Environmental Informatics Dual Degree

This program is best suited for students in their first, second or beginning of third year of undergraduate studies who are pursuing the Environmental Science (B.S.) degree. Students should apply to this program if they are interested in the most critical environmental issues and want to learn how to apply data management in those environmental settings and issues.  

Throughout the program, students will complete the following curriculum:  

• 120 credit hours taken during undergraduate pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Science. This includes the required courses for the General College and 12 courses in the major. The major courses will provide a strong foundation in the basic sciences and additional track or concentration requirements. 
  • B.S. in Environmental Science concentrations: Ecology and Natural Resources, Environment and Health, and Water and Climate
    B.S. in Environmental Science – Quantitative Energy Systems Track 
• Up to 12 credit hours of graduate-level courses taken during a students’ fourth year that will be transferred to the MSIS program. These hours do not count towards the B.S. Students may also major in Information Science or minor in Information Systems but none of the courses that count for the major or minor can also be counted in the MSIS program. The MSIS courses students take as an undergraduate should be comprised of up to four of the following: 
  • INLS 500: Human Information Interactions 
  • INLS 509/COMP 487: Information Retrieval 
  • INLS 520: Organization of Information 
  • INLS 523: Introduction to Database Concepts and Applications 
  • INLS 539: Going the Last Mile: Information Access for Under-Served Populations 
  • INLS 560: Programming for Information Professionals 
  • (Other MSIS core course as recommended by the advisor) 
• 48 hours in the MSIS graduate program. Students can take a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 12 credit hours as an undergraduate to be transferred in.  

Upon declaring a major in Environmental Science (B.S.), undergraduate students should complete a statement of intent form to apply for conditional admission to the dual degree program, allowing them to take graduate-level courses during undergraduate school. It is strongly recommended to declare the B.S. major and complete the statement of intent form as early as possible.  

Upon completion of the B.S. in Environmental Science, students will need to officially apply to The Graduate School. For more information about admissions, please visit: https://dualesis.web.unc.edu/admissions/.  

Strong, consistent and early advising is essential to successful completion of the dual degree program. Students interested in this program should contact advisors at E3P on a semester basis and the School of Information and Library Science no later than the beginning of their third year of undergraduate studies to plan their program of study. Students should meet with their advisors once per semester until admission at the graduate level.  

For more information and advising for the E3P curriculum, contact the following: 

• Amy Cooke: acooke@email.unc.edu 
• Greg Gangi: ggangi@email.unc.edu 
• Geoff Bell: gwbell@email.unc.edu 

For more information and advising for the School of Information and Library Science, contact the following: 

• Tiffany Harris (undergraduate courses): tjharris@email.unc.edu     
• Lara Bailey (graduate courses and MSIS admissions questions): ljbailey@email.unc.edu  

For more information about advising please visit https://dualesis.web.unc.edu/advising/.