The specialty of Environmental Science was established in 1979, and is one of the first specialties related to environmental study in China. As a result of the designation as a provincial key specialty, Environmental Science has the authority to grant doctoral and master’s degrees of Environmental Science, doctoral degrees of Environmental Management and Environmental Economy, and First Level Discipline degrees of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. In addition, Environmental Science has the postdoctoral research station of Environmental Science and Engineering.

The specialty boasts a qualified faculty of 21 full-time teachers, including 12 full professors (5 of who are Ph.D. supervisors) and 6 associate professors; 90% of the faculty members hold Ph.D. degrees. The specialty has an excellent teaching and academic research team with a good structure operating at a high level, and also includes one Master Teacher of Jilin Province, two experts who enjoy a special government allowance, one state-level candidate of the New Century Talents Project, and two top class talents of Jilin Province.

The strategic field of study in Environmental Chemistry includes investigations on the source apportionment, effects, speciation and distribution, migration and transformation, and control and remediation of important pollutants in the environment. The focused field of study in Environmental Management and Environmental Economy includes environmental resource value accounting, emission trading, ecology compensation, environmental planning and assessment, and the theory and technique of the circular economy and the low-carbon economy. Studies in Ecological Restoration and Digital Management of Ecosystems include global change and the response mechanism of regional environments to these changes, evolution and prediction of ecosystems, environmental pollution and disease prevention, and the theory and technology for the restoration of damaged ecosystems.

There are two directions for students majoring in this specialty to take: Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Planning and Management. The main courses include Environics, Environmental Earth Science Base, Ecology, Inorganic Chemistry and Experiments, Analytical Chemistry and Experiments, Organic Chemistry and Experiments, Physical Chemistry and Experiments, Environmental Chemistry and Experiments, Environmental Monitoring and Experiments, Environmental Management, Environmental Planning, Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Economy, principles of Environmental Pollution Control and Technology, and so on.

In the past five years, the specialty has undertaken many important national and provincial projects such as the “973” sub-project, the National Science and Technology Support Program, Major Sub-projects on Control and Rectification of Water Body Pollution, and NSFC Projects, and total research funding was about 35 million Yuan. The results of this research have gained the 1^st prize of the Provincial Prize for Progress in Science and Technology twice, the 2^nd prize 3 times and the 3^rd prize twice, and more than 20 monographs and 500 scientific papers have been published, with more than 80 of these indexed by SCI, EI or ISTP.