Soil Science

The Soil Science graduate program provides opportunities for candidates interested in soil and related water resources to become a professional leader and an independent scholar.

The Department of Ecosystem Science and Management offers:

As a graduate student you will work closely with your faculty adviser and committee members in designing a program of study and research adapted to your interests. We encourage you to explore with faculty who are pursuing research in topics of interest to you to determine whether they have the time and financial resources to serve as your adviser during your graduate program. In addition, you may wish to contact the ESM Graduate Student Organization () and visit with a couple graduate students who are members of the department to gain insights about the departmental strengths that may be of interest to you. You can check out the ESM GSO website; it has some useful links and information for graduate students!

Faculty in this program are competent to prepare candidates in the subfields of Soil Science. Areas of specialization include soil genesis, classification, morphology, mapping, microbiology, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, fertility, geographic information systems, remote sensing, watershed analysis, hydrology, and land management.

For the minor in Soil Science, a minimum of 18 credits is required.

Areas of Study include:

  • chemistry
  • classification
  • fertility
  • geographic information systems
  • hydrology
  • land management
  • mapping
  • microbiology
  • mineralogy
  • morphology
  • physics
  • remote sensing
  • soil genesis
  • watershed analysis