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Job Opportunities
With annual expenditures of over $100 billion, environmental
work is a significant part of our economy. Graduates have
a variety of opportunities for employment with consulting
firms, industry, government, and advocacy organizations. We
have a success rate of nearly 100% - that is, nearly all
of our graduates who have kept us informed of their positions
have found work in the environmental field. A few of the graduates
from our program are highlighted below.
Federal Job Standards
Click here for a pdf file showing
education and experience required for jobs with the U.S. Federal
government in natural resources management. (You must have
Adobe Reader to read this file. For a free download go to
the Adobe website)
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Kris Allen
Graduation:
1996
Place of employment: Kleinfelder
Geotechnical Engineering: a soils, materials and environmental
engineering firm with over 1500 employees in 70 locations
in the western U.S.
Current Job description:
Air Quality Program Manager in support of industrial compliance
Skills and knowledge from the MSC
program that has been especially helpful:
"I learned how to conduct a Phase I Site assessment per
ASTM guidelines (taught by Russ Walker): I prepared many Phase
I's early in my career and having knowledge on how to correctly
perform a Phase I proved to be vital.
I obtained a solid understanding of soil mechanics and how
to correctly identify and log soils (taught by Karl Topper):
This was a difficult course for me, but it paid off as I directly
applied this knowledge performing geotechnical assessments,
ground water well installations and soil remediation system
engineering support. I even came in 3rd place and won $100
at a soils identification contest which came as a huge surprise
to the accredited soil engineers from big name schools.
I gained an appreciable understanding of environmental instrumentation
and analytical methods. I continually apply this knowledge
for various types of testing and monitoring purposes including
stack testing (i.e., large power plants), ambient air monitoring
as well as soil and groundwater sampling and testing procedures.
I become aware of air quality compliance as a career option
and learned about the basics of air quality compliance from
an introductory course in air quality. I gained enough fundamental
knowledge to impress my boss during my initial interview and
get hired on with Kleinfelder. I have since built my career
as an air quality compliance specialist."
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Russ Means
Graduation: 1999
Place of employment: Colorado
Division of Minerals and Geology
Current Job description:
Environmental Protection Specialist working on mine reclamation
permits issued by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board.
His duties include review of new permits for construction
materials and hard rock/metal mines to insure they meet all
the state requirements, inspections of permitted sites to
ensure compliance, and enforcement of the state's rules and
regulations. He spends 60% of his time in the office doing
reviews, generating reports, correspondence and calculating
the costs for reclamation bonds. The other 40% is spent in
the field inspecting permitted sites, investigating illegal
mining activities and evaluating proposed mining operations
on-site. He covers everything from gravel pits to uranium
mines in environments from the high desert to sub-alpine terrain.
Skills and knowledge from the MSC
program that has been especially helpful: "As
a non-traditional student, I went back to school after a 20
year 'break'. My education at Mesa provided me with an opportunity
to tie together some of my life's experiences in mining and
environmental work with the education to back it up. The broad
curriculum has given me the skills to do practical work like
field observations, sampling and site assessments as well
as the office skills involved in regulatory enforcement, reports
and evaluations that often go hand in hand. In order to qualify
for my current job, I had to take a test covering seven different
mining and environmental disciplines. I prepared by going
over many of my class notes and books from Mesa. I tested
in the top 10 in all seven disciplines out of over 100 applicants.
I strongly feel that my education at Mesa was the biggest
contributor to my success in getting my current job."
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Pam Riddle
Graduation: 2003
Place of employment: Bureau
of Land Management, Moab, Utah
Current Job description:
Wildlife Biologist. Much of Pam's office time for the next
several years will be devoted to helping prepare a new Resource
Management Plan. She has researched and reported current management
practices, habitat condition, species occurrence and potential
habitats, threatened, endangered and sensitive species, and
what issues and conflicts exist with other resources (i.e.,
oil & gas, grazing, recreation) and have suggested possible
solutions. She is also responsible for compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) and works closely with USFWS on all projects
proposed on public land.
The field work by far is the most enjoyable for Pam and makes
up for the many hours behind the computer. She monitors bighorn
sheep and antelope, and checks and maintains the guzzlers
(water for wildlife). Other field work involves deer pellet
transects in the Bookcliffs, bird and prairie dog survey and
mapping, peregrine and bald eagle nest monitoring (there were
2 fledglings this year), and fire reconnaissance.
Skills and knowledge from the MSC
program that has been especially helpful: "My
education at Mesa State has played an important role in this
job. Much of my time is spent researching and synthesizing
information, preparing accurate reports and documents, and
making defensible recommendations and decisions. Information
must be supported by accurate and reliable references. Understanding
graphs and charts and being able to interpret them is useful.
Another time consuming task is gathering and inputting data
to create maps for known habitat, potential habitat, species
occurrence and project activities. Arcview is used extensively,
but the ability to read and navigate with topo maps is also
very important. Though my main role is wildlife I work closely
with other resources such as riparian, hydrologic, vegetative
and geologic specialists. Understanding properly functioning
stream conditions and riparian systems, macro invertebrates,
hydrological functions, local geology and how it affects soils
and water are all important when it comes to working together
to make resource decisions and implement plans. The most important
related resource is in vegetation. Issues such as fire restoration,
erosion, dust control, invasion of exotic species, phenology
to enhance grazing management, species preference, field identification
(especially grasses), monitoring projects, and plant communities
and how they respond to environmental pressures all influence
wildlife decisions."
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