Most of the career opportunities that are available for the environmental chemist require the research skills and critical thinking that this option emphasizes. Students typically spend two years completing course requirements while working in the environmental chemistry laboratories on a funded research project that provides the basis of their plan A theses. Course work in this specialty is highly interdisciplinary and may include courses in civil engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering, geology, soil science, ecology, or public policy. Students are admitted to the Graduate School's program in environmental health. The primary objective of the Ph.D. program is to bring students to a high level of academic competence through a combination of advanced course work and research.
Students develop their dissertation topics from a funded research project.
This thesis must make an original contribution to the body of knowledge in environmental health. Prospective doctoral students must have fulfilled the requirements of the master's program , or their equivalent, before admission to the program, or take additional courses to meet that level of knowledge once admitted. Students graduating from the doctoral program are particularly well suited for leadership roles in all of the agencies listed above, or for careers in research and academia. Financial Assistance Full-time master's and doctoral students are funded by research assistantships at 50 percent time. Students may also apply for several competitive scholarships available to environmental health students.