This is a comprehensive list of courses offered in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science that fulfill the requirements in the online Master of Science in Applied Geosciences curriculum. These courses are also available to students enrolled in applied geoscience certificates as well as individual course-takers.
Not all courses are offered every year. Check current course listings for which courses are offered each semester.
EESC 5200 Aqueous Geochemistry
Required degree course: Geochemistry
Offered in the fall term
This course is designed to provide graduate students with an understanding of the fundamentals of aqueous geochemistry. The chemistry of water, air, and soil will be studied from an environmental perspective. The nature, composition, structure, and properties of pollutants coupled with the major chemical mechanisms controlling the occurrence and mobility of chemicals in the environment will also be studied. Upon completion of this course, students should expect to have attained a broad understanding of and familiarity with aqueous geochemistry concepts applicable to the environmental field. Environmental issues that will be covered include acid deposition, toxic metal contamination, deforestation, and anthropogenic perturbed aspects of the earth’s hydrosphere.
EESC 5630 Hydrology
Required degree course: Hydrology
Offered in the fall term
Introduction to the basic principles of the hydrologic cycle and water budgets, precipitation and infiltration, evaporation and transpiration, stream flow, hydrograph analysis (floods), subsurface and groundwater flow, well hydraulics, water quality, and frequency analysis.
EESC 5704 Geologic Field Methods
Elective course
Offered in the summer term odd years
This is an in-person class. One week in Philadelphia is required to complete the course. Field trips are required.
This course will introduce geologic mapping tools that include the Sight Level, Brunton Transit, Theodolite, and GPS. We will review theory and concepts related to these methodologies. Instruction will emphasize traditional observation methods, hands-on learning of instrumentation during site visits, interpretation of field measurements and preparation of geologic maps. This course fulfills the field methods course requirement for licensure in Pennsylvania.
EESC 5720 Role of the Environmental Professional in Managing Contaminated Site Liability
Elective course
Offered in the fall term
Evaluation of environmental contamination and liability is an important tool during acquisition of real estate property, and a standard work product in the environmental consulting field. This course will cover the purpose and history of the Superfund law, the various classifications of Superfund liable parties, and protections against Superfund liability, specifically with regard to bona fide prospective purchasers (BFPP). In the context of the BFPP liability defense the course will focus on the performance of "All Appropriate Inquiry" for the presence of environmental contamination (e.g. Phase I environmental site assessment). Our study of "All Appropriate Inquiry" will include evaluation of historical maps and other resources, aerial photography, chain-of-title documentation, and governmental database information pertaining to known contaminated sites in the area of select properties on or near campus. Site visits will be performed to gain experience and knowledge for the identification of recognized environmental conditions. Students will prepare environmental reports for select properties and will have an opportunity to hone technical writing skills.
EESC 6606 Groundwater Flow and Transport Modeling
Elective course
Offered in the summer term
This course is designed to introduce the major concepts regarding groundwater flow and contaminant transport analytical and computer modeling. After first reviewing groundwater flow and transport principles, we will learn how to use two USGS computer models: MODFLOW for groundwater flow and MOC3D for contaminant transport, which permit the analysis of flow and transport in one, two or three dimensions. We will perform several simulations using the USGS models. We will also make use of analytical models in solving problems. Upon completion of this course, students should expect to have attained a broad understanding of and familiarity with groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling concepts.
EESC 6620 Environmental Groundwater Hydrology
Required degree course: Groundwater Hydrology
Offered in the spring term
This course is designed to introduce the major definitions and concepts regarding groundwater flow and contaminant transport. The theory and underlying concepts, including mathematical derivations of governing equations used to model groundwater flow and contaminant transport, will be discussed and applications to environmental problems addressed. Upon completion of this course, students should expect to have attained a broad understanding of and familiarity with groundwater flow and contaminant transport concepts, and to have acquired the skills necessary to pursue work in flow and transport modeling.
EESC 6664 Field Study in Soils
Elective course
Offered in the summer term on odd years
This is an in-person class. One week in Philadelphia is required to complete the course. Field trips are required.
Soil is a natural body that exists as part of the environment where inorganic, geologic materials combine with organic materials to produce a large array of soils with varying properties. This course will begin with in-class primers on the field description of soil properties, soil classification, and land use classification, followed by weekly day-long (4-6 hours) required field trips to several locations to study the soils in-situ.
EESC 6705 Hazardous Waste Management—US and International Perspectives
Elective course
Offered in the summer term even years starting 2026
Industrial and economic development bring increased quality of life, but also increased waste generation and need for effective waste management. The majority of severely contaminated sites in the United States have a common characteristic: they were created by unsafe industrial and hazardous waste management before the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA often refers to the statute, regulations, and federal program which have been implemented to ensure a national, uniform, safe approach to hazardous waste management. This course will explore the many components of RCRA that are utilized to ensure the safe and effective management of hazardous waste, from “cradle to grave.” Rapid economic development, and coincident increased waste generation, is currently occurring elsewhere in the world; therefore, this course will also include discussion of the current status of waste generation, and hazardous waste management within developing countries and economies.
