The University of San Diego recently announced it has created a master of science in engineering for sustainability and health degree to provide “today’s problem solvers with a purposeful and critical transdisciplinary practice incorporating a complex system approach to sustainability and health.”
The MESH degree was designed by engineering and environmental experts in close collaboration with key industry stakeholders to offer a unique curriculum for individuals looking to be change-makers, innovators, and disruptors from all disciplines and backgrounds, the university said in a press release.
“We are looking for visionaries who are determined to make a substantive, positive difference for planetary health,” says Dr. Caroline Baille, co-academic director of MESH. “We want to foster a holistic understanding of what we think of as ‘sustainability’ to better comprehend the long-term impacts of the work we do within the human-built world.”
The global need to achieve more sustainable human and economic development has brought significant opportunities to environmental engineering and related fields in sustainability. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that two of the top three fastest growing occupations from 2019 to 2020 were green jobs.
“The difference between this program and other similar programs, is that this program is not just for engineers or environmental scientists — it’s for people who want to work together toward sustainability and how to achieve this in an innovative way outside of their traditional disciplinary silos,” said Dr. Paul Kadetz, co-academic director of MESH. “This program offers a space for students to co-create, and pushes them outside of their comfort zones, to really ‘think outside the box’ of their disciplines.”
With a class format that is 100% online, the program targets busy professionals who want to earn their MESH degree while balancing the demands of work and family life. It takes approximately 20 months (five semesters) to complete and is now accepting applications for the term starting Sep. 6. The deadline to enroll for the fall semester is Aug. 1.
For more information, go to onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu.