Mission and Outcomes
Goals
Graduates of our program will be able to:
- Review pertinent literature, synthesize, identify research and knowledge gaps
- Collect, manage, analyze and interpret data from the lab, field and literature
- Recognize limitations of data
- Design studies to address knowledge gaps
- Communicate clearly in written, visual and oral forms
- Work independently, collaboratively and in a leadership capacity
- Apply knowledge and research to real-world issues in southern Alberta (within the context of sharing discoveries with stakeholders and the community)
- Collaborate and communicate knowledgeably with experts in other disciplines
- Recognize professional abilities and limitations
- Understand the societal relevance as well as the legal and regulatory frameworks of environmental issues
Outcomes
Knowledge
Graduates of our program will be able to:
- Describe the climatic and geological settings of a region, particularly Alberta
- Apply key biological processes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems alongside physical processes in hydrology or hydrogeology to deduce the actual or potential effects of human activities on natural systems
- Describe key chemical and physical components of air, land and water as well as understand the natural processes and human activities that affect them
- Apply the principles of mass-balance to understand chemical processes in natural or impacted systems
- Recognize the variability inherent in the natural environment and that can occur during measurements of the environment
- Explain and apply the key features of provincial (Alberta) and federal (Canada) environmental regulations and environmental impact studies and understand the role of communities and stakeholders in decision making
- Apply sophisticated expertise in one of the component disciplines of environmental science, ideally recognized by a relevant professional designation
Skills
Graduate of our program will be able to:
- Design strategies to collect information that is unbiased
- Application of the scientific method
- Obtain and critically evaluate previous work on a study system, with priority to peer reviewed studies
- Obtain field samples with appropriate procedural standards for collection and documentation
- Manage data and metadata such that others can use them
- Statistically analyze data with attention to statistical assumptions
- Work collaboratively and efficiently with others to produce joint products (reports, presentations, etc.)
- Identify and obtain the physical and social history of an area subject to environmental changes
- Assess air, land and water quality using chemical, biological and physical data
- Identify and quantify plant and animal species
- Write scientific and policy reports efficiently with the appropriate structure, language, and formatting
- Give effective oral presentations by engaging with the audience and presenting clear visuals
- Design poster presentations that are visually compelling and that succinctly communicate a substantial message