||
| CSCI 150 | Introduction to Computer Science | 3 |
| Total Hours | 61-67 | |