Are you interested in artificial intelligence and how it intersects with Earth sciences? Or putting environmental justice theory into action?
With only a few extra courses, students can add two new CEOAS credentials to their resumes, both of which address pressing workforce and societal needs. Both options are available as standalone credentials as well, without an Oregon State University degree.
CEOAS’s first microcredential, offered in person and online via Oregon State’s Ecampus, is in AI Fundamentals for Earth Systems. Artificial intelligence allows humans to gather and interpret data about the environment in powerful new ways. However, this technology also consumes vast amounts of energy and materials. This nine-credit, three-course credential focuses on AI from a general, non-coding perspective, exploring how these cutting-edge tools were designed and developed, and the ethical considerations that guide their use. Through hands-on activities, students earning this credential will investigate the environmental impact of emerging technologies and study critical topics such as AI and climate change, water management and resource optimization.
The college is also offering a new Environmental Justice Certificate, available either in person or online, which will help students investigate the causes and consequences of inequitable distributions of environmental hazards and benefits and engage with diverse human-environment worldviews. Required classes will provide practical skills for understanding and navigating environmental justice issues, including instruction in how to have hard conversations, advocate for change, and conduct rigorous analyses to solve environmental justice problems. These skills are relevant to all facets of the environmental sciences, including resource management, public health, law and policy, economics, education, research and community engagement.
Coursework for the 27-credit certificate, which can be added to any undergraduate major or earned by non-degree seeking students inside or outside of CEOAS, will include classes in conflict transformation, theories of race and difference, and environmental health. Students must also take at least one course examining human-environment worldviews, and at least two courses in special topics of their choice. The certificate officially becomes available Spring 2026, but students can start planning and taking the courses now.
CEOAS also offers other certificates which can set professionals apart in the job market, including an undergraduate certificate in Climate Change Solutions, a graduate certificate in Water Conflict Management and Transformation, and undergraduate and graduate certificates in Geographic Information Science.