Dear Members of the Bren MESM Class of 2010
– 1 –
May 8, 2008
Dear Members of the Bren MESM Class of 2010:
I want to congratulate you on your admittance to the Bren School’s master’s program and provide you with some important information about your academic preparation and your academic program in the upcoming year. Please read this information thoroughly and make sure that you have a solid understanding of what to expect as a MESM student and what you need to do to be prepared for an enjoyable and successful first year.
The Bren School is one of only a handful of schools in the U.S. that takes a truly multi-disciplinary approach to environmental training. We want you to be positive that you are interested in broad and balanced training in natural science, social science, and management and that you are interested in participating in a program that emphasizes quantitative and analytical approaches to environmental problem solving.
Our comprehensive core curriculum emphasizes both science and management and is a distinctive feature of the Bren School’s MESM program. The curriculum has been carefully crafted to ensure that Bren School students are competitive in the job market and readily advance in careers as key players in solving environmental problems and making important decisions.
During your first year, you will spend most of your time taking core classes. MESM students must complete all core courses unless they have adequate knowledge to test out of one or more of the courses (which is relatively uncommon). In your second year, you will focus on taking elective classes that will build strength in a particular area of environmental science and management; you will also complete a Group Project.
Core Curriculum
Your core curriculum will consist of the following courses:
ESM 200: Orientation Case Study Course (0.5 units, fall)
ESM 201: Ecology of Managed Ecosystems (4 units, fall)
ESM 202: Environmental Biogeochemistry (4 units, winter)
ESM 203: Earth System Science (4 units, fall)
ESM 204: Economics of Environmental Mgmt (4 units, winter)
ESM 206A & B: Statistics and Data Analysis (2 units, winter; 2 units, spring)
ESM 207: Environmental Law and Policy (4 units, spring)
ESM 210: Business and the Environment (4 units, fall)
ESM 241: Environmental Politics and Policy (2 units, winter)
ESM 251: Introduction to Environmental Policy Analysis (2 units, fall)
In addition, you will enroll in ESM 401A, B, and C (4 units each) beginning in spring as part of your group project. The first quarter (ESM 401A) will require you to attend regular class meetings in addition to the independent work you will do with your group on your specific project. The formal class work will focus on developing research and interpersonal skills that will help you in your group project (and later in your career).
You should expect that during your two years at Bren, you will be required to attend a few classes that are held on the weekends. In spring, when you take ESM 207, some of the sessions will be held on the weekend since the course will be taught in an intensive fashion by a visiting professor from the Duke Law School. We will let you know the specific schedule as soon as possible.
In addition, you should expect to engage in a number of extracurricular activities that do not provide course credit but will provide you excellent opportunities to further expand your knowledge base, network, and professional skills. You will want to take advantage of as many of these opportunities as possible. Some of these activities may occur in the evening and during the weekend.
Entrance Requirements and Advance Preparation
Mathematics
The MESM program emphasizes quantitative and analytical problem solving, and it is critical that you have a solid foundation in college-level mathematics (i.e., calculus). If you have not had a year of calculus or you’ve had a year of calculus but your grades were lower than a “B,” you must participate in the Pre-Fall Math Review and Prep Workshop (no credit). Everyone is welcome, so even if you had a year of calculus and performed well, you may want to participate if you feel that you don’t remember much or your confidence is low.
Many of the courses that you will take assume that you have a background in calculus and are taught as such. No matter how smart and hard-working you are, the course demands will be too high for you to acquire adequate math knowledge as you go along. The professors teach the courses under the assumption that you have this knowledge and will not be forgiving if you are struggling but did not participate in the Math Workshop.
Correction:
The Math Workshop will be held Monday-Friday, three hours per day,
September 16th to September 30th. The specific meeting days and times will be provided on the Orientation schedule upon your arrival.
We need to know if you will be participating so that we can make arrangements to have your computer accounts set up prior to Orientation. As such, you must email Chelsea (chelsea @bren.ucsb.edu) no later than August 24 and let her know if you will be participating in the Math Workshop.
Please bear in mind that last year approximately 95% of incoming students participated and found it to be extremely worthwhile not only because they were able to strengthen their mathematics foundation but also because they were able to get to know their peers and spend some time with them enjoying beautiful and fun Santa Barbara before the onset of
fall quarter and regular classes. Most students find the Bren program to challenging and nearly all consuming, so it is nice to settle in for a couple of weeks under more relaxed conditions.
Statistics
If you have not had an introductory statistics class, you had one but never really understood the material, or if you’ve forgotten the material, you should participate in our basic Statistics Workshop (no credit). It's not unusual for people to take a basic statistics class, get a good grade, but never really understand the material -- this was certainly true for me!
ESM 206A, B, and C: Statistics and Data Analysis is core course sequence you must complete in your first year. The course is taught under the assumption that you are familiar with most of the basic concepts covered in "A Cartoon Guide to Statistics" by Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith. I recommend that you purchase this wonderful book! The concepts include (at a minimum): mean, median, variance, standard deviation, probability, conditional probability, Bayes theorem, random variables, Bernoulli trials, binomial random variables, normal distribution, central limit theorem, basic sampling techniques, sample error, t-distribution, confidence intervals, degrees of freedom, hypothesis testing, significance tests, comparison of means, standard error, and p-values.