EESC 6715 Water Resources for Geologists and Environmental Scientists
Elective course
Offered in the summer term
This class will provide an overview of water topics and issues and is intended to provide geologists and environmental scientists with a working understanding of current water resource issues and challenges ranging from stormwater and flooding to stream restoration, water re-use and ecological restoration. Starting with an understanding of hydrology, streams, and related ecosystems, the class will look at the various ways we use and depend on water, the ways in which water resources are degraded, and practices to restore and protect the resource. Topics to be covered include green infrastructure, water and wastewater sources and water reuse, stream health, stream channel restoration, riparian buffers, floodplains, best practices, and the concept of “one water.” We will also cover current regulations, changing water policies, sustainability, and the implications of climate change.
EESC 6720 Landslides
Elective course
Offered in the spring term
Landslides are important geomorphic agents in mountainous terrain, mobilizing sediment and playing a key role in controlling relief and elevation. The work of landslides is often characterized by their magnitude-frequency, which also has direct implications for people, property, and infrastructure in mountainous terrain, and for the approaches taken to minimize the risk from landslides. This course will introduce students to a conceptual understanding of landslides at a range of spatial scales, including the mechanics of the processes governing landslides from trigger to deposition. Methods of slope monitoring and the varied approaches to landslide risk mitigation and management will be explored, with a range of geotechnical and environmental applications. This course includes lab-based sessions to demonstrate simple techniques to understand fundamental landslide processes, and applications of GIS technology to explore slope monitoring and failure prediction.
EESC 6770 Geocomputations
Required degree course: Geocomputations
Offered in the fall term
Review and applications of selected methods from differential equations, advanced engineering mathematics, and geostatistics to problems encountered in geology, engineering geology, geophysics and hydrology.
EESC 6810 Applied and Environmental Geophysics
Required degree course: Geophysics
Offered in the fall term
The application of geophysical investigation techniques to problems of the local and shallow subsurface structure of the earth. The application of geophysical measurements and interpretation for environmental site characterizations, locating buried structures, groundwater investigations, and identifying geotechnical hazards with emphasis on gravity methods, seismic refraction and reflection, electrical resistivity, electromagnetic methods, ground penetrating radar, and borehole nuclear logging.
EESC 6820 Geomechanics: Solids
Required degree course: Geomechanics
Offered in the spring term
Mechanical properties of solid and fluid earth materials, stress and strain, earth pressures in soil and rock, tunnels, piles, and piers; flow through gates, weirs, spillways and culverts, hydraulics, seepage, and Darcy's law as applied to the hydrologic sciences.
EESC 6840 Engineering Geology: Rock Mechanics
Required degree course: Engineering Geology: Rock Mechanics
Offered in the fall term
This course focuses on the rock mechanics aspects of engineering geology. The theme is characterization of the geologic environment for engineering and environmental investigations. Covered are the various exploration tools and methods, including collection and analysis of existing engineering data, interpretation of remotely sensed imagery, field and laboratory measurements of material properties, measurement and characterization of rock discontinuities, rock slope stability analysis; stress, strain, and failure of rocks and the importance of scale, rock core logging, cock mass rating, rock support and reinforcement, rock excavation, blasting, and blast monitoring and control.
EESC 6850 Engineering Geology: Surficial Materials
Required degree course: Engineering Geology: Surficial Materials
Offered in the spring term
As the human population continues to grow, the environment and earth's resources become more important. This course will concentrate on the occurrence and distribution of earth’s surficial materials and their engineering and environmental properties. The engineering classification, testing, and use of the earth materials will be emphasized. The geohazards of surficial processes will also be studied in the context of geologic history and the planning and use of the geologic environment.
EESC 6998 Project Design
Required degree course
Offered in the spring term
This course is designed to prepare Master of Science in Applied Geosciences students to undertake their capstone exercise. In this course, we discuss how to identify an appropriate research project, how to design a research plan, and how to prepare a detailed proposal. By the end of the course, each student is expected to have completed a capstone proposal.
ENVS 5706 Modeling Geographic Objects
Elective course
Offered in the fall term
This course offers a broad and practical introduction to the acquisition, storage, retrieval, maintenance, use, and presentation of digital cartographic data with both image and drawing based geographic information systems (GIS) for a variety of environmental science, planning, and management applications. Its major objectives are to provide the training necessary to make productive use of at least two well-known software packages, and to establish the conceptual foundation on which to build further skills and knowledge in late practice.
ENVS 5716 Modeling Geographic Space
Elective course
Offered in the spring term
This course explores the nature and use of digital geographic information systems (GIS) for the analysis and synthesis of spatial patterns and processes through cartographic modeling. Cartographic modeling is a general but well-defined methodology that can be used to address a wide variety of analytical mapping applications in a clear and consistent manner. It does so by decomposing both data and data-processing tasks into elemental components that can then be recomposed with relative ease and with great flexibility.
