There is increasing awareness and recognition that human activities contributed to global climate change.  Rapid population growth and under-regulated business practices put tremendous stresses on the societies and their environment.  Governmental, business and environmental sectors must work together on these issues for sustainable growth based on sound scientific judgments and reasonable economic practices. These environmental issues often cross political and traditional academic disciplines. A system approach is needed to detect, monitor, understand, predict, and provide mitigation strategies for these changes. Earth System Science (ESS) is concerned with the working of the Earth’s components – the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere and anthrosphere and the interactions between these spheres. 

The purpose of the program is to provide students with the basic knowledge to understand the processes of climate changes and equip them with the scientific understanding and technical skills to detect, analyze, and respond to the changes.  A systemic approach facilitates the analysis of Earth system events in terms of cause and effects and feedbacks in a holistic framework. These skills will be useful to government agencies, NGO or commercial entities that are in the weather and climate information, environmental, city planning, energy, water and food sectors.  The program is designed to be flexible so that students are equipped to pursue further graduate studies.