University of Southern California
AC-4: Graduate Program

The application of data science to complex environmental problems has become increasingly important in evaluating large-scale environmental challenges. Data science technologies complement interdisciplinary analyses of complex environmental issues ranging over many topics such as climate change, water and air pollution, policy analysis, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem management, biodiversity and many others. The curriculum is designed to prepare individuals to develop and use sophisticated analytical and computer-based methods to assess and protect the Earth’s natural resources.

The USC Masters of Science in Environmental Data Science would provide students with the knowledge and skills to:

Work at the intersection of interdisciplinary fields of environmental science and data science

Leverage data to form and frame relevant questions in environmental management and sustainability, identify patterns, and make actionable insights to understand and protect Earth’s natural resources

Understand the use of emerging technologies in data science and their application to environmental problems

Efficiently integrate data science approaches and systems to analyze real-world environmental data

Green Technologies is a highly interdisciplinary degree program that emphasizes green systems and the environment, energy technology and efficiency, and sustainability and society. The discipline seeks opportunities for alternative sourcing, conservation, efficiency and repurposing through an understanding of product life cycles from origins to recycling or inevitable disposal. Green technologists will design products, processes and complex infrastructure systems to promote sustainable attributes of importance to the environment and the global community.

Landscapes are the dynamic synthesis of natural systems, sociocultural forces and the physical material of the constructed world. The Graduate Program of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism uses the complex regional geography of Southern California as its primary laboratory to generate and test responses to the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges, including resounding impacts of climate change, rapid urbanization, social and environmental injustice, and the interface of nature and technology. Looking regionally and globally, we conduct rigorous design-research to develop multi-scalar innovations in performative regional infrastructures, equitable urban frameworks and public spaces, and healthful biophysical systems. We focus on pressures of urbanization and how to utilize landscape strategies to shape those systems, spaces, cities and infrastructures to imagine more resilient futures – socially and ecologically.

Below are the names of all of the graduate sustainability-focused programs identified in AC-2 and are based on their requirements of at least one sustainability-focused course (as detailed in AC-1) or their inclusion of a sustainability-focused program learning outcome (see data in AC-2).

Advanced Architectural Studies MAAS
Architecture (American Architecture and Urbanism) MARCH
Biomedical Engineering (Med. Imaging and Img. Informatics) MS
Building Science MBS
Building Science/Heritage Conservation MBSHC
Business Administration/Real Estate Development MBAMR
Civil Engineering (Advanced Design and Construction Technology) MS
Civil Engineering (Water and Waste Management) MS
Community Oral Health MS
Computer Engineering MS
Electrical Engineering (Computer Architecture) MS
Electrical Engineering (Electric Power) MS
Environmental Data Science MS
Global Executive (On Line) EDD
Global Medicine MS
Global Supply Chain Management (On Line for Executives) MS
Global Supply Chain Management (On-Campus/Residential) MS
Green Technologies MS
Health Systems Management Engineering MS
Heritage Conservation MHC
Heritage Conservation/Planning MHMP
Juris Doctor/Business Administration JDMBA
Landscape Architecture MLARC
Law JD
Law/Social Work JDMSW
Manufacturing Engineering MS
Marine and Environmental Biology MS
Materials Engineering (Machine Learning) MS
Mechanical Engineering (Energy Conversion) MS
Medical Device and Diagnostic Engineering MS
Operations Research Engineering MS
Petroleum Engineering ENGR
Petroleum Engineering (Digital Oilfield Technologies) MS
Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) MS
Petroleum Engineering/Engineering Management MS
Planning MPL
Planning/Real Estate Development MPMR
Product Innovation MS
Public Policy/Planning MPPMP
Public Policy/Urban Planning MPPMU
Urban Planning and Development PHD
Urban Planning/Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere MUPMA
Urban Planning/Landscape Architecture MUMLA
Urban Planning/Master of Public Administration MUPPA
Urban Planning/Public Health MUPPH
Urban Planning/Social Work MUPSW

Business is increasingly involved in social and environmental issues. On the one hand, government and civil society are exerting increasing pressure on the business sector to help address the world’s pressing social and environmental sustainability challenges, and on the other, a growing number of businesses are seeking to respond proactively to these challenges. To equip students to play effective leadership roles in this expanding arena, we offer the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability and Business. The certificate will prepare students to help shape solutions to social and environmental sustainability challenges, both from within and from outside the business sector.

The certificate may be completed on either a full- or part-time basis. Most classes applicable to the program are offered during both daytime and evening hours. Applicants may apply for admission to begin the program in the fall or spring semesters as well as in the summer, depending on course availability.

The focus of this program is on understanding the broad and complex role of architecture within the urban context. Studies focus on cities throughout the world where conditions of increasing density, environmental challenges and cultural complexity require design initiatives that support amenity, sustainability and cultural meaning. The certificate is open to graduate students not pursuing a degree in Architecture.

This multidisciplinary program provides students with the tools necessary to understand and quantify the sources of energy use in buildings and landscapes. Studies emphasize improving sustainable design choices regarding natural and man-made systems considering the performance of the built environment, the reduction of its embodied and operational energies, and the influence of other resource issues.

Below are the names of all of the sustainability-focused graduate certificate programs identified from EN-12.

Global Medicine Graduate Certificate
Optimization and Supply Chain Management Graduate Certificate
Sustainability and Business Graduate Certificate
Landscape Architecture Graduate Certificate
Sustainable Design Graduate Certificate
Building Facade Art Science and Technology Graduate Certificate
Digital Oilfield Technologies Graduate Certificate
Petroleum Engineering (Unconventional Resources) Graduate Certificate
Geospatial Intelligence Graduate Certificate
Architecture Graduate Certificate
Building Science Graduate Certificate
Heritage Conservation Graduate Certificate
Social Inquiry for Community, Social and Environmental Justice Graduate Certificate

Data current as of 11/26/23