The MS program in sustainability is a research-oriented degree program that culminates in writing either a thesis or publishable scientific paper.

The program focuses on knowledge generation and investigating potential solutions to sustainability challenges, and it prepares students for designing and conducting transdisciplinary research. This master's degree program is best suited to students inclined toward natural sciences, economics, engineering or related quantitative fields and who are interested in a career in research or academia.

Students learn how different disciplines view and approach the challenges of sustainability in theory, research and practice. They develop the academic and technical skills as well as the ethical insights that help them understand, research and provide solutions to complex sustainability challenges at the local, regional, national and global levels.

All sustainability graduate students understand the need for a transdisciplinary approach to solving sustainability challenges; can communicate their work to professionals in other disciplines, to policymakers and to the general public; and have the breadth of vision to incorporate the interconnectedness of social, economic, environmental and technical systems into their research. They have the critical thinking skills necessary to approach sustainability challenges from a systems perspective, the ability to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams, and the technical skills to formulate and solve problems at the appropriate scale.