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SMSC Academic Programs

Another Option to Study Science in the Field

A heron on a pier near the Potomac Science Center

Mason's Potomac Science Center, along Belmont Bay near the mouth of the Occoquan River, ​focuses on environmental science research along the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Talk About A Classroom With a View ...

Lectures are an important part of learning, but you want more. Experiential learning, research, and field work partner with classroom studies to give you real-world experience while earning academic or continuing education credit at the (SMSC).

Classes are limited to a maximum of 20 students, so you'll be part of a tight-knit team, working with conservationists, researchers, and educators conducting lab and field research. You'll feel as if you're a working scientist â€” ​because you will be.

And you'll live in the mountains alongside . They don't call it the great outdoors for nothing.

Smithsonian Mason students walk through the mountains on the grounds of the Smithsonian Biology Conservation Institute
Even if you aren't a Mason Patriot, you can still study at SMSC. Once you're admitted to the program, apply to Mason as a non-degree student (the application fee will be waived). Soon, you, too, could be walking through the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute grounds.

 

Undergraduates

First-year students can apply to the , which offers:

  • ​A merit scholarship to attend the program.
  • A tour of SMSC and SCBI.
  • Priority registration to a one-week summer field course.
  • Access to seminars by internationally known researchers and scientists.

Sophomores, juniors, and seniors have a choice of three semester-long programs:

  •  (16 credits) explores how science, management and policy affect conservation.
  •  (16 credits) uses cutting-edge field techniques to survey species in the wild, and to spot and record local, national, and global ecological patterns.
  •  (16 credits) finds and measure how shrinking populations are vulnerable, and develops strategies to halt their path to extinction.

SMSC offers  to students who meet certain qualifications.

Post-Graduate  and Professional Studies

study with researchers and practitioners working in the field around the world.  SMSC’s advanced and highly specialized courses are offered as intensive one or two-week sessions. They’re crafted and scheduled based on:

  • New and existing threats to biodiversity.
  • New and existing conservation opportunities.
  • Workforce and employer needs and requirements.
  • Requests from students.

Students' coursework can be applied to Mason’s in the Conservation Science and Policy MS or to programs at a student’s home university. Professionals will earn continuing education units (CEUs).

In-depth study of a specialized area of biodiversity could include such topics as:

  • Animal surveys.
  • Genetics.
  • Climate modeling.
  • Species monitoring.