Assessment and Analysis Technical Option

Administered by the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources

This option allows students to develop a project incorporating field course components with decision making tools and the opportunity to develop depth in a specific subject matter focus. Focused on planning and conservation processes and efforts, the option aims to hone the abilities of people who will function as part of NEPA process teams, NGOs aiming to preserve and protect land and its biodiversity, or professionals performing Phase I, protected species investigations, and related assessment roles. The student’s committee may help define coursework beyond the required NR core and direct a field study.    

Job Opportunities

Students completing this option work in government agencies, environmental organizations and engineering firms where biological sciences or experience in NEPA and related processes or conservation efforts are the primary focus.  

Faculty Contacts

Gary B. Blank, gary_blank@ncsu.edu, 919.515.7566
George Hess, george_hess@ncsu.edu, 919.515.7437

Prerequisites

No prerequisites

Master of Natural Resources Core Curriculum (required)

Technical Option Core Curriculum (take at least 2 courses from this list)

Technical Option Electives

Remaining courses should be chosen to create a specific focus enabling completion of the research or project objectives agreed upon by the student and committee. Any graduate course offered by the three Triangle universities may be included if it furthers the research and project objectives defined by the student.

Examples below are given only to suggest how to construct a plan of work, for example choosing from courses in one of the following two groupings:

Example 1:
Plant Communities Focus
BO 405 (3) Wetland Flora
BO 565 (4) Plant Community Ecology
FOR 501 (3) Dendrology
FOR 540 (3) Advanced Dendrology
FOR 561 (1) Forest Communities of the SE Coastal Plain
FOR 562 (1) Forest Communities of the Southern Appalachians

Example 2:
Animal Communities Focus
ZO 501 (3) Ornithology
ZO 509 (4) Ecology of Stream Invertebrates
ZO 542 (3) Herpetology
ZO 554 (4) Mammalogy

Additional Courses/ Requirements

• NR 695 Master’s Thesis Research or NR 693 Master’s Supervised Research (up to 6 credit hours)
• FOR 603 Seminar in Forest Research (1 credit hour) - required for all graduate students in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources.

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: 36

Recent Project Titles

• Chemical and Mechanical Methods to Reduce Leader Growth in Fraser Fir
• A Method for Rapid Assessment of Historic Fire-dependent Vegetation Communities
• Herpetofaunal Species Richness of a Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) Restoration Site in Wake County, North Carolina
• Plant Community Response to Compaction and Harvest Removal in a Coastal Plain Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) Plantation
• Comparing the Influence of the Swift Creek/Middle Creek Homeowners Association and the Umstead Coalition in Altering Land Use Decisions