From increased severe storm activity and torrential rainfalls to record high temperatures and unprecedented wildfires, climate change is at the forefront of public thought and problem solving. The question of how to potentially stop and reverse these man-made effects is a challenge that scientists and policymakers wrestle with daily.
The University of Chicago is doing its part to solve these issues by offering majors in the College that allow students to study the environment and be agents of change. These majors train students to approach climate issues from multiple perspectives and give them the tools to create unique solutions to problems that impact the global community.
Climate and Sustainable Growth
A new undergraduate major in climate and sustainable growth, officially launching in the fall of 2025, casts a wide net in attempting to understand and solve these issues. Students learn about climate change from a comprehensive set of courses focusing on energy and climate economics, politics, technology and science as well as international perspectives and humanitarian approaches.
After taking a set of foundational courses that explore the climate and growth challenge from all angles, students will take this toolkit of knowledge with them as they travel to several locations key to understanding global perspectives surrounding the climate and sustainable growth challenge. For example, they could see for themselves what it is like to live in rural India or sub-Saharan Africa with little reliable electricity, witness in real time the trade-offs of living in an energy producing community, understand the decisions made by capital allocators making energy investments, and more.
“Too often, the climate challenge is approached through silos. Science lays benchmarks without consideration of the social tradeoffs. Policies lay standards without a foundation in science and technology. Technologies are created with little grasp of the markets needed to foster them,” said Michael Greenstone, the faculty director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth.
The major is the first degree program anchored in the Chicago Curriculum on Climate and Sustainable Growth, an approach to energy and climate education being pioneered at the University of Chicago and led by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. UChicago plans to launch additional degree programs based on the curriculum in the future.
“We need a radical paradigm shift in how we approach the problem of climate change—one that appreciates that climate change is not a problem in isolation and that it must be balanced with the aspirations of billions of people on the planet who want a better life for themselves and their children,” Greenstone added.
Once the students have gained a general understanding of the issue, they go on to specialize in either climate science and technology, economics and politics, or finance.
“With this innovative curriculum, we are transforming how a generation of young people learns about climate change,” said Greenstone. “The Chicago Curriculum teaches students to have a 360-degree view of the climate challenge, appreciate varied perspectives, become more informed citizens and learn how to develop lasting solutions.”
Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU)
Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization (CEGU), which started just over two years ago, prepares students to view climate change through a societal and historical lens.
“We expand our look beyond just climate and climate change,” said Jessica Landau, assistant instructional professor and coordinator of undergraduate studies for CEGU. “Those topics are obviously a central concern, but we try to go beyond and think about the environment more broadly with CEGU.”
Several of the courses involve interacting with the communities surrounding Hyde Park, including the Calumet Quarter which contains three courses that have students explore the ecology and history of the region.
“The Calumet Quarter is a distilled version of what CEGU is,” said Mary Beth Pudup, instructional professor and director of CEGU. “This course has students take objects, most of them historical, and ask the big questions about the area. The goal is to let those objects tell the story of the region in the context of world history as well.”
CEGU has built in various initiatives that allow for teaching, projects, and partnerships in non-traditional ways. This includes their Expositions Magazine and their partnership with Chicago Studies.
“Some of the students organized a transit summit on campus recently where they took on the challenge of making pedestrian safety a priority,” said Pudup. “They had the campus planner and several people from the city there as well. It was a perfect example of students taking the lead and trying to become part of the process.”
The goal of the major is to allow students to ask and answer questions that apply to wide-ranging modern environmental crises that the globe is facing.
“I think the important thing is for students to really look at these problems as things that can’t be isolated,” said Landau. “They need to understand the cultural and historical background of all these factors before taking the next step of finding a solution. This interdisciplinary approach is essential to move forward environmental thinking in the future.”
Environmental Science
Living underneath the geophysical science umbrella is the Environmental Science major. This discipline is for those who are interested in biology, chemistry and the earth sciences and who want to earn a degree that provides them avenues into specific areas of science or public policy upon graduation.
“The Chicagoland area is perfect for this type of student,” said David Archer, professor of geophysical sciences. “We have had projects where they try to understand the chemistry of Chicago’s water system while some have gone out and done field work in the area's slag fields.”
Projects don’t just take place out in the field. The computer lab is especially useful to environmental scientists, says Archer.
“Some students do simulation experiments to try and map complicated reality into something simple or process data for their statistical thesis.”
Those taking classes towards this degree are also encouraged to participate in the Semester in Environmental Science program at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Massachusetts.
“The MBL allows students to really leverage their work and it’s just one of the many ways that UChicago students can distinguish themselves,” said Archer. “More importantly, it allows them to get a better sense of where they want to go and how they want to make an impact on climate change via hand-ons experience in a completely different ecosphere than the Chicagoland area.”
Geophysical Science
The Geophysical Sciences degree includes the study of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences. The major considers the science of how climate systems work while also using tools to look into the past and future.
“We focus on how the oceans, atmosphere and other factors control climate rather than emphasizing environmental policy,” said Mark Webster, professor of geophysical sciences. “It gives our students a different mechanistic understanding of climate that other degrees in the discipline don’t cover.”
The department also offers numerous options for students to engage in “get your hands dirty” fieldwork. During site visits to such places as Death Valley, the Salton Sea and even the local Chicagoland area, students in these classes focus their time on looking at geological records through rocks and fossils that offer exciting clues into the hidden history of the site or region .
“This approach allows you to see how past climate change has impacted nature throughout Earth’s history,” said Webster. “With this information we can better predict how natural systems will respond to current and future climate change, or explore how climate systems might work on other planets. It’s really fascinating stuff”
Another feature of the major is that students are allowed to earn either a BA or BS degree. Either option gives students wide freedom to choose electives; the BA degree requires fewer electives and can appeal to students wanting to double major in other subjects that draw their interest while the BS is a more intensive program suited for students who want to continue their education in geophysical sciences and earn advanced degrees.
Regardless of the degree that students choose to pursue, the goal of the department is to allow students to learn how things work.
“It allows us to develop a broader understanding of the things we can do to counteract climate change,” said Webster. “It allows us to critically evaluate potential options such as geoengineering to limit the impact of climate change in the future. Understanding how things work is key.”