Assessment and Analysis
Administered by the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
This option allows you to develop a research project integrating field course components with decision-making tools, and the opportunity to develop depth in a specific subject area. Focused on the assessment and analysis required to carry out environmental planning and conservation, the option aims to hone the abilities of people who will function as part of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) impact assessment teams; groups performing Phase I, protected species investigations, and related assessment processes; or organizations aiming to conserve land, ecosystems, and biodiversity. As a student, you will identify appropriate coursework beyond the required core curriculum in consultation with your advisory committee.
Job Opportunities
Students completing this option work in agencies, environmental organizations, and engineering firms focused primarily on conservation or impact assessment.
Faculty Contacts
- Gary Blank, gary_blank@ncsu.edu, 919.515.7566
- Jodi Forrester, jodi_forrester@ncsu.edu, 919-515-7576
- George Hess, george_hess@ncsu.edu, 919.515.7437
- Zakiya Leggett, zakiya_leggett@ncsu.edu, 919.515.2571
- Katie Martin, katie_martin@ncsu.edu, 919.515.2086
- Elizabeth Guthrie Nichols, elizabeth_nichols@ncsu.edu, 919.515.4832
- Leah Rathbun, lrathbu@ncsu.edu, 919-513-1248
- Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, jrbryan3@ncsu.edu, 919.515.6300
Curriculum
Prerequisites
No specific prerequisites, but see note on “Additional Courses” below.
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 | |
| FOR 801 | NR Graduate Seminar (or equivalent seminar course) | 1 | |
| FOR 803 | Seminar in Forest Research | 1 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 11 |
Additional Courses/Requirements
If you do not have a background in natural resources or a related field, you may be required to take up to 12 credit hours of undergraduate course work that cannot be counted towards your graduate degree program.
Technical Option Electives
A major advantage of this technical option, because of the small number of required courses, is flexibility to design a program tailored to your interests, needs, and aspirations. You should choose the rest of your courses in consultation with your advisory committee to support completion of the research or project objectives that you and your committee have agreed upon.
Any graduate course offered by the three Triangle universities may be included if it furthers your interests and research or project objectives.
At NCSU, you may find courses of interest in these areas of study: Biological & Agricultural Engineering; Biomathematics; Entomology; Fisheries & Wildlife Science; Forestry; Geographic Information Systems; Marine, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences; Natural Resources; Plant Biology; Statistics; Zoology. You can find course listings for NCSU by starting at the Graduate School course descriptions page http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/catalog/course-descriptions.html. NCSU graduate courses are numbered 500 and higher.
The two examples below are given only to suggest how one might construct a plan of work for a particular focus; they are not the only way to develop a conservation biology or assessment focus, nor are they the only focuses you might develop – we encourage you to use your imagination and creativity!
Example 1: A Conservation Biology Focus
NR 595 (3) Protected Species Conservation
ZO 660 (3) Population Ecology
FOR 565 (4) Plant Community Ecology
GIS 510 (3) Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science and Technology
FW 553 (3) Principles of Wildlife Science
FW 560 (2) International Wildlife Management and Conservation
NR 693 or 695 (3) Research Credits
Example 2: An Environmental Impact Assessment Focus
GIS 510 (3) Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science and Technology
NR 531 (3) Wetland Assessment, Delineation, and Regulation
FOR 784 (4) Environmental Impact Assessment
NR 693 or 695 (3) Research Credits
Total Credit Hours:
MS Natural Resources Assessment and Analysis (thesis): 30 credit hours, minimum; may include up to 6 hours of NR 695 Master’s Thesis Research
MNR Assessment and Analysis (non-thesis): 30 credit hours, minimum; may include up to 6 hours of or NR 693 Master’s Supervised Research
Your committee may require additional hours, depending on your background and research project.
Recent Project Titles
- From Rural Fringe to Regional City: Contextualizing and Understanding the Local Backlash to Revitalizing Cement Manufacturing in New Hanover County
- A proposal for reclassification of the Walnut Creek Wetland to a nature preserve
- Comparing Cary’s Water Resourcing to the Future Development of Pittsboro’s Water Resourcing
- Predicting Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention: An Examination of Behavior Change Theories to Predict Behavioral Intentions of Organisms-in-trade Hobbyists in the Great Lakes Region.
- Assessing Highway Pollution Effects on Forest Lichen Communities in Western Wake County, North Carolina, USA.
- Forest Response to the U.S. 1990 Clean Air Act: The Southern Spruce-Fir Ecosystem
- The Mapping of Nonnative Invasive Plants Leads to an Herbicide Trial of Autumn Olive in Lake Raleigh Woods Nature Preserve
- Investigation of Remote Sensing Derived Surface Temperature and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Implications for Land Cover Classification