College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Environmental Data Science Bachelor's Degree

Sustainable solutions and forest management at your fingertips. Be a part of the climate solution using data and advanced technologies to inform decisions. Be what tomorrow needs with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Data Science at Michigan Tech. 

If you want to make a difference to the environment but have a greater passion for computing or mathematics, our environmental data science program will make you feel at home. Gain the fundamentals of ecological science with computational and analytical skills to make informed decisions about environmental issues. This technical knowledge will be grounded in an understanding of biophysical sciences, together with skills in computer science and statistics.

There's no better place to study natural resources than the wild Keweenaw Peninsula, bordered by Lake Superior and blanketed with forests and wetlands (and 218+ inches of snow each winter). First-year students have two outdoor field labs and are all eligible to be paid as Earn and Learn students—an experience that gets you involved in research right away, so you can acquire the hands-on knowledge and skills to land a summer job or internship after your first year. Other schools own forests—but our students explore 3,650 acres of woodland right outside the back door at the Ford Center and Forest. In your junior year, you'll spend 14 weeks learning in these woods, covering the elements of forested landscapes in a blend of classroom and field study through our Integrated Field Practicum.

Our graduates have hundreds of hands-on learning hours in the field, working on projects from classroom labs to research. This experience puts our students a step above the rest when it comes to working for government agencies, nonprofits, consulting firms, and others.

What Will I Study?

Study programming, databases, environmental sustainability, geographic information systems, soil science, regression analysis, spatial statistics, and biotechnology. Fieldwork, teamwork, leadership, and professional development prepare you to model, analyze, compare, communicate, and deploy tools and techniques used to understand large environmental data sets, biodiversity drivers, hydrological development, and climate change.

  • Explore, measure, document, and analyze the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Bordered by Lake Superior, blanketed with forest and wetlands, our backyard is an ideal living lab.
  • Be a part of land-use decisions to enhance ecosystem composition, structure, and function.
  • Collaborate with leading scientists to solve ecological and environmental problems.
  • Learn how to use geographic information systems (GIS) and be proficient in GPS, land measurement, and remote sensing skills.
  • Explore undergraduate research opportunities.
  • Build your resume and finish your first year of classes qualified to find a summer job in your field.

Specialize Your Degree

Pursue your passion. Concentrate your degree in one of four available tracks to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on Global Change Science, Environmental Statistics, Geospatial Information Science, or Genomics and Bioinformatics. 

Global Change Science

Complete classes on the science of climate change, wildland fire, biogeochemistry, biodiversity loss, and land-use change. Take team-based classes in data management and learn about the communication necessary between life scientists and computer scientists. 

Environmental Statistics

Take courses that cover experimental design, hypothesis testing, and data collection and analysis as it pertains to environmental research and policy. Gain a greater understanding in mathematics and predictive modeling.

Geospatial Information Science

Learn from courses such as Remote Sensing, Python Programming, and Spatial Statistics. Collect geospatial data and analyze, visualize, and communicate the information using mapping. Use physics to learn how systems like lidar are relevant to remote sensing technologies.

Genetic Applications in Data Science

Complete courses that explore the role of the environment on genetic structure, evolution, and adaptation. Explore gene expression and bioinformatics. 

Be Career Ready

As humans continue to value sustainable ethics, tomorrow’s environmental data scientists will hold the answers for land management decisions and sustainable solutions. 

Environmental data is now being created at an astonishing pace. This large stream of data presents enormous opportunities for advancing our understanding of some of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. 

The College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science hosts its own Natural Resource Career Fair. Each year, around 20 companies from across the US travel to Michigan Tech in late fall to educate and recruit employees.

Career Opportunities for Environmental Data Science

  • Ecological Forecasting Specialist

  • Environmental Data Scientist

  • GIS Data Engineer

  • Geospatial Analyst

  • Environmental Modeler

  • Ecosystem Services Consultant

  • Sustainability Analyst

Environmental Data Science Salaries

$87,943 mean entry-level salary
Figures from payscale.com, accessed April 2025.

$124,590 mean annual salary
Figures from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), dated May 2024.

36% projected job growth 2023-33, much faster than average
US Bureau of Labor Statistics

What is Environmental Data Science?

Environmental data science is the study of large-scale environmental data using statistics, modeling, and analysis to help understand and find solutions for real-world problems, like climate change. 

Environmental data science is about exploring interrelationships connecting the natural environment, drivers of ecosystem processes, and the tools to understand the data that describe land, water, air, and biodiversity. You’ll use scientific processes to analyze information from data that was once unstructured, creating useful, clear facts that can be used to sustain the environment. Understand the fundamentals of ecological science and gain the computational and analytical skills to manage and visualize data, then draw inferences from it that will address environmental challenges.

