Master of Forestry

The MF trains foresters to work effectively on the emerging frontiers in forest management, conservation and policy, with a skillset grounded in practical field skills and augmented by cutting-edge tools in geospatial analysis, multi-resource assessment and finance.

Objective

We strive to provide students:

A knowledge base with breadth in the ecology and management of forest resources and depth in biology and physical sciences, silviculture, forest measurement, and resource policy, economics and administration

Quantitative and analytical skills in statistics and forest measurement, and a choice among geospatial tools, applied mathematics and quantitative modeling, and decision analysis

Management skills for effective stewardship and planning of forest resources, and successful collaborations in cross-disciplinary settings in the government, nonprofit and business sectors

Oral and written skills to communicate management prescriptions and plans to a wide audience and critically evaluate opposing viewpoints

Vision

Forests are managed for a broad variety of goods and services, in an increasingly complicated context of changing climate, land-use pressures, global markets and conflicting cultural values. Our aim is to train foresters to work effectively on the emerging frontiers in forest management, conservation and policy, with a skillset grounded in practical field skills and augmented by cutting-edge tools in fields such as geospatial analysis, multi-resource assessment, and finance.

Duke Environment provides opportunities for purpose-driven individuals to learn about or pursue careers that make positive contributions to the environment and the world. We bring together bright, talented and ambitious people from across the globe whose interests vary from conservation to climate change and everything in between.

Mission

CREATING KNOWLEDGE

We create knowledge through basic, applied, and multidisciplinary research in the relevant physical, life, and social sciences designed to expand our understanding of the Earth and its environment.

CREATING GLOBAL LEADERS

We develop leadership through:

An undergraduate academic program designed to spread understanding of the Earth and the environmental ethic to a new cadre of Duke graduates

A professional masters program that trains a new breed of environmental professionals working in the public, private, and non-profit sectors with the skills needed to devise and implement effective environmental policies and practices

A Ph.D. program dedicated to adding to a new generation of world-class scientists, researchers, and educators in the environment

FORGING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

We strategically focus the intellectual resources and capital amassed in research and education to address three of the most challenging environmental issues confronting society:

Climate and Energy

Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems

Human Health and the Environment

History

The Nicholas School celebrates it creation date as 1991, but it represents a coming together of three entities that are almost as old as the university itself. The School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Duke University Marine Lab (both formed in 1938) came together in 1991 to become the School of the Environment, which was named the Nicholas School of the Environment in 1995 following a $20 million gift from Peter M. and Ginny Nicholas of Boston. In 1997, the Department of Geology (formed in 1936) joined the school as the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences and focuses on a number of areas at the intersection of earth and environmental sciences.

FOUNDED

• Nicholas School of the Environment: 1991
• Duke University Marine Lab: 1938
• School of Forestry: 1938
• Department of Geology: 1936