Three students crouch on firm sand at the edge of the ocean. One of them holds a small object that is not visible in the photo but is being measured with a pen-shaped instrument by another student, while the third student holds a clipboard and pen, ready to record data.
Passionate about our planet?

Your Path to Environmental Research and Leadership Starts Here

USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences offers the education and hands-on training you need to become an environmental leader.

Whether you want to dive into scientific research, shape environmental policy, support environmental health, educate the next generation, work in corporate sustainability, or something else, we’ve got a way to move your dreams toward reality.

Find Your Fit

To find the right path for your goals, explore the programs below.

While these programs are offered by different academic units, our faculty and students form a community of environmentally focused Trojans. Courses from one department are often applicable to majors or minors in the other departments, and there are numerous opportunities for exchange and collaboration. We encourage students interested in research opportunities to contact faculty across these programs.

Other environment-related degree programs and courses are available across USC’s professional schools, including the Viterbi School of Engineering, Marshall School of Business, Price School of Public Policy, and more. See individual school websites or the USC catalogue for details.

Majors

two students crouch in the grass, one using a T-shaped metal tool to take a soil sample and the other recording data in a notebook

USC Dornsife’s environmental majors are designed for flexibility. If you start in one degree and realize that another is a better fit, it’s relatively easy to make the switch.

Explore any of these options in more detail with your academic advisor and/or the relevant department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies.

  • Explore the processes that shape life on Earth, from the evolution of species over millions of years to the ecological interactions that sustain today’s ecosystems. Through hands-on fieldwork, data analysis, and research experiences, students investigate biodiversity, conservation, sustainability, and ecological interactions between organisms and their environments. This emphasis equips graduates with the scientific knowledge and analytical skills needed to address today’s most pressing ecological challenges while preparing them for careers in conservation, environmental consulting, research, government, and graduate study.

    Offered by the Department of Marine and Environmental Biology

  • Examine the incredible diversity of life within Earth’s oceans while gaining hands-on experience studying marine organisms, coastal ecosystems, and microbial processes. Students combine laboratory research, field experiences, and interdisciplinary coursework to explore marine ecology, oceanography, conservation, and the impacts of global environmental change. Graduates are prepared for careers in marine science, conservation, environmental policy, education, and research, as well as advanced study in marine biology and related fields.

    Offered by the Department of Marine and Environmental Biology

  • The majors in Earth sciences and geological sciences are focused on understanding how the Earth works, including the evolution of planetary systems, climate, and life through time. Students explore topics such as Earth’s origin, structure, and evolution; climate change and the global oceans in the past, present, and future; earthquakes, volcanoes, and other natural hazards; the history and evolution of life on Earth (including dinosaurs!); and natural resources including minerals, energy, water, and more. The majors combine classroom learning, research, and hands-on field experiences from Southern California to international sites, and strongly emphasize curiosity-driven inquiry as well as problem-solving.

    These two majors are ideal for students who are curious about how the planet works and those who want to tackle real-world challenges related to the environment, natural hazards, and sustainability. The geological sciences degree is especially suited for students interested in scientific research, geoscience careers (including state certification as a professional geologist), or graduate study.

    Offered by the Department of Earth Sciences

  • The health of the environment and the health of people go hand in hand. This major is designed for students who are interested in a career in the health professions, but want to incorporate their interest in the environment into their studies and gain a greater understanding of how environmental issues impact people’s health.  This major shares many of the core classes required of environmental studies majors and combines them with a strong grounding in biology, chemistry, and physics. If you are planning to pursue a career in public health or to attend medical, nursing, or dental school, this major covers all the required classes to pursue those pathways.

    Offered by the Environmental Studies Program

  • Environmental issues are complex and multifaceted. The environmental studies major is designed to give students experience with the varying aspects of environmental problems, leading to the goal of solving these problems for a better, more sustainable future.  This includes the biological, chemical, and physical science underpinning the function of the natural world; the factors that created the problems we face; and the policy, management, and economic tools needed to solve these problems. In addition to a core set of classes that cover water and soil sustainability, energy, air pollution, natural resources, and ethics, students choose a concentration that allows focus in a particular area. 

    If you are interested in working in environmental policymaking, management, advocacy, education, or a scientific field, the interdisciplinary nature of the environmental studies major is ideal. Not sure about your career plans? The breadth of this major will prepare you for a wide variety of career options. Alums have gone on to graduate programs and to careers in consulting, law, journalism, corporate social responsibility, government, and more.

    Offered by the Environmental Studies Program

  • This interdisciplinary major is for those interested in evidence-based environmental problem-solving and hypothesis-driven inquiry about the natural world. This degree focuses on building rigorous, quantitative understanding of environmental processes rooted in the natural sciences: biology and ecology, chemistry, geoscience, and physics. Training includes data analysis, systems modeling, field and laboratory work, GIS and remote sensing, and scientific writing — skills that are essential for identifying fundamental problems and for informing and communicating solutions. Environmental systems science courses cover topics including climate, biogeochemistry, water resources, ecosystems, and more. 

    This degree particularly suits students interested in natural science-focused careers in environmental consulting, government agencies, nonprofits, and research laboratories as well as those considering graduate study in earth system science, ecology, environmental chemistry, or sustainability science, among other fields.  

    Offered jointly by the Department of Earth Sciences and the Environmental Studies Program

Minors

students and their TA smile as they talk through an experiment while standing next to a large clear tank of ocean water and kelp

If you’re majoring in an non-environmental field (like business administration) but hoping to use it for an environmental purpose (like working in corporate sustainability), expand your qualifications with a Dornsife environmental minor!

