Education in Watershed Management

Education Overview

Degree Programs:
Degree programs and continuing education are critical to develop and enhance human resources to address water quality issues. Some example undergraduate and graduate programs at Land-Grant Universities pertaining to watershed management include:
Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Crop Science
Crop and Soil Science
Environmental Management
Landscape Architecture
Natural Resources Science
Natural Resource and Environmental Engineering
Plant Sciences
Range Science
Resource Economics

Internships/Experience:
In addition to degree programs and continuing education, many opportunities for graduate and undergraduate education exist at Land Grant Universities pertaining to watershed management.

Many Extension programs or CSREES-sponsored research projects often provide internships or job to undergraduate or graduate students—allowing them to get hands-on experience in watershed management. For example, University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension annually sponsors approximately six students in the URI Coastal Fellows Program , an experiential learning program that enables students to engage in research and Extension efforts.

Many Extension volunteer monitoring programs integrate undergraduate students into their programs as laboratory or research assistants. For example:
Undergraduate students working for the University of Vermont Watershed Alliance Program undergo 10 hours of water quality monitoring training enabling them to implement the program’s curriculum into middle and high schools. These students obtain first hand knowledge of water quality monitoring, environmental education, and water resources.
Auburn University student assistants with Alabama Water Watch gain experience by working on data entry, workshop preparation, data proofing, and data and file maintenance.
University of Wisconsin’s Extension’s Water Action Volunteers utilize undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates collate monitoring materials, conduct monitoring-related mailings, build monitoring equipment, enter data into the database, and determine GPS coordinates for monitoring sites. Graduate students help create surveys and analyze the resulting data.

Programs within the National NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) Network regularly tap the graduate student talent pool at their respective Land Grant Universities to expand the applied research base for their program. Such graduate students have conducted research on such topics as the use of pervious pavements in cold climates and methods of using census data and land cover data in tandem to predict watershed impervious coverage.