Water Science

Ecosystems from the ground up.

The water science major gives you all the skills and knowledge you need to understand the chemistry, biology, and movement of water in the environment. You’ll also gain a deep appreciation for how we are connected to each other and the Earth through water. You’ll study geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric processes and learn how people are influenced by and have an impact on water quality.

Courses focus on the science of the occurrence, circulation, and distribution of surface water, ground water, lakes, oceans, and atmospheric water. You’ll graduate with an understanding of the importance of water resources to all ecosystems, and be ready for graduate school or a career in the field.

Areas of Study as an Emphasis

Water Chemistry Emphasis
Focus specifically on water quality in the environment. In this emphasis you’ll take the core water science course plus chemistry courses that give you the field and laboratory techniques used to study the details of water quality, a critical factor in environmental health. Graduates have gone on to work in field and laboratory jobs protecting water quality. See Water Chemistry Emphasis course list.

Water Resources Emphasis
Focus on human interaction with water in the environment and managing water resources. You’ll take courses in earth resources, geographic information systems, biology and resource policy in preparation for graduate school and careers as water resource specialists. Water resource problems pose some of the most challenging issues in the future of society and Northland water science graduates are doing their part to protect water resources for future generations. Graduates have gone on to work in field and laboratory jobs managing water resources. See Water Resources Emphasis course list.

Look at Your Course List

Water Science Major (BS) requirements

Meet Your Professors

Tom Fitz

Professor of Geoscience
Affiliated Faculty, Burke Center
David Ullman

Associate Professor of Geoscience
Faculty Council President
Affiliated Faculty, Burke Center

See More Majors

* Available only as a minor, emphasis, or special program.

Where Water Science Can Take You

Burke Researchers Assess 11 Inland Lakes

In 2015, the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation initiated the Penokee Lakes project to provide an assessment of the quality of eleven inland…

Burke Researchers Assess 11 Inland Lakes
Five Years at the Burke Center

Rocking gently on a boat in Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay, undoing the latch for the acoustic doppler current profiler, setting the instrument upright to dip…

Five Years at the Burke Center
The Place Where You Start

There are those who dream of a socially just world and there are those who dare to make that dream a reality. Joe Fitzgerald, a…

The Place Where You Start
And the Emmy Goes To . . .

A PBS documentary featuring researchers with the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation has been awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television…

And the Emmy Goes To . . .