The ES Honors Program provides students with an opportunity to conduct original
research and to gain valuable experiences beneficial to all types of future
activities. Students should begin their honors research by the start of their
junior year.
Requirements for the Honors Degree are as follows:
- Be a member of the University of Iowa Honors Program
- Fulfill the requirements for an Environmental Sciences B.S. Degree in one of
the four tracks: Geoscience, Bioscience, Hydroscience, Chemical Science
- Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.33, both overall and in the Environmental
Sciences major taken at UI
- Identify an honors research sponsor among the affiliated faculty in one of
the four participating departments (Biology, Chemistry, Geography, or
Geoscience). For identifying a sponsor, see below on How to Get Started.
- Submit a brief research proposal (minimum 2 double-spaced pages) summarizing
the background, goals and significance of the honors research project within two
months of the beginning of the semester in which the research is initiated. The
proposal should be approved by the honors research sponsor and then placed on
file with the Environmental Sciences Honors Research Advisor.
- Complete a minimum of 6 semester hours of honors research in 2:196, 4:162,
12:119 or 44:195). This research will normally be done over at least 2
semesters (or equivalent).
- Meet the deadlines for submission of Application for Degree and Application
for Graduation with Honors as posted on the UI Honors Program website (see
Significant Deadlines). Note that the Application for Graduation with Honors
must be signed by the Environmental Sciences Honors Advisor. In general, these
applications must be submitted around mid-October for Fall, early March for
Spring and early June for Summer.
- Submit an Honors Thesis to the research sponsor. The thesis should have
the general format of a scientific paper (Abstract, Introduction, Methods,
Results, Discussion and Conclusions) and should be double-spaced. Text
(exclusive of tables, figures and literature cited) should be in the range
of 10-30 pages. Once the thesis is approved by the research sponsor, it
should be submitted to the Environmental Sciences Honors Advisor a minimum
of 1 week prior to the UI Honors Program deadline for thesis submission.
Note that the UI Honors Program must approve the format of the thesis title
pages (see Significant Deadlines on the UI Honors Program website) prior to
the student obtaining signatures from the thesis sponsor and the Honors
Advisor.
- Present the results of your honors research in the form of a poster or oral
presentation at an on-campus venue in consultation with your advisor and/or the
ES Honor’s advisor. An oral presentation should be 10-15 minutes in length and
should be supported by PowerPoint slides. The ES Honor’s Advisor should be
notified of the time and place of your presentation at least one week in
advance. You are also encouraged to present your research results at off-campus
local, regional, and national meetings.
How to Get Started:
- Visit the Honors Program Office in 420 Blank Honors Center on the Anne
Cleary Walkway to enroll.
- Discuss your plans with
Prof. Diana Horton,
the Environmental Science Honors Advisor
- To assist in identifying a research sponsor and a project of interest, you
can examine the descriptions of current research projects or visit the
research webpages of advisory board members
and affiliated faculty to determine
potential areas of research that may interest you.
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