国家科学基金会的负责人表示，在二十一世纪，我们的目标必须是了解并学会保持平衡，以解决地球所有生态系统的生物复杂性。这将是您的目标。该计划的学生。您将探索复杂的环境问题，并学习如何通过集成且连贯的方法解决这些问题。探索与废物管理，环境污染，政策和法律，水科学，生态系统，土地使用，能源系统等相关的全球环境挑战。无论您选择论文还是非论文选项，您都将在您感兴趣并支持您的职业目标的主题下进行独立研究。
The director of the National Science Foundation has stated, For the twenty-first century, our goal must be to understand, and learn to keep in balance, the bio-complexity of all of Earth's ecosystems.<br><br>This will be your goal as a student in the program. You will explore complex environmental problems and learn how to solve them through integrated and coherent approaches. Explore global environmental challenges as they relate to waste management, environmental pollution, policy and law, water science, ecosystems, land use, energy systems, and more. Whether you choose the thesis or non-thesis option, you will lead independent research in a topic that interests you and supports your career goals.