Environmental & Ecological Science Major
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About the Major
The environmental and ecological science degree is for students who are specifically interested in environmental science careers in ecosystem management, wildlife ecology, conservation biology and environmental monitoring.
Jobs in Environmental & Ecological Science
- Ecosystem manager
- Conservationist
- Environmental scientist
- Hydrologist
- Ecologist
Past Elon Environmental & Ecological Science Internships
- Conservators Center
- Aqua Link Inc
- Citizen Monitoring Program Pollution Ecology Lab
- Savannah Wildlife Rescue Center
- The Utopian Seed Project
Related Majors
Ecological science focus allowed student to dig deeper into environmental studies
When Chloe Stuart was researching colleges, she hoped to find a place where she could balance her interests in outdoor recreation with hard science. She found that balance at Elon University.
“A lot of other schools I looked at just had humanities-based programs and environmental studies, but I really wanted more of the hard science piece of it,” Stuart said. “I liked that Elon’s curriculum offered that. I like the way the program is structured with a lot of choice about the kinds of ecological areas you get to look into.”
Stuart graduated in 2024 with a double major in environmental and ecological science and outdoor leadership education. And she found plenty of opportunities throughout her four years to explore the hard-science side of environmental studies. She jumped into her research during her first year, was named a Provost Scholar, and concluded her project her senior year, presenting the findings at numerous conferences.
I found that employers are really interested in how much variety there was in the work that I did, and I think Elon allowed for that. There have just been so many opportunities that I’ve gotten from being here.
Her research looked at carbon sequestration — the process of trees absorbing and holding onto atmospheric carbon — in Cedarock Park in Alamance County. The goal was to better understand the capabilities of county parks to mitigate climate change and determine how efficiently they can act as “carbon sinks.” She and her mentor, biology associate professor David Vandermast, used both field truthing methods and geographic information systems to conduct the hands-on research in the summer of 2023.
Stuart said her major in environmental and ecological science was flexible enough to allow for exploration into other subjects, for which she’s grateful.
“I was able to collaborate a lot with the Biology Department, taking a lot of biology classes, which I’ve really enjoyed,” she said. “That is something you find at Elon — they do their best to connect you across majors. They’ve been very flexible with me, helping me take the classes that are most interesting to me.”
Among the topics she studied were water resource management, conservation biology, biogeography, sustainable architecture and agroecology. “I got to dip into a bunch of different disciplines and figure out what interested me the most,” said Stuart, noting that dendrology and forestry were the areas of study she enjoyed most. “My favorite piece was really being outside. When I came to Elon I wasn’t exactly sure if I wanted to work in a lab or a classroom, and through my classes I realized I just want to be outside.”
Stuart also took advantage of many opportunities to get hands-on learning while on campus. In addition to all the outdoor trips she led working for Elon Outdoors and the science labs she took, she also had the chance to work on one of the biggest experiential learning opportunities offered by Elon’s Environmental Studies Department.
In taking associate professor Robert Charest’s Sustainable Architecture and Design class in the spring of 2023, she was introduced to the “Tiny House Project,” where students designed and then began building one of an eventual 12 homes in a new eco-friendly dorm community at Loy Farm, home to Elon’s Center for Environmental Studies. (The students worked on only the one house; the other 11 are being designed and built by outside contractors.)
In the class, Stuart helped create the budget and manage administrative tasks and eventually became a lead project manager. Then, in the fall of 2023, she began working part-time at the site.
“I had the least amount of experience with a lot of the actual work that we were doing, but I was still able to help out with everything,” she said. “Robert Charest is just awesome with teaching new skills. He’s very patient, and it was great. It’s something that I’ve never done before and probably won’t ever do again, but it was really good to gain those skills.”
Stuart found that the opportunities she took advantage of with research and hands-on learning have been embraced by potential employers.
“I found that employers are really interested in how much variety there was in the work that I did, and I think Elon allowed for that,” she said. “There have just been so many opportunities that I’ve gotten from being here.”
That includes learning how to collaborate and network.
“I came to Elon as a very independent student; I didn’t like group projects in high school or middle school and I found I did my best work alone,” Stuart said. “Elon showed me that was me not knowing how to properly manage group work. I didn’t really know my place within a group, and Elon taught me how best to collaborate and how much better of a job I can do if I’m working with other people.”
Did You Know?
- Students participate in a wide range of courses across the university with opportunities to engage in local, regional and global environmental issues. The environmental and ecological science major offers students the opportunity to conduct field research of the ecological systems at Loy Farm’s restored Piedmont Prairie and the Haw River and in Elon Forest and coastal North Carolina.
- Students must complete an internship and/or participate in mentored undergraduate research, both of which help develop their professional networks, hone their skills and develop their resumes in preparation for a future job or graduate school.
- The program culminates in a capstone Senior Seminar, in which students work in teams to develop a community-based project, much as they might in a professional setting. Students must be able to analyze data, conduct field research and critically analyze studies and other materials associated with environmental issues.
Contact:
Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies