Bachelor of Science, Major in Ecosystem Health

at EduCo - Western University Canada

Mechanical engineers use fundamental engineering concepts and contemporary design practices to develop new devices, materials, processes and systems. As a Western Mechanical engineering student, you will apply the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems, automotive and aerospace systems, and robotics. Working closely with faculty supervisors, in your fourth year you will complete a major Mechanical Engineering Design Project developing skills to become a dynamic and capable engineering professional.

Mechatronic Systems engineers combine elements of mechanical, electrical, software, and systems design to create smart solutions to everyday problems. As a Western Mechatronic Systems engineering student, you will take core courses in each of these areas alongside Mechatronic Systems engineering courses that serve to connect and expand upon discipline-specific foundations. You will graduate with the skill set to work across disciplines and improve systems in healthcare, aerospace, automotive, robotics and more.

Civil engineers build and improve communities by providing essential infrastructure, solving environmental problems caused by industrialization and resource consumption, and by mitigating natural disasters. Learning in state-of-the-art Civil engineering facilities, you will take classes such as structural analysis, wind engineering, geotechnical design, international development and environmental engineering. This program prepares you to design and construct challenging structures, improve the environment and quality of life for the future and have a global perspective on development and sustainability

Medical Biophysics is best described as a discipline that improves people’s lives. And it draws on many research areas, techniques and technologies to improve human health. In studying medical biophysics you will apply the principles of biology, mathematics, physics and engineering to solve problems. When you study Medical Biophysics, you learn how to apply your knowledge of mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics to areas such as medical imaging, cancer therapy, biomechanics and cardiovascular disease.

Medical Biophysics students take basic principles from mathematics, the physical and biological sciences, and computer science, and apply them to improving medical diagnosis, treatment and patient health. The experience of students in Medical Biophysics goes beyond “textbook knowledge” and places them in settings where they solve real-world problems such as: how blood flows in arteries and veins, designing a better joint replacement, improving lung ventilation in asthma, how MRI forms images of the brain, and targeting radiation therapy in cancer to protect the healthy surrounding tissue.

Anthropology is the study of humans in all our social, cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity and complexity.  The four subfields of Anthropology (Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, and Sociocultural Anthropology) are united by shared perspectives on how we study the full breadth of humanity. 

Language is the chief means which members of the human species use to communicate with each other. Its scientific and humanistic study is called linguistics. The history of linguistics goes back to ancient times, and during the 19th and 20th centuries it flourished and came to be associated most strongly with the scientific study of individual languages of the world as well as with the search to identify those traits which are common to all languages.

The study of linguistics is indispensable for anyone interested in a particular language or in a discipline with a focus on language in general. Students in many different fields of study find that linguistics makes an interesting and engaging elective or optional course (when combined with the discipline of language study, it is excellent preparation for law school, for example). In terms of careers, this means that anyone interested in language teaching of any sort (such as a Bachelors of Education, or TESL certification), in communicative disorders (including both Audiology and Speech Pathology), in translation or in interpreting should be sure to include some linguistics courses in their undergraduate preparation. The addition of linguistics, the scientific study of language, further enhances your academic program with critical and analytical skills, while contributing to your better understanding of human language (English, French and others), not simply from a grammatical or spoken perspective but also from a scientific approach.

Our department’s expertise encapsulates a wide array of interdisciplinary strengths across feminist theory and various feminist approaches to health studies, media studies, history, globalization and development studies, philosophy, law, writing studies and literature, and visual culture, as well as significant work in queer theory and sexuality studies. We are one of only a few units across the University recognized as a Department in both the Faculty of Social Science and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Further, we have a rich network of Affiliate faculty members appointed in many other departments across Western who are integral members of our learning community. We also promote feminist scholarship through provision for resident scholars, a Distinguished Speakers Series, faculty colloquia, annual conferences (including a graduate conference, and Flaunting It!, our annual undergraduate conference on gender and sexuality).

Economics is a social science devoted to the study of scarcity, and how individuals, organisations, and governments make choices. The discipline’s guiding principle is found in the idea that all of these choices can most usefully be seen as decisions to allocate scarce resources across a range of competing uses. This single principle is always in play, and leads economists to study a wide array of social questions.

In the first year Economics courses you will be exposed to the use of this basic principle and the analytical tools that go with them in both the microeconomic and macroeconomic realm. The first of these (micro) refers to the study of choices made by individuals and/or individual firms, and how these decisions interact in markets. The macro segment then looks at how this principle allows us to better understand the behaviour of the economy in the aggregate. This leads to the study of unemployment, inflation, government budgets and international trade balances. These courses then provide the basis for all of the more senior – and more specialized – courses offered by the Department.

The Major in Economics Module, by itself, can be either a 3 or 4 year Degree. The Economics Major can be combined with a Major in another subject in order to create an Honors Double Major Degree. For the purposes of progression and graduation, ALL Honors Economics courses taken shall be counted as principal courses, and the requirements for both majors must be met in order to graduate with an Honors Double Major.

Geography and Environment at Western centres around the following sub-disciplines; Physical Geography, Geographic Information Science (GIS), Urban Studies and Environment, Development and Health. This broad, integrative perspective makes Western geographers employable in a wide range of occupations.

Are you moved by crisis in Darfur? Do social movements such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street interest you? Do you want to work for a public service or a non-profit organisation? Then the Media and the Public Interest (MPI) program might be for you. The MPI program is the only one of its kind in Canada and connects issues of communication and media to social justice issues such as democracy, equity, class, race, and gender. Students in MPI examine social movements and how media can be used to further these causes. Some example courses in the MPI program include Alternative Media, Social Movements and Media, and Activism in Mainstream Media. A primary goal of the program is to connect media theory learned in the classroom to real world experiences. Students are encouraged to put what they learn to use. Many of the courses feature a service learning component or practicum that gives students the opportunity to volunteer in a community organisation.