Graduate Programs

The University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources offers numerous graduate degrees both on campus and online. Benefiting from the expertise of over 60 faculty members, you have the opportunity to focus your research in a specific area of interest or career goal.

You can learn more about the various graduate programs CNR has to offer by visiting CNR’s Graduate Studies Office website.

The Department of Natural Resources and Society offers numerous graduate courses which cover a breadth of subject areas. Below are some of the courses you would have the opportunity to take:

• NRS 506 Fundamentals of Research
  Research approaches, designs, and methodologies as applied in biophysical and social science natural resource professions. Cooperative: open to WSU degree-seeking students.

• NRS 510 Applications of Communication Theory in Natural Resource Management
  Examination of communication theories and their applications in sustainable natural resource management; emphasis on social psychological approaches to understanding persuasive communication and applications in environmental interpretation and education, marketing, and sustainable development.

• NRS 552 Current Lit in Remote Sensing Review, present, and discuss recent articles related to remote sensing of the environment. Students choose, critically review, and discuss the articles to develop critical-thinking skills, remote sensing research strategies, and confidence in their knowledge of the literature.

• NRS 559 Writing Research and Project Proposals
  Structured instruction for developing a thesis/dissertation or project proposal. Role and importance of research goals and objectives, research questions, and project purpose statements. Justifying a study or project, based on literature and theory. Effective writing techniques to describe research designs, methodological and data collection issues for different types of research and projects. How to articulate data analysis and information processing processes used in qualitative and quantitative research and projects. Meets two hours per week for the first 8 weeks of the spring semester.

• NRS 560 Place-based Ecology Cover plant and animal community ecology from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Topics will include: community interaction of plants and animals; community dynamics, succession, and disturbance; basic data collection and statistical analysis of habitat association data; and the effect of abiotic factors on community structure.

• NRS 562 Field Science Teaching Address basic natural history concepts for instructors involved in experiential environmental education with students 12 to 18 years old. Field activities, readings, and instructor modeling of teaching techniques will be included in the format of the course. The course will focus on how to engage each student to learn ecological principles and apply them in a field teaching setting.

• NRS 564 Teaching Environmental Education in a Winter Environment
  Address basic principles of ecology during winter. Emphasis will be placed on field experiences including principles of teaching in a winter environment, winter weather, and organism adaptation to winter.

• NRS 565 Science Communication and the Environment
  Examines the flow of scientific information between experts and non-experts, with emphasis on educational settings. Project-based and includes practice in digital storytelling, documentary film, blogs, podcasts, public talks, and field experiences. McCall Field Campus.

• NRS 566 Place-based Ecology II
  Explore how plants and animals manage the unique survival challenges of winter. Delve into fundamentals of winter ecology including the changing snowpack, life under the ice, plants and animals in the winter environment and plant-animal interactions. The middle of the course addresses environmental change and interactions with winter ecology. At the end of the semester, the springtime environment will be used to study fundamental chemical and physical processes that drive the natural world emerging out of its apparent hibernation. Work outdoors to gain hands-on knowledge and practical experience. Field experiences will be fundamental in developing ecological understanding, with field trips to various locations to gain crucial insight into the natural world during the winter and spring seasons. Outdoor experience and learning will be complemented by lectures, group discussions, readings, and field experiments.

• NRS 567 Environmental Education Teaching Practicum I
  The teaching practicum is an opportunity to improve teaching methods and techniques and expand professional skills under the guidance of mentors at a residential environmental learning center. Teaching in a residential environmental learning center consists of classroom lectures and demonstrations with groups up to 30, as well as field teaching groups of 8 to 10.

• NRS 568 Environmental Education Teaching Practicum II
  The teaching practicum is an opportunity to improve teaching methods and techniques and expand professional skills under the guidance of mentors at a residential environmental learning center. Teaching in a residential environmental learning center consists of classroom lectures and demonstrations with groups up to 30, as well as field teaching groups of 8 to 10.

• NRS 569 Environmental Education Teaching Practicum III
  The teaching practicum is an opportunity to improve teaching methods and techniques and expand professional skills under the guidance of Teton Science School staff. Teaching at the Teton Science School consists of classroom lectures and demonstrations with groups up to 30, as well as field teaching groups of 8 to 10.

• NRS 572 Human Dimensions of Restoration Ecology An in-depth investigation of multi-dimensional human considerations, including economic, social, and cultural values and the role they play in maintaining, restoring, or sustaining ecosystems. Explores the major premise that projects designed for the restoration and sustainable management of ecosystems and associated resources must be ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially desirable to be successful. Online.

• NRS 573 Planning & Decision Making for Watershed Management Focus on ecological and human factors in process-oriented approaches to watershed analysis and planning for effective decision-making; emphasis on practical applications of current tools and approaches, e.g., GIS, MAU Theory, collaborative management.