I don’t mean to sound too threatening, but I’ll warn you one more time -- we don’t make allowances for students who don’t have the basic prerequisite knowledge going into a class -- especially when we have offered students the opportunity to obtain that knowledge. I estimate that at least 50-60% of students have participated in the statistics workshop in prior years.
The no-credit Statistics Workshop will be offered during the first half of fall quarter. Details will be available in the fall schedule of classes (and will be noted on the Orientation schedule).
Science
Entering students should have completed a year of college-level science (any combination of chemistry, biology, ecology, physics, physical geography, earth science or atmospheric science). We do not offer any science boot camps.
If you’ve never taken chemistry, the core course, ESM 202: Biogeochemistry, which you will take in winter quarter, may be extremely challenging. I recommend that you take a basic chemistry class this summer, but if that is not possible then at least engage in self-study prior to taking that class. The following book is recommended:
- Environmental Chemistry, 2nd Edition, by Colin Baird (W.H. Freeman and Co.) 1999. ISBN 0-7167-3153-3 (especially Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 8).
This book is also useful if you had chemistry but want to brush-up or gain a better understanding of environmental chemistry.
In fall quarter, you will take ESM 203: Earth System Science. If you have little background in earth system processes, you may wish to study a basic college-level text on physical geography (especially the sections that focus on atmospheric science, hydrology, and earth science). The sections on vegetation may also be beneficial preparation for ESM 201: Ecology of Managed Ecosystems, also taken in fall. A couple of recommended books are:
- Introducing Physical Geography, 4th Edition by Strahler and Strahler (John Wiley and Sons) 2005.
- Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 8th Edition by Tom L. McKnight (Prentice Hall) 2004.
In addition, the following book will be useful preparation for many of the classes.
- Consider a Spherical Cow, by John Harte (University Science Books) 1988.
This book is very useful in brushing up on environmental problem solving using simple "back of the envelope" calculations.
Writing Assessment
We require that each entering student participate in a writing assessment. This is meant to give you beneficial feedback about your writing abilities so that you can take appropriate steps over the next two years to improve your writing ability as needed. Moreover, it provides us information so that we can give you the best advisement possible and we can arrange workshops or classes that may be beneficial to a significant number of students. Currently, we anticipate that we will probably offer a 2-unit writing class in winter quarter for those who would be benefited by some additional formal training as evidenced by the writing assessment.
Employers and prospective employers consistently identify strong communication skills (both oral and written) as the most important factor in who they hire and who advances quickly within their organization. To help students develop these skills, we established a Bren Writing Center last year where students can receive tutoring. All incoming students are required to meet with Writing Center staff at least once during their first quarter in the program.
We will provide information on how to complete the assessment later in the summer.
Career Development Workshop
All entering MESM students are also required to participate in a (no-credit) career development workshop during fall quarter, which will meet on most Wednesdays at 12:30 pm (bringing your lunch is fine!). Information on this will also be included on the web in the Bren Schedule of Classes.
Your Fall Schedule
Later in the summer, you will receive registration information from University’s registrar. Please note that this will probably include a printed schedule of classes for the entire University. Because this is prepared months in advance in January, the information is generally not accurate and up-to-date for the Bren School. As such, please do not use the printed schedule but refer to the information on our web at: http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/academics/sched.asp. The official Bren fall schedule will be posted in the next month or so.
In fall, you MUST enroll the following core courses:
ESM 200 (0.5 units) [1 day, beginning of quarter]
ESM 201 (4 units)
ESM 203 (4 units)
ESM 210 (4 units)
ESM 251 (2 units) [2nd half of quarter]
Also, you will participate in the following non-credit workshops
Career Development Workshop [weekly meeting]
Statistics Workshop (if needed) [2nd half of quarter]
Students typically take 12-16 units/quarter. You need to average 13.5 units/quarter for six quarters to meet your 81 unit requirement. Thus, you will have a full load (14.5 units) with your fall quarter core courses, especially since you will also be engaging in the no-credit career workshop and, perhaps, the no-credit statistics workshop. You are welcome to take an elective class in addition to your core classes but this is not recommended for most students.
NOTE: Most of the core classes require that you attend lecturers and a discussion section. Enrolling in a lab/discussion section automatically enrolls you in the lecture. Also, please note that if you are unable to enroll in your preferred discussion or lab section, then it is full and you will have to enroll in one of the others.
Orientation
Orientation is a critical component of your MESM program and all entering students are expected participate in all Orientation activities. Orientation is currently scheduled to begin on Monday 9/15, and will be engaged between then and the first day of classes (9/25). We are working on the orientation schedule and will provide you specific details in the near future.
If you have any questions, please contact Chelsea Houdyshell (; 805-893-7611) who serves as the Bren School’s Staff Graduate Advisor. She is your primary contact for assistance and advice!
We look forward to seeing you in fall (or sooner if you are coming for math workshop—which for most of you is probably a really good idea!).
Warm Regards,
Laura Haston. Assistant Dean