EIU Environmental Biology (EVB)

Gain valuable hands-on experience and become engaged in your chosen field of study! Our best students work with one or more faculty members and generate knowledge, not just learn it. Research experiences are key for those interested in graduate or professional schools. You can also earn credit for your research and count it towards your degree.

Following the work of one of our previous interns, EVB has partnered with the EIU Office of Sustainability to work towards composting organic wastes from EIU’s food services. We are currently exploring vermicomposting as a way to speed up the process.

EIU offers pre-health-professions coursework to prepare students for admission to medical programs at other institutions. Click here for more information on this program.

For the last few semesters, we have been converting used cooking oil from dining services into diesel fuel. We now have a Biodiesel truck and will be doing outreach to local schools in the near future. This is just a part of EIU’s commitment to renewable energy as we are also exploring fuels from algae and biomass. These efforts should continue to expand as the Renewable Energy Center develops.

Geographic Information Systems, or GIS are an ever expanding tool used in mapping and developing management plans for species and landscapes. The GIS minor works well within the EVB degree with most classes counting towards your EVB electives.

As more and more interest is placed in renewable energy and in using our existing resources more wisely, issues of sustainability have become more important to companies and agencies. The new sustainability minor explores those issues and works well within the EVB degree, with most classes counting towards your EVB electives.