Minors are also an excellent option for adding breadth or specialization to an existing environmental major. For instance, combine your marine biology major with an environmental studies minor to learn not just how ocean ecosystems work, but also the social and policy solutions for keeping them healthy.

  • The minor in climate change, stewardship and resiliency equips students to guide environmental stewardship and reporting efforts within the corporate world. Students will learn how to harness scientific insights about climate change for business resiliency and decision-making.

    Offered by the Department of Earth Sciences

  • This minor is designed for students majoring in business, engineering, law, communications, and other professional fields. It provides the chemistry foundation needed to understand, formulate, and manage scientific issues related to natural environmental processes and environmental technologies.

    Offered by the Department of Chemistry

  • This minor covers the major environmental challenges facing our planet, including soil, water, air, and energy sustainability.  It can be combined with any major for students who want to consider how their primary discipline – from law to business, art, chemistry, and more – can be used to solve environmental problems.

    Offered by the Environmental Studies Program

  • The minor in marine biology combines courses related specifically to marine science from several Dornsife College departments or programs. Students will learn about the biology, evolution, and ecology of organisms that inhabit marine environments and the ecological and physical processes linking them. This program is ideal for students who want to pair a focus in marine science with their primary course of study or who are interested in broadening their base of knowledge about marine biology, Earth sciences, or environmental science. 

    Offered by the Department of Marine and Environmental Biology

  • Paleontology is a science that fascinates people from all walks of life.  Many who plan careers in other disciplines harbor a strong desire to learn significantly more about paleontology during their college years.  This minor is intended to provide the necessary foundational learning in biology and geology together with an emphasis on the evolution and extinction of life over deep geological time.  The role of major players in the early history of life, from microbes to the first marine animals, to the later rise of dinosaurs, mammals, angiosperms and humans, are but several of the many topics focusing on specific organisms that will be treated.  Mechanisms that have shaped this history of life, including the origin of life, early evolution of animals and plants, mass extinctions, and the evolution of humans will be emphasized.

    Offered by the Department of Earth Sciences

  • This minor is designed for students interested in an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the proliferation of plastic waste, which is a pressing sustainability issue for the 21st century. The plastics sustainability minor confronts this issue through a program that educates students on both technical aspects of polymer manufacturing and circularity, as well as the broader economic and social drivers of the plastics problem.

    Offered by the Department of Chemistry

Experiential Learning

conservation intern, inches away from lion skull, gazes at its eye sockets

Dornsife College is also home to the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, which houses the Environmental Studies Program and serves as USC’s front door for environmental education, research, and public engagement.

Through the Wrigley Institute, you can access a variety of experiential learning opportunities connected to your major or minor, including Maymester courses, skill-building internships, and more. Explore the list below for highlights, and see the institute’s website for full details.

  • The Catalina Residential College, based at the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, offers Maymester courses focused on field and lab experiences across the natural sciences and humanities. These full-credit courses are part of your spring semester schedule and included in spring tuition, but take place during the first four weeks of summer break. Small class sizes support closer interaction with faculty, and co-curricular activities help you build connections with peers in other courses.

    Courses

    Courses are subject to change, but the following courses have been offered in recent years and are representative of the program’s academic mix.

    BISC 431: Aquatic microbiology

    BISC 457: Methods in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography

    ENST 298a/bL: Introduction to Scientific Diving

    ENST 483L: Coastal Zone Sustainability

    ENST 484: Waves of Change: Unearthing Coastal Environmental Histories

  • Other courses include field excursions across the country and around the world. Students live and learn in the field for a semester, or base themselves in L.A. while taking regular trips throughout the region.

    Past courses include:

    ENST 432: Environment and Governance (Phillipines)

    ENST 360: Public Policy for Sustainability (Washington, D.C.)

    BISC 364: Advanced Techniques in Field Mammalogy (California)

    GEOL 465L: Field Geology (Alaska)

  • Internships provide hands-on, real-world experience tied directly to career paths in the environment and sustainability.

    Unpaid (For-Credit)

    ENST 492: Directed Environmental Policy and Science Internship

    Internships are arranged based on student interest and available host organizations. Past internships have focused on environmental education in the public school system, wetlands conservation, urban tree planting, community advocacy around urban oil wells, and more.

    Paid (Not-for-Credit)

    • Summer research internships: Help advance faculty-led research focused on the coastal ocean
    • Conservation internships: Contribute to real-world conservation projects at local organizations such as the L.A. Zoo or Natural History Museum
    • Environmental communications internships: Help USC faculty and departments reach the public with insights from environmental research
    • Environmental summer awards: Get financial support for an unpaid or underpaid internship you’ve identified on your own

  • The Wrigley Institute regularly offers a variety of other events and programs on both the UPC and Catalina Island campuses. These may include:

    • Weekend Workshops. 2- or 3-day intensives to build specific skills for graduate school or environmental jobs
    • Spring Break programs. Travel to the Wrigley Marine Science Center for an introduction to ecology, geology, and oceanography, or tour L.A. businesses and nonprofits to learn about climate careers
    • Career Treks. Visit a major corporation or nonprofit for a behind-the-scenes look at their sustainability-focused products and programs (Watch our social media for opportunities to sign up!)
    • Major events. Sign up to be a student ambassador or attend events with nationally recognized speakers from government, business, nonprofits/activism, and the arts