Yes! The interdisciplinary Minor and Additional Major are designed to be accessible and meaningful for any undergraduate student, from any College, from any Department or undergraduate Major.

Students in the Minor and Additional Major come from all six undergraduate colleges at CMU: 

• College of Fine Arts
• Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences
• School of Computer Science
• College of Engineering
• Mellon College of Science
• Tepper School of Business

There are no courses you must take before declaring. However, before you can declare a Minor or Additional Major, you must first declare your primary major.

If you’re a first-year student and you want to get started with taking courses that will count towards the Minor or Additional Major, here are some recommended pathways:

• core course Earth & Environmental Science: 24-291/09-291 “Environmental Systems on a Changing Planet” (offered Fall 2022) . If you are a student in MCS, Engineering, or SCS: you should also enroll in 24-381/09-381 3-unit addendum for science & engineering majors
• check to see if there’s a first-year seminar that might count for an elective in Environmental & Sustainability Studies. In Dietrich College, first-year seminars on “Climate Change,” “Environmental Justice,” “Inequality,” “Thinking with Evidence,” and “Palestinian and Israeli Food Cultures” would count towards the Program in Environmental & Sustainability Studies
• the introductory course 36-200 “Reasoning with Data” is required for first-and second year students in Dietrich and Tepper; if you’re considering Environmental & Sustainability Studies, you should enroll in 36-200 “Reasoning with Data” or any other 9-unit course in the Dept of Statistics & Data Science 36-xxx (9 units)

No, it must be an additional major (meaning: additional to your primary major) or a minor.  However, if you are interested in the BXA program, an interdisciplinary admissions-based program with the College of Fine Arts, you might be able to apply for a combined major including Environmental & Sustainability Studies. Inquire with BXA.

Yes, there was a previous version of the Minor; the previous version is available to students who started college in Fall 2020 or before

• If you started college in Fall 2020 or earlier, you may complete the previous version of the Minor requirements
• If you started college in Fall 2021 or later, your sole option is the new version of the Minor. Remember you must declare your primary major first, before you declare the Minor.

That’s fine! The new version of the Minor and the new Additional Major are designed to mesh together. If you make progress on one, you’ll make progress on the other. By the middle of your junior year, you should know more about whether you’ll have enough space in your schedule to complete the Additional Major.

The new version of the Minor in Environmental & Sustainability Studies requires:

• Core course: Earth & Environmental Science: 24-291/cross-list 09-291 “Environmental Systems on a Changing Planet” (offered Fall 2022 & each Fall thereafter)
  • If you are a student with primary major in Engineering, Computer Science, or MCS, you must also complete 24-381, a 3-unit add-on course, alongside 24-291/cross-list 09-291
• Core course: Environmental Humanities: 79-336 “Introduction to Environmental Ideas” (offered Spring 2022)
• Global Course: 99-xxx, 3 units (offered each semester)
• Statistics & Data Science course: 36-200 “Reasoning with Data” or any other 9-unit course 36-xxx in the Dept of Statistics & Data Science at CMU
• 36 Units of Electives, chosen from available lists of eligible courses
  • Up to 9 units of Electives may come from the student’s home college or home department; the home college is determined by the student’s primary major. Example: a primary major in Drama would mean the home college is the College of Fine Arts
  • Remaining 27 units of Electives must come from outside the student’s home college; this is to ensure that students pursue interdisciplinary pathways and alternate ways of approaching problems in environment & sustainability. Example: a primary major in Drama would need to take 27 units of electives outside of CFA. For the Drama student, these 27 units could come from any combination of Dietrich, Mellon College of Science, Tepper, and/or Engineering.

Extra and beyond the Minor, the new Additional Major requires:

• Core course: 66-506 Interdisciplinary Capstone, 9 units, in Fall of your senior year
• One Additional course in Earth & Environmental Science, 9 units (choose one from a list)
• One Additional course in Political Economy, 9 units (choose one from a list)
• One Additional Elective course, 9 units, outside your home college (choose one from a list)

Double-counting rules apply for the Minor and Additional Major in Environmental & Sustainability Studies:

• For the Minor, maximum 2 courses may double-count for the Minor and any other combination of Majors, Minors, and/or a Master’s degree, if you sub-matriculate into a Master’s program at CMU (See note about “General Education” courses below)

• For the Additional Major, maximum 3 courses may double-count for the Additional Major and any other combination of Majors, Minors, and/or a Master’s degree, if you sub-matriculate into a Master’s program at CMU (See note about “General Education” courses below)

• The above “Double-counting” restrictions only apply to courses that make up the requirements for a Major, Minor, or Master’s degree. By contrast, there is no limit on counting “General Education” courses, which aren’t calculated for the “double-counting” maximum. 
  • Example: a Grand Challenge first-year seminar is a General Education requirement for all students in Dietrich College; the Grand Challenge is a requirement for the College, not for any Major or Minor in the College.
  • Example: “Peoples, Places, and Cultures” is a category for General Education requirements in the College of Engineering. You could fulfill this requirement by taking an Environmental History course; this General Education requirement is for the College, not for any specific Major or Minor in the College.

There are some unique things about this interdisciplinary program that sometimes show up in an unusual way in Stellic. Please contact an advisor for the Program in Environmental & Sustainability Studies to confirm your options.