Natural Resources and Environmental Science (NRES) Academic Enrichment

There are numerous opportunities for Academic Enrichment in Natural Resources and Environmental Science:

  • All Natural Resources and Environmental Science (NRES) majors are required to complete a pre-professional experiential learning requirement to give students exposure to real world natural resource work. This can be satisfied through an independent study research project experience or an internship. Most NRES majors complete an internship.
   
  • NRES Summer Camp is one of the most popular required courses in the curriculum. Now held in May, students spend three weeks in cabins at Robinson Forest, UK‟s 14,800-acre research forest. Topics covered at camp range from tree identification to water quality issues created by coal mining, and everything in between.
   
  • Graduates of the College of Agriculture are required to take a ‘Capstone Course,’ which helps students integrate their classroom instruction, summer camp, internship and applied research experiences. For NRES majors the capstone experience is NRE 471, Senior Problem in Natural Resources. In this course, students examine in detail a natural resource or environmental problem in Kentucky. Through a team-approach, students conduct extensive field work, research, analysis, and prepare a report which includes recommendations to address the targeted problem. Their work culminates in one or more publications and an oral presentation to other UK students, faculty, and off-campus stakeholders. The capstone course gives students the opportunity to work closely with natural resource professionals and community stakeholders in a pre-professional context, providing a bridge between the classroom and the workplace. During this experience, NRES students enhance their workplace skills, professionalism, teamwork, and technical expertise.
  • An exciting option for Experiential Learning for the NRES major is to Study Abroad. Students broaden their knowledge base by using what they've learned in an international, real-world setting. In 2010, a student studied in Kenya. In 2011 one student went to Belize, while another went as far as Chumphon, Thailand. There is a student scheduled to go to Costa Rica for the 2012 fall semester.
   
  • Closer to home, Dr. John Cox teaches a travel-based experiential learning series on unique ecosystems in the U.S. During the spring break of 2012, his course will cover Florida's ecosystems.
   
  • The National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Medicine Institute (NOLS WMI) is bringing their Wilderness First Responder Course  (WFR) to the University of Kentucky. Natural Resources and Environmental Science and UK Outdoor Pursuits are co-sponsoring this WFR course from January 2-10, 2012. Wilderness medicine certification is required for a wide variety of outdoor jobs worldwide. This 9-day course includes a comprehensive wilderness medicine curriculum that focuses on extended care and unique wilderness therapies. You can expect to complete the course with a newfound ability to make tough medical decisions in remote places. It will increase your medical knowledge, skills, and confidence and make you an asset to any team.

 

Copyright 2009 - 2011 Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment