CAS: Earth & Environmental Sciences

Students who are interested in the Earth & Environmental Sciences major may contact Kelly Capri (kcapri@bu.edu), Assistant Director of Academic Advising at CAS, with questions.

Upon completion of the CGS program, students must have earned credit towards the following 10 courses:

• Humanities: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS HU 103, CGS HU 201, or CGS HU 202
  • CGS HU 104*
• Natural Sciences: 2 courses
  • CGS NS 201 and CAS CH171**
• Rhetoric: 2 courses
  • CGS RH 103 and CGS RH 104*
• Social Sciences: 3 courses
  • Choose two from CGS SS 103, CGS SS 201, or CGS SS 202
  • CGS SS 104*

*Required course taken during the Summer term.
**CGS NS 201 fulfills the CAS BI 107 requirement. Earth & environmental sciences majors should take another required science course in place of NS 202. CGS NS 202 will not count towards the major. Please note that students who are exempt from CGS NS 202 must enroll in at least one CGS course in Term 2 of sophomore year.

The major in earth & environmental sciences requires a total of 16 courses, all completed with a grade of ‘C’ or higher:

Introductory Courses (2 courses)

• CAS EE 100 Environmental Change and Sustainability (or CAS EE 150 or CAS EE 250)
• CAS EE 107 Introduction to Climate and Earth System Science (or CAS EE 105, CAS EE 142, or CAS EE 144)

Required Related Courses (6 courses)

Sciences:

• CGS NS 201 Biology 1
• CAS CH 171 Principles of General Chemistry (or CAS CH 101 or CAS CH 111)
• CAS PY 105 Physics 1 (or CAS PY 251 or CAS PY 211)

Mathematics and Statistics – choose 1 track:

• Traditional Calculus and Statistics Track (3 courses):
  • CAS MA 121 and CAS MA 122 Calculus for the Life and Social Sciences 1 and 2 or CAS MA 123 and CAS MA 124
  • CAS EE 270 Data, Models, and Analysis in Earth & Environment (or CAS MA 115 or CAS MA 213)
• Data Science Track (3 courses):
  • CDS DS 120 and CDS DS 121 Foundations of Data Science 1 and 2
  • CDS DS 122 Foundations of Data Science 3

Principal Courses (3 courses):

Students complete one course from each of the following categories:

• Ecosystems and Ecology:
  • CAS BI 306 Biology of Global Change (Fall and Spring)
    or CAS EE/BI 307 Biogeography (Fall only)
• Physical Earth Systems Sciences:
  • CAS EE 300 Earth’s Rocky Materials (Spring only), CAS EE 310 Climate and the Environment (Fall only), CAS EE 317 Intro to Hydrology (Spring only), CAS EE 360 Introduction to Physical Oceanography (Spring only)
• Earth Observation and Analysis:
  • CAS EE 302 Remote Sensing of the Environment, CAS EE 365 Intro to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), CAS EE 375 Intro to Quantitative Environmental Modeling

Elective Courses (5 courses):

Students select five approved elective courses. At least two courses must be at the 400- or 500- level (or above) and up to one course can be selected from the environmental social science and policy approved electives. Please consult CAS Academic Advising and refer to the BU Bulletin for more information.

• Completion of the CGS required courses and appropriate electives
• Cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 2.00

Boston University students completing a degree in CAS must also complete the following requirements. 

• BU Hub requirements
  • Students who take the specific CGS courses noted on the pathway above will fulfill all BU Hub requirements except the requirement listed below. These remaining Hub requirements will be fulfilled through the following courses:
    • Quantitative Reasoning II (1 requirement) fulfilled by CAS MA 122 or CAS MA 124
    • Teamwork/Collaboration (1 requirement) fulfilled by CAS EE 100
  • You will fulfill the remaining Hub requirements– Creativity/Innovation (1 requirement), Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy (1 requirement), Teamwork/Collaboration (1 requirement), and Writing-Intensive Course (1 requirement) – through the courses you take for your CAS major and/or other electives.
• CAS requirements:
  • Second Language requirement
  • Natural Sciences Laboratory requirement*
• Earth & environmental sciences major requirements
• CAS requires a minimum of 128 units, excluding PDP, ROTC, and CAS FY and SY courses.

*Note: The CAS Natural Sciences Laboratory Requirement is met through completion of College of General Studies Program of Study.