The University of Guam’s graduate Environmental Science Program is a rigorous and challenging program, designed to produce graduates of the highest caliber equipped with essential knowledge and skills and committed to the highest standards of professional integrity in research and application of environmental science to matters of public interest. The core curriculum thus contains consists of six courses totaling 18 credit hours.

INNER CORE: 
Fundamentals of Scientific Practice and Tools of Environmental Science

9 credit hours

The “inner core” is three courses totalling nine credit hours, centered on the essential skills of scientific thought and practice and advanced methods of applied environmental science. Students should take these courses in the first year of their program.

Choose one of the following:

Note: The course not chosen to meet the core requirement may, of course, be taken as an elective.

OUTER CORE: 
Component Disciplines

9 credit hours

Building on these central courses, is an “outer core” of three three-credit hour courses in each of the respective sub-disciplines of environmental science:

This second suite of core courses thus equips each student with the essential knowledge and skills from each of the three sub-disciplines that define environmental science.

Beyond the core, each student must complete at least three elective courses for a total of at least nine credit hours related to his or her selected area of concentration and agreed upon by his or her advisor. Elective courses should support the student’s proposed capstone requirement within either the research or professional track, as described below. Students who desire to take additional electives (i.e., beyond the requirement) may do so with the consent of their advisor, but students need take no more than three elective courses to meet the degree requirement. Students may include no more than one 400G-level course among their electives, nor may they include 400G-level courses in statistics, geographic information systems, or any other subject that is a prerequisite for admission to the program.

RESEARCH TRACK:
Research Thesis

9 credit hours

Electives may not include 400G-level courses in statistics or GIS, or other program prerequisites.

PROFESSIONAL TRACK:
Professional Thesis or Internship

9 credit hours

Electives may not include 400G-level courses in statistics or GIS, or other program prerequisites.

Coursework Option

18 credit hours

Students selecting the Coursework Option within the Professional Track must take an additional nine hours of electives, for a total of 18 elective credit hours, and submit and defend a research paper. Electives may not include 400G-level courses in statistics or GIS, or other program prerequisites.

RESEARCH TRACK:
Research Thesis

6 credit hours

The purpose of the research track is to prepare students for advanced (doctoral level) studies in environmental science and related disciplines, or careers in scientific or professional work for which a research background is necessary or desirable. The capstone requirement for the research track is thus a traditional research thesis, for which the student earns six hours of academic credit. Research theses in Environmental Science are expected to make an original contribution to the selected sub-discipline and reflect mastery of the knowledge and skills required to successfully pursue advanced study and research in environmental science. 

Students may choose one the following: 

PROFESSIONAL TRACK:
Professional Thesis

Six credit hours of the following are needed: 

Professional Internship

Six credit hours of the following are needed: 

Coursework Option

No capstone credits are required for the coursework option.

This option consists of a 6-hr professional thesis EV-695 agreed upon by the student and committee and approved by the Program Chair. An example might be the development of a major database, solution of a practical environmental engineering problem, of construction of an educational website containing animations, databases, and informative or instructional material on a selected local or regional environmental problem. The student prepares a proposal agreed upon by the student and committee and approved by the Program Chair. At the completion of the project, the student prepares and presents a written thesis, as specified above, and stands for a comprehensive oral examination (thesis defense) before his or her committee.

Example: The student was employed as a WERI Research Assistant. Her coursework focused on groundwater hydrology, and she designed, developed, and documented a comprehensive database of historical and current water wells drilled on northern Guam. The Northern Guam Lens Aquifer Database consists of a spreadsheet that contains basic information on 525 wells, including locations, depth, use, custodial agency, with each cell linked to digital appendices that contain all of the historical records that could be located for the well, including drilling and pump test logs, and design and construction records. The database is published at WERI Technical Report 141 and is now a permanent on-line water resource management tool for water managers, educators, scientists, and engineers.

This option consists of a semester-length six-credit-hour internship (EV-698) with an environmental firm (profit or non-profit) or government agency, under collaborative supervision of an academic advisor and workplace supervisor. The internship must include work on a specific project, product, or set of projects and products. These are agreed upon in advance by the student and his or her advisory committee (which includes the workplace supervisor), and approved by the Program Chair. At the completion of the internship, the student prepares and presents a written report, as specified above, on the project or projects undertaken during the internship, with the purpose and content of the report agreed on in advance by the student and the committee. The model for the internship product is a report or document such as typically results from a major project at private firm or government agency. Following review of the report by the advisory committee, the student stands for a comprehensive oral defense. 

Example: The student is employed with the environmental office of the local US Navy Facilities Engineering Command. As part of his work he is required to coordinate the production of an Environmental Impact Assessment in conjunction with the relocation of some wetlands on DOD property. In consultation with his academic and professional supervisors, he prepares a formal report, which meets the requirements of the command, and which he presents to his committee.

This option requires nine hours of additional coursework equivalent to a second, and separate, major sub-discipline. The student may select the second concentration from among the three sub-disciplines (Biology-Ecology, Geosciences-Engineering, or Economics-Management) or a second concentration in a relevant inter-disciplinary field, such as Mathematics, Micronesian Studies, or Business Administration. Thus, in addition to selecting 9 hours for his or her first sub-discipline concentration, the student selects courses comprising 9 additional hours in another appropriate field. Examples of appropriate courses include probability, statistics, and numerical analysis, from Mathematics; physical geography, health and human adaptation, or economic development in Micronesia, from Micronesian Studies; or management and economics courses from Business Administration. These courses may include no more than one special topic or reading and conference course. The committee must include members with expertise in the two concentrations selected and agree on the curriculum proposed by the student. The student also prepares a proposal for a research paper that must address a topic related to one or both of the two selected concentration areas of coursework and offer some judgment or present an argument, drawing on a comprehensive review of the current scientific literature. The topic must be agreed upon by the committee and approved by the Program Chair. The paper does not require original research but must draw from the appropriate works from the current professional literature, based on a comprehensive review of the literature. On completion of the coursework, the student prepares and submits the paper to the advisory committee and stands for a comprehensive oral defense. Again, the research paper for the coursework option must be derived from the current relevant professional literature and comprise no fewer than 20 pages, double-spaced, 12-point Times Roman font, inclusive of figures and references. The thesis or paper should be worthy, in accordance with the topic, of local and/or online publication as a technical report, user’s manual, review paper, or educational pamphlet. Each option also requires a comprehensive oral defense presentation following submission of the thesis or paper. Following the defense, the student corrects or revises the thesis or paper, based on the committee’s review of it. The grade (Pass or Fail) is based on the committee’s evaluation of the final report or paper and the outcome of the oral examination. General requirements for capstone documents are contained in the Graduate Bulletin.

Example: The student is employed as an instructor at the College of Micronesia. For the research paper, the student conducts a comprehensive literature search on the historical incidence of El Nino-related droughts in Micronesia and prepares a summary paper describing its effects, and the human responses to them in Micronesia. He selects Geology/ Engineering as his first major sub-discipline concentration, comprised of Hydrology (EV-542), Hydrogeology (EV-543) and Tropical Climate and Climate Variability (EV-535). For the second sub-discipline concentration field he selects Micronesian Studies, with Physical Geography of Micronesia (EV/MI-506), Health and Human Adaptation in Micronesia (EV-514), and Economic Development and Change in Micronesia (EV-520) in which he will search, read and study the literature pertaining to water resources on Micronesia and similar islands.