The following degree requirements will take effect for new students beginning in Fall 2022. Intended Atmospheric Science majors who have not yet reached the core curriculum by Fall 2022 may also elect to follow these requirements. Please contact the Program Chair with any questions.
Atmospheric Science (BS) Major Requirements
In addition to the major-specific requirements listed below, students must also complete UWM’s General Education Requirements. Atmospheric Science majors fulfill the Quantitative Literacy and Natural Sciences distribution requirements as part of the major.
General Requirements
Students must complete at least 15 upper-division (numbered 300 and above) credits in the major in residence at UWM. Students must attain at least a 2.0 GPA on all credits in the major attempted at UWM. In addition, students must attain a 2.0 GPA on all major credits attempted, including any transfer work.
Elective Concentrations
We offer nearly 50 electives from across the atmospheric and related sciences that allow students to customize their major! Students may pick and choose electives from our full list or may elect to complete concentrations of elective courses tailored to climate and environmental science, weather forecasting, broadcast meteorology, or foundations in the atmospheric sciences.
The following courses are required for the Atmospheric Science major:
Preparatory Curriculum1
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MATH 231 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry I | 4 |
| MATH 232 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry II | 4 |
| MATH 233 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry III | 4 |
| MATH 234 or MATH 240 |
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations or Matrices and Applications | 3-4 |
| CHEM 102 | General Chemistry | 5 |
| PHYSICS 209 & PHYSICS 214 |
Physics I (Calculus Treatment) and Lab Physics I (Calculus Treatment) |
5 |
| PHYSICS 210 | Physics II (Calculus Treatment) | 4 |
| COMPSCI 202 | Introductory Programming Using Python | 3 |
| Total Credits | 32-33 | |
| 1 |
These courses are required for the major but do not count toward calculating the major GPA. For students in UWM’s Honors College, MATH 221 and MATH 222 are equivalent to MATH 231, MATH 232, and MATH 233. |
Core Curriculum
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ATM SCI 101 | Introductory Atmospheric Science Seminar | 1 |
| ATM SCI 240 | Introduction to Meteorology | 4 |
| ATM SCI 250 | Introduction to Climate Science | 4 |
| ATM SCI 330 | Air-Pollution Meteorology | 3 |
| ATM SCI 350 | Atmospheric Thermodynamics | 3 |
| ATM SCI 351 | Dynamic Meteorology I | 3 |
| ATM SCI 352 | Dynamic Meteorology II | 3 |
| ATM SCI 360 | Synoptic Meteorology I | 4 |
| ATM SCI 361 | Synoptic Meteorology II | 4 |
| ATM SCI 464 | Physical Meteorology: Cloud Physics | 3 |
| ATM SCI 511 | Seminar in Atmospheric Radiation and Remote Sensing | 3 |
| MATH 320 | Introduction to Differential Equations | 3 |
| Total Credits | 38 | |
Electives
Select at least 15 credits from the following list, or pick from one of our elective concentrations.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ATM SCI 460 | Mesoscale Circulations | |
| ATM SCI 470 | Tropical Meteorology | |
| ATM SCI 480 | The General Circulation and Climate Dynamics | |
| ATM SCI 497 | Study Abroad: | |
| ATM SCI 500 | Statistical Methods in Atmospheric Sciences | |
| ATM SCI 505 | Micrometeorology | |
| ATM SCI 600 | Data Analytics | |
| ATM SCI 690 | Seminar in Atmospheric Sciences: | |
| ATM SCI 695 | Internship in Atmospheric Sciences, Upper Division | |
| CES 210 | Introduction to Conservation and Environmental Science | |
| CES 515 | Environmental Law for Natural Resource Managers | |
| CIV ENG 311 | Introduction to Energy, Environment, and Sustainability | |
| CIV ENG 412 | Applied Hydrology | |
| ECON 328 | Environmental Economics | |
| ECON 525 | The Economics of Water | |
| FRSHWTR 391 | Water and Natural Resource Economics | |
| FRSHWTR 392 | Water-Energy-Food-Climate | |
| FRSHWTR 393 | Water Law, Policy, and the Environment | |
| FRSHWTR 461 | Politics and Policy of Sustainability | |
| FRSHWTR 510 | Economics, Policy, and Management of Water | |
| FRSHWTR 583 | Cost-Benefit Analysis for Environmental Resource Decisions | |
| GEOG 215 | Introduction to Geographic Information Science | |
| GEOG 306 | Natural Hazards | |
| GEOG 310 | General Climatology | |
| GEOG 325 | Introduction to Data Science with R, Python, and GIS | |
| GEOG 350 | Conservation of Natural Resources | |
| GEOG 403 | Remote Sensing: Environmental and Land Use Analysis | |
| GEOG 415 | Hydrogeography | |
| GEOG 450 | Climates of the Past and Climate Change | |
| GEOG 464 | Environmental Problems | |
| GEOG 515 | Watershed Analysis and Modeling | |
| GEOG 525 | Geographic Information Science | |
| GEOG 625 | Intermediate Geographic Information Science | |
| GEO SCI 400 | Water Quality | |
| GEO SCI 463 | Physical Hydrogeology | |
| GEO SCI 562 | Environmental Surface Hydrology | |
| GEO SCI 563 | Field Methods in Hydrogeology | |
| JAMS 101 | Introduction to Mass Media | |
| JAMS 201 | Media Writing | |
| JAMS 204 | News Writing and Technology | |
| JAMS 302 | Video Storytelling | |
| JAMS 325 | Audio Storytelling | |
| JAMS 342 | Television News Reporting | |
| MATH 321 | Vector Analysis | |
| MATH 322 | Introduction to Partial Differential Equations | |
| MECH ENG 301 | Basic Engineering Thermodynamics | |
| MTHSTAT 361 | Introduction to Mathematical Statistics I | |
| MTHSTAT 362 | Introduction to Mathematical Statistics II | |
| POL SCI 216 | Environmental Politics | |
| Total Credits | 15 | |