This option challenges students to strengthen and broaden their understanding of the physics and chemistry of both the atmosphere and oceans. It helps prepare them for employment in the diverse field of the atmospheric sciences and for graduate study in the atmospheric or related disciplines.

Environmental Meteorology prepares the student for understanding the impact of the weather and climate on the environment, which is to say the impacts of air and water on natural and human-altered ecosystems. In order to do this, the option establishes links between atmospheric physics and a variety of environmental disciplines pertaining to land, water, soils, and plants. Depending on his/her interests, the student will select courses in Air Quality and Dispersion, Ecology, Environmental Chemistry, Geographic Information Systems, or Hydrology.

This option combines study of atmospheric sciences with training in risk, finance, and quantitative decision-making. Weather affects a wide range of industries, including energy, agriculture and insurance, among others. Weather and climate variation play central roles in the availability of water resources, the spread of disease, and an array of other processes vital for human welfare. There are, consequently, many organizations that confront risks related to weather, and that have a demand for experts who can help them manage these risks. The option in Weather Risk Management is designed for students who wish to work professionally at this intersection of meteorology and risk management.

This option prepares students for careers in which their skills as weather forecasters are effectively used in a variety of ways, from science reporting and television broadcasting to web design, computer-based weather graphics production, and developing innovative applications of weather and climate data to industry.

The General option has sufficient flexibility to serve the needs of students who wish to pursue topics chosen broadly from subdisciplines of meteorology or from related areas. The General option is appropriate both for students who intend to pursue postgraduate degrees and for students who want to emphasize a topic for which no option exists.