Dear Judy,

I am an 8th grader and I was wondering what an environmental scientist does and if I wanted to become one what classes would I need in high school and what would I need to major In? Also what degree would I need in college and what would be good colleges to go to?

Dear 8th grader,

Environmental science is an upcoming field. Lots of possibilities. Environmental science comes from the words "environ" meaning surroundings and "science" meaning to know. So environmental scientists study their surroundings. Specifically, environmental scientists are concerned with ecology, diversity of species, interactions between species, competition between species and predatory behavior, food webs and the degradation of the environment. Of course the species often involve humans.

Environmental science is studied as part of various biology fields: Botany, Marine Biology, Zoology,Forestry, etc. In high school, you would take all the normal college preparatory courses, but concentrate on the biological sciences. Mathematics that included statistics would help in analyzing data and would come in handy.

Almost every college has environmental science as part of some of their majors. For instance, in Environmental Studies as part of Marine Science I found such diverse schools as Unity College in Maine and the University of Hawaii at Manoa; University of North Carolina at Wilmington to the Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington.

There are Bachelor or Science, Master of Science and PhD programs in all of these fields. The jobs seem to be numerous: various universities want teachers in this field, the park service, various oceanographic and zoological institutions and people who require environmental impact reports all need the services of environmental scientists. Good luck!

Dear Judy,

I am in the 8th grade. If I was to become an engineer for NASA designing spacecraft what classes would I take in school and what would be a good college to go to? I live in southern California.

Dear 8th grader,

If you want to design spacecraft for NASA, you will probably need to study Aerospace Engineering (a branch of Mechanical engineering) or physics (with emphasis on mechanics).

In high school, take a computer graphics class if you can, and emphasize the three-dimensional drawing and projections. That will probably make things easier for you later on.

In high school, take all the science you can (Chemistry and Physics, not necessarily Biology) and all the mathematics you can. Don't bother to take more than the minimum of foreign languages, since engineering students usually deemphasize them.

If you want to study in Southern California, then UCLA or USC are very good bets since their faculties are well connected to the local aerospace companies and are familiar with a lot of the work that goes on. If you are a real pioneer, you should apply to Cal Tech. When I went to college they did not accept women, but many of my co-workers went to school there.

If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me at:
jlc@cascadepass.com
or write to me at:
Cascade Pass - 4223 Glencoe Ave., Suite C-105, Marina del Rey, CA 90292