Certificate Program

Who may apply - How to apply - Requirements

Program description in FIU Catalog (2006-2007)

The Certificate Program in Agroecology is a brand new undergraduate certificate program in interdisciplinary agroecology and urban landscapes offered by Florida International University's Department of Environmental Studies in strategic alliance with the Miami-Dade College, MAERC, and USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

The program requires a total of six courses (18 credit hours), of which two are core courses:  
(i) Sustainable Agriculture and (ii) Agroecology. These courses focus on theory, problems and issues in agriculture and urban development, involve farm/field apprenticeship, sampling and monitoring, and chemical and geo-spatial laboratory analysis. The program also requires a minimum of two courses in general environmental science, ecology and natural resource management, which can be taken either at FIU or MDC. The remaining two courses will be devoted to quantitative techniques such as geo-spatial and remote sensing analysis, ecological-economic problem solving, and more advanced bio-geo-chemistry courses. In the two core courses, students are required to spend substantial time on farms and in field research stations.

Who may apply:

Any incoming undergraduate student or any undergraduate student enrolled at Florida International University may complete the agroecology certificate requirements.

How to apply:

Completion of the required Agroecology Certificate courses (in addition to the courses required by the student's chosen undergraduate degree) will result in graduation with a Certificate in Agroecology.

To apply, please contact:

Dr. Mahadev Bhat
bhatm@fiu.edu or (305) 348-1210

Florida International University
Department of Environmental Studies
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, Florida 33199

Requirements:    

  Program description in FIU Catalog (2006-2007)

18 credit hours divided as follows:                                                                   

1. Introductory ecology requirement: Take any one of the following:

PCB 3043+L Ecology plus Lab
EVR 3013+L Ecology of South Florida
Other ecology equivalent with a lab

2. Agroecology core requirement:

EVR 4274 Sustainable Agriculture
EVR 4272 Agroecology

3. Agricultural internship or problem analysis: Student must complete a farm-, field- or lab-based internship that may involve working on farms, carrying out agro-ecological field observations, carrying out agricultural science lab experiments, conducting geo-spatial modeling, or conducting an agriculture-related socio-economic analysis (2 - 3 credit hours)

4. Any two agricultural/environmental studies courses:

EVR 4592 Soils and Ecosystems
EVR 4026 Biotic Resources
EVR 4211 Water Resources
EVR 4323 Restoration Ecology
EVR 4401 Conservation Biology
ECP 3302 Environmental Economics
GEO 4476 Political Ecology
GEO 4354 Geography/Global Food
System
BOT 3014 Plant Life Histories
BOT 3153 Local Flora
BOT 3810 Economic Botany
INR 4054 World Res., World Order

Please contact the department for more courses