The Water Resources Science degree program is designed to train students broadly in water resources while maintaining an intellectual affiliation with a secondary field. Allied fields include ecology, forest science, geology, oceanography, atmospheric sciences, climatology, geomorphology, soil physics, geochemistry, public health, and microbiology. Many of these scientific disciplines now have significant overlap with hydrology, and demand has increased for scientists trained in these areas to command a knowledge of hydrology. Increasing knowledge of connections between the biosphere and the hydrosphere are driving the emergence of the field of ecohydrology. Geologists have long been concerned with hydrology, and most groundwater issues require a reasonably sophisticated knowledge of geology. Problems in global change are increasingly recognized as linked to the land surface through freshwater runoff into the world's oceans and evapotranspiration. Many environmental problems require training in both hydrology and other areas of science.
Students graduating from the WRS degree program will have three sets of requirements.
Required courses within each WRS focus area are identified in Table 2. Students would also be expected to maintain ties to and include significant coursework from their secondary field of emphasis (ecology, geology, etc.).
See WRS Checklist for program requirements and WRS PhD Handbook or WRS MS Handbook.