Students who are interested in this program will be most successful if they live in Lander, WY. Student housing is available for Lander students at our CWC Alpine Science Institute Campus. You can learn more about the Alpine Science Institute here: https://www.cwc.edu/alpinescience/
Program Description
The EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) Environmental GIS Associate of Applied Science degree provides the student with a foundation in the natural sciences and a firm understanding of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The student will complete courses in life, physical, and geospatial sciences while gaining necessary skills to work in remote wilderness environments. General education requirements are designed to encourage the student to develop critical and creative thinking, communication, and writing skills. The geospatial thinking component of the program helps the student develop the skills to effectively collect, map, manage, and analyze data. The foundation gained from this program will prepare the student to address and mitigate complex environmental problems. Employment opportunities in this field are vast and include the energy industry, state government, conservation non-profits, wildlife biology, avalanche forecasting, wildland firefighting, and federal agencies such as the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the National Parks.
The student in this program will complete course work at the CWC Lander Center, CWC Alpine Science Institute, on public lands in the Wind River Mountains and Wind River Basin, and online.
General Education Requirements
| Writing Level I (WR1) | 3 credits |
| American & Wyoming Government (POLS 1000) | 3 credits |
| MATH/APPM/LSCI | (in program) |
| Student must complete six (6) credits of general education courses distributed over two (2) different general education areas, one of which is either WR2 or ORAL. |
| ARTS/HUM/IT/ORAL/SOC/WR2 | 6 credits |
| UNST | 1 credits |
Program Requirements
Program requirements, students must complete all courses:
| BIOL 1080 | Intro to Environmental Science | 4 credits |
| ENR 2150 | NAI Certified Interpretive Guide | 3 credits |
| GIST 1050 | GNSS Field Data Collection | 3 credits |
| HLED 2010 | Wilderness First Responder | 4 credits |
| OEAC 2025 | Wilderness Navigation | 1 credits |
| ORTM 1000 | Foundations of Recreation and Tourism | 3 credits |
Math requirements, students must complete a minimum of 3 credits:
Life science requirements, students must choose a minimum of 3 credits:
Geospatial science requirements, students must complete a minimum of 12 credits:
| GIST 1100 | Workshop in UAV Mapping and GIS Applications | 1 credit |
| GIST 1200 | Geospatial Foundations | 4 credits |
| GIST 2110 | Techniques in Cartography | 4 credits |
| GIST 2140 | Survey of Remote Sensing Applications | 4 credits |
| GIST 2180 | Geospatial Web Applications | 4 credits |
| GIST 2310 | Intro to Geographic Information Systems | 4 credits |
| GIST 2410 | Advanced Geographic Information Systems | 4 credits |
Physical science requirements, students must choose a minimum of 7 credits:
Expedition requirements, student must complete a minimum of 3 credits:
| ANTH 2010 | Cultural Resources Field School | 3 credits |
| OEAC 2020 | Mountaineering: | 1 - 5 credits |
| OEAC 2030 | Wilderness Backpacking: | 1 - 5 credits |
| OEAC 2031 | Combined Expeditions: | 1 - 5 credits |
| Any NOLS Wilderness Course | 1-5 credits |
Field work experience, students must choose a minimum of 3 credits: