Environmental Resource Management, M.S.

At Florida Tech, environmental resource management students learn in a close-knit academic setting led by internationally recognized faculty. Small class sizes mean you’ll get to know your professors, and students often have the opportunity to collaborate with them on cutting-edge research and real-world consulting projects.

Our campus is a hub of global connection, where students from the U.S. and around the world create a rich, dynamic learning environment. This sense of community helps broaden perspectives and deepen understanding of how resource management is practiced globally. It’s a setting that fosters critical thinking, innovation and leadership.

At Florida Tech, your education doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Our location—just minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian River Lagoon and a variety of wetlands and coastal habitats—puts you in the heart of one of North America’s most ecologically diverse regions.

As a student in the environmental resource management program, you’ll step directly into these living laboratories to gain hands-on experience developing and applying resource management strategies.

From designing field studies to collaborating on research with faculty and peers, you’ll build real-world skills in the environments where environmental work truly happens.

Whether you’re collecting data in a coastal marsh, analyzing estuarine ecosystems or helping shape conservation plans, you’ll graduate with the kind of practical, place-based knowledge today’s environmental challenges demand.

The environmental resource management program is supported by advanced facilities designed for meaningful research and hands-on training.

Just minutes from campus, where Crane Creek meets the Indian River Lagoon, the Mertens Marine Center serves as a base for fieldwork, with on-site labs that allow samples to be processed within minutes of collection. The Ralph S. Evinrude Marine Operations Center offers direct water access and supports a wide range of research, from shallow-water studies using small boats to offshore projects via chartered vessels.

On campus, students have access to specialized laboratories in the F.W. Olin Physical Sciences and Life Sciences buildings, including the High-Resolution Microscopy and Advanced Imaging Center. The L3Harris Center for Science and Engineering houses aquaculture and marine biology labs that support small-scale experiments under controlled conditions.

Together, these resources support hands-on field experience and research, while fostering collaboration with government agencies, nonprofits and industry partners.

Research is a vital part of the environmental resource management experience at Florida Tech.

Students in this non-thesis program work on applied projects that address real environmental challenges, with topics ranging from habitat restoration and environmental chemistry to sustainability, remote sensing and biofouling.

Many projects focus on the development and implementation of resource management plans in nearby wetlands and coastal ecosystems, taking full advantage of Florida Tech’s location and access to advanced research facilities.

Whether contributing to local conservation efforts or analyzing trends in global climate data, students build the tools and experience needed to solve complex environmental problems and make a meaningful impact in the field.

Summer fieldwork courses are offered that take students to places like the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon, Puerto Rico or the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest. You’ll gain hands-on experience with techniques such as snorkeling surveys, wildlife tracking and ecological data collection, building practical skills in an exciting range of environments.

Internships in the environmental resource management program offer immersive, real-world learning opportunities with leading environmental organizations.

Students have worked alongside respected groups such as the Audubon Society, Marine Resources Council of East Central Florida, Save the Manatee Club, Center for Coastal Studies, and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

These placements allow you to venture into Florida’s wetlands, estuaries and coastal ecosystems to conduct field investigations, support conservation efforts and contribute to practical resource management strategies. Internships help you build skills, make professional connections and apply your academic training where it matters most.

We welcome applicants from science and engineering backgrounds, as well as those who’ve completed enough coursework in the physical and life sciences to build a strong foundation for environmental resource management.

If you need to strengthen your background in a particular area, you may be asked to complete some preparatory work at the start of the program—we’ll let you know about any such requirements before final acceptance. Once you're in the program, you’ll work closely with a faculty advisor to design a personalized plan of study that fits your goals and interests.

Please see our graduate admission requirements for more information, or start your application now!