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ENVR 395: Senior Research Seminar
The capstone course of the environmental studies major is a research seminar in which students draw on their classroom experiences in addressing real-world problems. For 2003-2005 the course was designed around a collaborative model and a common research topic. Working as a team with other senior students, majors functioned much as a group of consultants in the workplace, taking on various aspects of an environmental research project according to their own strengths, collecting and analyzing relevant data, and producing a final report. The CSB/SJU Green Building Plan and Campus Energy Plan linked below were produced by the first two classes of ES majors.
In 2006 the format of the seminar was changed to accommodate the growing number of majors and to provide more flexibility in topic selection. Students now conduct their research independently (or in pairs) on an environmental problem of their choice. The written thesis must present a solution to that problem that is interdisciplinary in nature, well researched, and plausible. A list of past thesis topics appears below, including most of the interdisciplinary theses completed under the old environmental studies minor between 1995-2001.