Preparing environmental policy and management professionals, our nationally recognized BA in Environmental Science program integrates policy, management, and law with the natural sciences. Students gain practical experiences at the intersection of science and policy through coursework and real-world problem solving in our senior capstone course, internships, research, and cooperative education programs. Course requirements for a BA in environmental science comprise a total of 120 academic credits, at least 30 of which must be taken at UMass Boston. In addition to UMass Boston general education requirements students take introductory courses in environmental science and environmental policy, and skills courses in statistics and GIS. Students in this Track typically complete 2 semesters of introductory biology. Students complete a natural science core in oceanography, coastal biological systems, and population biology and a social science core course on human-natural system dynamics. Upper-level electives include biological oceanography, zooplankton ecology, marine mammal biology, marine invertebrate ecology, aquatic ecology, ecosystems ecology, coastal zone management, biology of whales, geochemistry, and coastal geology, natural science courses in marine science, social science courses in urbanization and globalization and the environment, upper level electives in ecology, oceanography, and marine biology, and a senior capstone research course.