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Natural Resources Masters Program

Geographic Information systems (GIS)

Administered by the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources

Management, analysis, and communication of natural resource phenomena require an understanding of spatial relationships. Spatial modeling, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and spatial databases have become an entire sub-discipline in resource management. This option provides students with a thorough background in the geographic information sciences and technology including GIS, GPS and remote sensing.

Job Opportunities

Students completing this option will be prepared for positions in a variety of federal agencies such as the USDA Forest Service, EPA, NOAA, or Corps of Engineers; with state agencies; with regional or local planning organizations; and with private consulting firms.

Faculty Contacts

Curriculum

Prerequisites

Students entering this technical option must meet the minimum requirements for admission to graduate studies in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources (http://cnr.ncsu.edu/fer/grad/future/).

 Master of Natural Resources Core Curriculum (required)

CourseDescriptionCredit Hours
NR 500Natural Resource Management3
NR 571Current Issues in Natural Resource Policy3
ST 5**A graduate level statistics course3
FOR 801FER Graduate Seminar (or equivalent seminar course)1
Total Credit Hours10


 Technical Option Core Curriculum (required)

CourseDescriptionCredit Hours
GIS 510Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science and Technology

3

GIS/MEA 582
or
GIS 520		Geospatial Modeling or Spatial Problem Solving

3

FOR 803Research Methods in Forestry and Environmental Resources

1

Total Credit Hours

7

Additional Courses/ Requirements

NR 695 Master’s Thesis Research or NR 693 Master’s Supervised Research (up to 6 credit hours)

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.

Technical Option Electives

Select 9 credit hours from GIS courses not listed above, or from the list of GIS electives given for the GIS Graduate Certificate Program. There are over 20 courses from which to select your 9 credit hours of GIS or GIS-related topics.

Total Credit Hours: 30 – 36

Links/ Additional Information