Soil Science

Natural Resources Masters Program

Graduate Program at NC State

Soil Science Technical Option

Administered by the Department of Soil Science

The Soil Science Department at NCSU offers a non-thesis Master in Natural Resources to prepare students for careers as soil scientists, environmental scientists, educators, and leaders in agricultural and environmental issues. This degree is designed to prepare students for science-based natural resource management positions. Such positions demand a blend of technical, policy, and management skills. The program provides core training in natural resource issues and management, together with the opportunity for specialization in soil science.

Job Opportunities

Faculty Contacts

Jot Smyth, jot_smyth@ncsu.edu, 919.515.2838

Prerequisites

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required for U.S. students and recommended for international students. For applicants whose native language is not English, a minimum Internet-based (iBT) TOEFL score of 80 with sub-scores of 15 for listening and 20 each for reading, writing and speaking is required.

Master of Natural Resources Core Curriculum (required)

Course	Description		Credit Hours
NR 500	Natural Resource Management		3
NR 571	Current Issues in Natural Resource Policy		3
ST 5**	A graduate level statistics course		3
SSC 601	Graduate Seminar		1
		Total Credit Hours	10

Technical Option Core Curriculum

Course	Description		Credit Hours
SSC ***	Soil Science courses as determined by graduate advisor		16
		Total Credit Hours	16

Within these 16 credit hours in Soil Science, students must take at least one graduate course in four of the five major sub-disciplines of Soil Physics, Soil Chemistry, Soil Microbiology, Soil Genesis and Classification, and Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition.

Additional Courses / Requirements

The Master of Natural Resources is a non-thesis program with an option in Soil Science. A minimum of 32 semester credit hours is required for graduation. The program consists of 10 hours in core courses, including one credit hour of seminar (SSC 601), and 16 hours in Soil Science courses. This program requires the completion of a Master’s project. All requirements must be completed within six calendar years after the student first enrolls in a graduate course applicable to the program.

Additional courses as specified by the student’s advisory committee.

Students who do not have a background in natural resources or a related field may be required to take up to 12 credit hours of undergraduate course work that cannot be counted towards the MNR degree program.

Total Credit Hours: 32

Recent Project Titles

Links / Additional Information

Department of Soil Science

Soil Science Graduate Handbook