Environmental Science

An environmental science degree prepares students for successful careers in both expected and surprising fields including:

• Environmental consulting
• Environmental education
• Nature conservation
• Sustainability
• Waste management
• Water quality scientist
• Environmental health
• Landscape architecture
• City planning and urban development
• Toxicology

Where are some of our graduates now?

• Environmental Specialist, Environmental Protection Agency
• Conservation Specialist, National Park Service
• Environmental Engineer, UGI Utilities, Inc.
• Landfill Operations Manager, Waste Management, Inc.
• Chief of Natural Resource Restoration, NJ Department of Environmental Protection
• Staff Scientist, Arcadis
• Soil Analyst, Joseph Wick Nursery
• Graduate Schools in Environmental Health, Wildlife Ecology, Environmental Engineering

La Salle’s Environmental Science Department serves qualified students interested in careers in environmental consulting, environmental laboratories, environmental conservation, environmental activism, and environmental education by offering:

Small class sizes, with an average of 22 students, so that our students get the one-on-one attention and support they need to succeed.

Teaching laboratories are equipped with lab and field equipment for analyzing soil, water, and air samples. Students are exposed to using this equipment within their first semester as an Environmental Science major.

Interdisciplinary classes allow students to flexibly choose classes based on their interests, whether they are leaning towards ecology, water quality, or soil science. Our classes include Field Ecology, the Fundamentals of Soil Science, Environmental Air Quality, and Environmental Chemistry.

Undergraduate research opportunities are available to our students early on in Environmental Science.  Projects have included examining water pollution at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station, conducting biodiversity surveys of wildlife in urban and suburban environments, and analyzing lead contamination in soils around the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s urban environment and surrounding regions offer an ideal outdoor classroom for understanding urban environmental problems. Our program takes advantage of these opportunities with field excursions to different sites of interest. These trips have included Pennsylvania’s acid mine drainage sites, Philadelphia’s green buildings like the Philadelphia Friends Center, and different Philadelphia water treatment facilities. Philadelphia also offers internships and volunteer opportunities for our students, ranging from working with the city of Philadelphia on urban planning to the city’s world-class science museums.

The Penllyn Field Station at Wissahickon Creek, owned and operated by La Salle, contains an on-site laboratory for the convenience of conducting student research on and around the Wissahickon Creek. It also acts as an outdoor classroom for a number of our courses.

Greenhouses are available for both teaching and research needs.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geochemist’s Workbench are just a few of the software programs important for environmental work that are taught and used in our program.

Other instruments available for undergraduate student research include:

• Scanning electron microscope, petrographic microscopes, and stereoscopes
• Wildlife cameras
• Niton XL2 X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for metals analyses (Pb, As, Cr, etc.)
• X-ray diffraction for rock and mineral identification
• Water sampling and field equipment for water analyses to measure pH, total dissolved solids, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen
• Hach spectrophotometers for water analysis
• Field equipment for ecological sampling and analysis (kicknets, quadrats, waders)

Watch this video to take a virtual tour of our facilities in the Environmental Science Program.

Ample interdisciplinary research and internship opportunities are available to students. For Environmental Research, students from Biology, Chemistry, and Integrated Science, Business, and Technology (ISBT) have all conducted research on Environmental Science projects, working one-on-one with our faculty. We take advantage of La Salle’s Penllyn Field Station at the Wissahickon Creek and our Greenhouses in a number of our projects.

Research projects have included:

• Conducting biodiversity surveys of wildlife in urban and suburban environments
• Examining lead contamination in Philadelphia soils
• Developing methods to treat wastewater produced from fracking
• Analyzing water pollution at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station
• Culturing fungi for removing atmospheric CO₂

Our students have also found internships at:

• The Appalachian Trail Conservancy doing trail and conservation work
• Ecoservices Dominicana managing services to improve carbon footprints
• EMSL Analytical in a water chemistry lab
• Philadelphia Clean Water Action working on community outreach and environmental campaigns
• University of Delaware Extension Scholars Program conducting research on integrated pest management

La Salle undergraduate researchers conducting ecology research at Penllyn Field Station.