Consult Professor J. Murphy, Department of Chemistry

Environmental chemistry is the study of the chemical impacts of humankind’s activities on the soil, air, and water. This program focuses on the development of fundamental skills in instrumental and mechanistic chemical analysis that are required to understand the sources, fate, and impacts of both organic and inorganic contaminants in soil, air, water, and biological tissues. It involves a solid foundation in chemistry with specialized courses in environmental and analytical chemistry and contains flexibility for students to select additional courses in areas of study of most interest to them. Students may be interested in combining an Environmental Chemistry Major with other major programs such as Environmental Science, or programs in the life sciences offered by departments including Cell & Systems Biology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.