The research efforts of faculty and students deal largely with understanding the fundamental science of physical processes, and to a lesser extent with applications of this understanding to environmental problems, management, or policy making. Majors can specialize in one area or diversify across all areas depending on career goals. Many environmental sciences majors concentrate their programs in one or two fields with graduate or professional schools in mind. Others use the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum to prepare for careers in science writing, scientific methods, mathematical modeling and computing, teaching, or environmental management. Work in any of the areas of study within the department requires the acquisition of knowledge for related fields.
Ecology depends upon a basic understanding of chemistry and biology.
Hydrology, geology, and atmospheric science depend more on physics and chemistry. All of these areas depend on calculus and the techniques of statistics and computer programming. Most applications and analyses of legal or policy issues depend on basic economics. The department's required related work in many of these areas encourages a student's success in research, and in the competition for top graduate schools and jobs. There are more than thirty faculty members in the department.