Environmental Sustainability Option - Environmental Sustainability, Health and Safety BS
Drive real-world change: transform food systems, advance sustainable production, and mitigate pollution through RIT’s sustainability option in ESHS BS.
Overview for Environmental Sustainability Option - Environmental Sustainability, Health and Safety BS
Why Pursue RIT’s Sustainability Option in Environmental Sustainability, Health and Safety BS?
Dynamic Courses: Develop your expertise to make a tangible difference with sustainable food systems, sustainable product stewardship, and remedial investigation and corrective action
Career-Launching Co-op: Four semesters of full-time, paid experience that sets you apart in the job market
STEM-OPT Visa Eligible: The STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program allows full-time, on-campus international students on an F-1 student visa to stay and work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduation.
The sustainability option demonstrates how rethinking organizational operations can directly lead to meaningful environmental improvements—leading to more sustainable agriculture and food, safer products, and better remediation practices for contaminated sites. Manufacturers of everything from phones to food face complex ethical, legal, and economic challenges tied to supply chains, production, product use, and end-of-life management in their efforts to reduce their impact. In the environmental sustainability option, you’ll explore how sustainability informs these decisions and gain the skills to implement systems that create meaningful, measurable impact.
This sustainability option provides deeper insight into the environmental dimension of sustainability, including sustainable food and agricultural systems, responsible production and consumption, and strategies to address legacy pollution. If you’re pursuing a career in environmental sustainability, you’ll gain the knowledge and practical experience needed to design and implement sustainable systems that improve processes for the planet.
Courses for Sustainability Option in Environmental Sustainability, Health and Safety BS
Alongside a comprehensive curriculum in environmental sustainability, health, and safety, this BS degree offers specialized courses focused on applications of sustainability, including:
- Sustainable Food Systems: Dive into ethical and environmental issues in global food production, agriculture, diets, and climate impacts.
- Sustainable Product Stewardship: Assess sustainability, safety, and lifecycle impacts of products through case studies and analysis.
- Remedial Investigation and Corrective Action: Develop strategies to address hazardous waste sites, from site characterization to corrective action planning.
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Apply for Fall 2026
First-year students can apply for Early Decision II by Jan. 1 to get an admissions and financial aid assessment by mid-January.
Careers and Cooperative Education
Cooperative Education
What’s different about an RIT education? It’s the career experience you gain by completing cooperative education and internships with top companies in every single industry. You’ll earn more than a degree. You’ll gain real-world career experience that sets you apart. It’s exposure–early and often–to a variety of professional work environments, career paths, and industries.
Co-ops and internships take your knowledge and turn it into know-how. Your engineering co-ops will provide hands-on experience that enables you to apply your engineering knowledge in professional settings while you make valuable connections between classwork and real-world applications.
Featured Work and Profiles
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ESHS Student finds surprising fit with Electric Vehicle Team
Janet, a third-year environmental sustainability, health and safety and economics major from Rockville, MD., is the team manager of the RIT Electric Vehicle Team, a collegiate electric motorcycle...
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First-Gen to Fortune 100: Alum's Journey to Tesla and New Balance
Discover how first-gen student Leah's journey from a dairy farm to roles as Regional Safety Manager for Tesla’s Energy division and EHS Engineer for New Balance was made possible by her passion, RIT's...
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Research team awarded grant from NIST to develop new standards-based educational modules
Lisa Greenwood, Jennifer Schneider New work includes topics in smart energy grid security, sustainability and infrastructure resiliency to climate change.
Read More about Research team awarded grant from NIST to develop new standards-based educational modules -
From Engineering to EHS: One Alumna's Journey and Key Career Tips
Discover how an RIT alumna’s unexpected shift from engineering to Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Safety (EHS) led her to a fulfilling career, and learn her advice for high school students...
Read More about From Engineering to EHS: One Alumna's Journey and Key Career Tips -
ESHS Program Transforms Student’s Sustainability Journey Through Unique Co-ops
RIT’s ESHS program captivated a Wisconsin student by merging her interests in sustainability and safety, offering three transformative co-op experiences and a supportive network.
Read More about ESHS Program Transforms Student’s Sustainability Journey Through Unique Co-ops
Related News
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February 17, 2025
Engineering technology faculty addressing green skills shortage in engineering education through new grant
Integrating the development of eco-friendly practices with social and economic facets of sustainability, could further transform engineering education by equipping future engineers with the skill set required for the profession today.
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December 2, 2024
RIT student finds surprising fit with Electric Vehicle Team
Janet Hackman, a third-year economics and environmental sustainability, health and safety major from Rockville, Md., is the team manager of the RIT Electric Vehicle Team, a collegiate electric motorcycle racing team founded in 2012.
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February 13, 2024
RIT eco-friendly initiative reimplements packaged water policy starting April 1
RIT is reimplementing its policy against the use of packaged water, beginning April 1, when university funds may no longer be used to purchase still, unflavored, or packaged water. The policy applies to all single-serve water regardless of container material, size, event type, and method of purchase.