Ready to take the next step?

Learn more about studying environmental data science at Michigan's flagship technological university.

  • 8:1
    student-to-faculty ratio
  • 25
    typical lab size
  • 3.5K
    acres to explore at our residential field camp

Diverse Ecosystem of Environmental Stewardship

If you have a love for the woods and a desire to sustain resources for the future, you will feel at home in Michigan Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES). Our College is a community on a first-name basis, connected by a shared passion for study, research, and work centered on forest health and ecosystem integrity.

Similar to the Keweenaw Peninsula’s biodiverse ecosystems, CFRES is a community of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and alumni who learn, lead, and thrive in the College's unique environment. You’ll notice flags from countries around the world when you step through the doors of our atrium. We are a safe space for all who love natural resources, with a strong commitment to a sense of community.

5,850+ Acres of University Forestland

Our forests are your living lab—and playground. The University owns 5,866 acres of forestland. Undergraduate students in forestry, wildlife, ecology, and soils perform a minimum of 714 hours of outdoor coursework to fulfill degree requirements.

Learn how to navigate among the trees, count board feet, identify forest pests and diseases, and explore ways to mitigate them. Take a swim in the Sturgeon River while taking water samples, quantify woody and herbaceous plants, design maps, and learn to mark timber. Work closely with your peers and professors to create management plans that best suit the environment for the changing climate. Tap maple trees, learn the history of syrup-making, and process your own maple syrup at the Nara Family Maple Center.

Integrated Field Practicum at the Ford Center

The Integrated Field Practicum (IFP) is the cornerstone of natural resource management at Michigan Tech, and stands out as the only off-campus, semester-long field practicum in the United States. Offered in the fall and summer, students in their junior year get to live, learn, and play in our 3,700-acre research forest for a whole semester. Spend a few hours in the classroom and the rest of the day outdoors at Michigan Tech’s Ford Center, just over 40 miles from our main campus.

Take waypoints and design maps. Get your hands dirty and your feet wet exploring soil, geology, and climate. Collect fungi or insects for a specimen collection. Hug trees as you measure stand basal area. Learn to determine canopy health. Collect photos from camera traps. Mental and physical challenges prepare students for careers in our four land management degree programs.

4+1 Accelerated Master of Forestry

Earn an accelerated master’s degree with just one additional year of study beyond your bachelor’s degree in forestry. Start your Master of Forestry degree your senior year, saving time and money on the graduate degree. This professional degree expands your qualifications and experience in mapping, analyzing, managing, and communicating forest and environmental resources issues. A master’s degree provides greater opportunity for career advancement and a higher starting salary.

Tomorrow Needs Sustainable Forest Management

Healthy, intact, functioning ecosystems support both human health and the health and well-being of other species, from trees to birds, fish and insects. Join a community that believes in renewable resources, sustainability, and multiple-use forests in a sustainably driven society at an R1 flagship public research university powered by science, technology, sustainability, and passion. Graduate with a foundation of knowledge and real-world experience in natural resource management.


Undergraduate Majors

Documenting knapweed in dunes. Analyzing northern peatlands. Growing woody mass for biofuels. Conserving the California condor. As the largest forestry program in Michigan, we offer students access to far-reaching ecological programs with global impact (like the longest-running predator-prey study in the world).

Or, start with our General Forestry option and give yourself time to decide.

Student Learning Goals

Students in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science can expect to achieve the following learning goals—which also align with the University's Undergraduate Student Learning Goals:

  1. Explain core concepts in the field of environmental data science and approaches to understanding, manipulating, and analyzing data sets.

  2. Identify and evaluate sources of data and information relating to the environment.

  3. Summarize and analyze alternative ways to use data and computer programming to address problems in environmental science.

  4. Communicate effectively (orally and in writing) about issues related to environmental data science at local, regional, and global scales.

  5. Recognize the professional standards that ensure their behaviors are consistent with working in the environmental and computer science fields. Demonstrate the ability to apply ethical reasoning to data use, privacy, and security.

  6. Develop the ability to work effectively in teams.

Concentration-specific Learning Goals

Climate Science

Students will model and forecast the effects of global change on ecological and human-altered systems.

Environmental Statistics

Students will design experiments that provide statistically significant support for environmental issues and policies.

Geospatial Information Science

Students will integrate the use of geospatial tools to address issues relating to land use and ecological processes.

Genetic Applications in Data Science

Students will use genetic data to analyze the effects of environmental factors on gene and protein expression, evolutionary processes, and adaptation.

"Environmental data scientists are a critical part of our efforts to understand and mitigate the impacts of global climate change on people and natural systems."Nan Pond '12, PhD Forest Biometrics/Silviculture