The dual degree program confers the Master of Science (M.S.) degree from the School for Environment and Sustainability and the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (M.U.R.P.) degree from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The program provides students with the analytical skills, theoretical and scientific foundation, and socio-behavioral understanding to become effective practitioners. Potential career fields include, but are not limited to, environmental or land use planning, open space preservation, environmental policy analysis, and environmental justice. Rackham Graduate School Guidelines allow dual degree students to double-count one sixth of the total credits normally required to complete both programs. Students may integrate the 48 credit-hour M.U.R.P program with the 42 credit-hour M.S. program (totaling 90 credit-hours) into a 75 credit-hour/three year program, with 15 credits double-counted.<br><br>The past few decades have seen an explosion in the amount, variety, and complexity of spatial environmental data that is now available to address a wide range of issues in environment and sustainability. Informatics and data science skills have become increasingly valuable and professionals and researchers possessing these skills are in high demand. The interdisciplinary Geospatial Data Sciences field of study prepares environmental professionals and researchers to develop and use analytical and computer-intensive data-science methods to assess and steward the Earth's landscapes and natural resources to achieve a sustainable society. Students learn to apply geospatial data science and modeling principles and tools across fields as diverse as geography and land use, social sciences including environmental justice, policy analysis, business, sustainable systems, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem management, and coupled human-natural systems and environmental justice.