Bachelor of Science, Major in Environment and Health

at EduCo - Western University Canada

Chemical engineers work to innovate, improve lives and address society’s growing sustainability concerns. As a Western Chemical engineering student, you will use a multiscale engineering approach to design commercial processes that sustainably transform raw materials, living cells and microorganisms into useful consumer products such as polymers and biopolymers, medicines, food, and fuels; while at the same time protecting the environment. You will use theory and practice to develop the skills necessary to address global sustainability challenges including Greenhouse Gas mitigation, carbon capture and the production of clean water.

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.

Western provides and fosters an interdisciplinary platform for teaching and research on environment and sustainability. Interdisciplinarity is the key to environmental science and the modules brings together the strengths of the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Social Science, Arts and Humanities, Information and Media Studies, the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Faculty of Law. Our students take courses that bring them a wide variety of outlooks on processing environmental issues ranging from biodiversity loss, access to safe and clean water, energy, renewable resources, to ecosystem health, natural disasters, and sustainable business practices.

Do you wonder how our technology works? Physics connects the microscopic rules of quantum mechanics to the macroscopic properties of modern materials. Participate in developing new types of solar cells, studying the interface between cells and matrix material, or building lasers based on quantum dots. Our experimental physicists are looking for students to contribute to these and other projects.

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. 

Canada is currently experiencing a shift in demographics. For the first time in our nation’s history, seniors now outnumber children. This shift significantly affects the healthcare system, and means that there is tremendous career potential for those who wish to working with aging adults. The Honors Specialization in Health and Aging provides students with the knowledge they need to understand the health issues of older adults, as well as the effects on health care services. Students who graduate from this module will be well-equipped to work in programs and services geared toward older adults, and also to address systemic challenges.

English Studies
The English courses cover a range of literary traditions, including British, Canadian, American, and global and Indigenous literatures, and allow students to explore literature from its earliest classics (such as Beowulf) to contemporary best sellers (such as Game of Thrones). Our courses give students the ability to participate in an ongoing conversation about literature, theory, and culture. Students will develop the research methods, analytic tools, critical thinking and communication skills that are necessary for basic and advanced study and that will serve them well in any field they might pursue upon graduation.

Writing Studies
By combining creative and professional experiences with rhetorical theory, Writing Studies students emerge as articulate problem-solvers capable of engaging, collaboratively or individually, in a global context. Graduates will gain experience and competence in the creation and production of high quality texts for a wide variety of audiences that can be applied to a wide range of academic, professional, workplace, and creative contexts and purposes. Writing Studies provides life-long skills in a life-span activity that will continue to deepen and develop alongside graduates’ engagement in their professional lives.

The increase in human population is placing greater demands on the capacity of our planet and is altering terrestrial and marine ecosystems on a global scale. These changes are already having serious effects on ecosystem and human health. The Major in Ecosystem Health will allow students to explore the relationships between ecosystem and human health and our global environment. Drawing upon expertise from the Departments of Biology, Geography and Political Science, students will be exposed to experimental and theoretical approaches to ecosystem health as well as to the economic factors and the policies that impact how humans interact with their environment.

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.

The Bachelor of Arts, Specialization in Music Administrative Studies (MAS) program is jointly offered by the Department of Music Research and Composition and the Management and Organizational Studies (MOS) program of the Faculty of Social Science. Studio lessons are not a part of this program, but may be elected for an additional fee.