According to the, the number of positions in environmental sciences is increasing 5% every year. The typical entry-level position requires a bachelor鈥檚 degree.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing an increase in the development of environmental science and sustainability programs across the country, and that’s because business is becoming more conscious of their impact,鈥� said Daniel Gleason, Ph.D., chair of the new School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability (SEES). 鈥淚ndustry has now taken an interest in it and they’re demanding graduates with these types of degrees. Students are demanding these types of degrees. I’ve had several students over the last year that have transferred from some other institutions within Georgia because we had a sustainability science degree and they wanted that degree.鈥�

On July 1, the College of Science and Mathematics at 糖心Vlog will launch a new school that will blend several science disciplines to better serve a growing student demand for sustainability and environmental science. The SEES will bring together the geosciences program and the James H. Oliver, Jr., Institute for Coastal Plain Science (ICPS).

鈥淭he new School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability is a testament to Georgia Southern鈥檚 aptitude to acclimate with the job market to create new pathways for successful careers,鈥� said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Carl Reiber, Ph.D. 鈥淭he careers these students will be prepared for don鈥檛 require the traditional disciplines we used to see. We鈥檙e now seeing a need for combining pathways among several disciplines to give students a better chance of success after their academic careers are complete.鈥�

Under the new union, the degree programs will be respectively:

Geosciences

-Master of Science in Applied Geography

-B.S. in Geosciences (concentration in geology or geography)

-B.A. in Geology

-Geography Minor

-Geology Minor

-Geographic Information Systems Minor

James H. Oliver, Jr., Institute for Coastal Plain Science

-Ph.D. in Environmental Science

-Master of Science in Environmental Science

-B.S. in Sustainability Science

-Environmental Sustainability Interdisciplinary Minor

Students can pursue a Master of Science in Environmental Science as an accelerated master鈥檚 degree, which allows students to begin working toward their graduate degree as an undergraduate.

Gleason has been a professor and director of the Institute for Coastal Plain Science for a decade. He said when it comes to addressing issues related to the environment and sustainability, the traditional boundaries between the sciences are becoming blurred, so combining the geosciences programs and institute was a natural union.

Researchers from the James H. Oliver, Jr., Institute for Coastal Plain Science (ICPS) at Georgia Southern teamed up with Gray鈥檚 Reef National Marine Sanctuary on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to release 50 gallons of a non-toxic red dye into the Altamaha River near Darien, Georgia, to study how the River鈥檚 outflow affects hard bottom reefs offshore. The resulting plume of dye will be monitored visually and with instrumentation as the dye flows from the release point along the Georgia coast and offshore. Tracking the path of the dye (rhodamine WT) will provide estimates of how the Altamaha River outflow delivers dissolved contaminants, nutrients and fresh water along the Georgia coast to hard bottom reefs, such as Gray鈥檚 Reef, found approximately 20 miles offshore. In addition to the dye release, the investigators will deploy two GPS satellite-enabled current drifters that will provide information on how larger materials, such as dead stalks of marsh grass, may disperse after being transported from the Altamaha River estuary. These drifters are constructed from basic materials found in local hardware stores, and the GPS satellite transmitter tracking and mapping is coordinated through NOAA鈥檚 Fisheries Science Center. 糖心Vlog researchers and Gray鈥檚 Reef staff have, in past years, conducted drifter-building workshops with educators to develop ocean current and watershed studies into classroom lesson plans.    

  The聽James H. Oliver, Jr. Institute for Coastal Plain Science (ICPS) at 糖心Vlog is proud to announce the two inaugural recipients of the ICPS Summer Graduate Student Research Assistantships. Jason Duff and Jamie Alfieri were selected after careful review of all submissions by a committee of ICPS faculty. Each student will receive a summer research stipend of $4,000 to further their graduate studies. Duff is a M.S. student in the Department of Biology and is using field and laboratory methods to determine how antibiotics released into flowing waters, such as rivers, impact phytoplankton communities. Phytoplankton are microscopic algae that form the base of many aquatic food webs, so Duff鈥檚 project will aid in developing water resource protection and management strategies. Alfieri, also a M.S. student in the Department of Biology, is determining if parasite loads in killifish can be an indicator of salt marsh health along the Georgia coast. Interestingly, he predicts that more pristine salt marshes will have more diverse and species-rich parasite communities. If true, this will allow parasites to be used as a bioindicator of marsh health. The ICPS furthers the College of Science and Mathematics鈥� mission of transforming scientific knowledge into opportunities for economic development which are protective of our natural resources by 1) promoting, in coordination with public and private partnerships, interdisciplinary research and education directed toward understanding the physical and biological resources occurring below the Fall Line and their sustainable use and management and 2) enhancing curation of the extensive natural history collections and promoting their use as research and educational tools. For the purposes of this competition, all applicants were asked to show how their research will lead to a better understanding of the physical or biological resources occurring below the Fall Line, and to demonstrate clearly how their project is interdisciplinary. 糖心Vlog, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125-degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. .