Study Sustainability at CAS
The College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences provide students and faculty with a rich environment to tackle the multifaceted environmental crisis facing our planet. Arts & Sciences researchers—both students and faculty—take advantage of cutting-edge laboratories and interact with leading thinkers in the fields of geology, environmental science, biology, and other disciplines. Through collaborations with other schools at BU, our researchers generate new ideas and new solutions to environmental challenges.
Meanwhile, students, staff, and faculty all do their part to recycle, conserve paper and electricity, and further BU’s green mission.
Arts & Sciences students and faculty explore the full spectrum of environmental issues, from public policy to cutting-edge scientific research. Feel free to browse through our course offerings below, or check out BU’s innovative, environmentally-focused study abroad opportunities, degree programs, and research groups.
Interested in what else CAS and BU are doing to reduce the University’s environmental footprint? Visit our sustainability program website, BU Sustainability.
Study Abroad
Tropical Ecology Program in Ecuador
The Tropical Ecology Program (TEP) provides students with an opportunity to conduct field-based research and study in Ecuador. Operated in collaboration with La Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), the program is ideal for biology and environmental science majors interested in getting hands-on field research experience. TEP students travel from the capital city of Quito to the Pacific Coast, the Galapagos Islands, and the remote Amazonian rainforest.
Washington Internship Program
Through the Washington, DC, Internship Program, students live and work for a semester as interns in the policy-making atmosphere of the nation’s capital. Students take courses in policy-making that give them an insider’s look at how policies are formulated in the federal government. Internships with congressional committees, the executive branch, or nonprofit groups provide practical experience.
School for Field Studies
The School for Field Studies (SFS) conducts semester and summer programs in international environmental field study. Programs are conducted at international centers in Kenya, Costa Rica, Australia, Mexico, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Issues addressed by the School for Field Studies centers include Wildlife Ecology and Management, Sustainable Development, Tropical Rainforest Management, and Marine Resources Management.
University-Wide Research Collaborations
Research Groups at CAS
Department of Geography & Environment and Center for Remote Sensing
PI: Mark Friedl
Department of Geography & Environment and Department of Biology
PIs: Suchi Gopal, Les Kaufmann
Department of Earth & Environment
Department of Geography & Environment
PIs: Nathan Phillips, Lucy Hutyra
Department of Geography & Environment
PIs: Richard Reibstein, Cutler Cleveland