Stack of logs with snow and wood cookie graphics.

Build a sustainable world.

Sustainable Bioproducts Bachelor's Degree

Understand bio-based resources. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Advance the role of renewable resources and decrease reliance on finite resources to create an more environmentally sustainable world.

A Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Bioproducts from Michigan Technological University provides you with the tools to contribute to solving important environmental challenges for our planet and its inhabitants.

There's no better place to study natural resources than the wild Keweenaw Peninsula, bordered by Lake Superior and blanketed with forests and wetlands (and 218+ inches of snow each winter). First-year students have two outdoor field labs and are all eligible to be paid as Earn and Learn students—an experience that gets you involved in research right away, so you can acquire the hands-on knowledge and skills to land a summer job or internship after your first year. Other schools own forests—but our students explore 3,650 acres of woodland right outside the back door at the Ford Center and Forest. In your junior year, you'll spend 14 weeks learning in these woods, covering the elements of forested landscapes in a blend of classroom and field study through our Integrated Field Practicum.

Our graduates have hundreds of hands-on learning hours in the field, working on projects from classroom labs to research. This experience puts our students a step above the rest when it comes to working for government agencies, nonprofits, consulting firms, and others. Tomorrow needs sustainable bioproducts professionals who can rise to the challenge. Are you ready?

What Will I Study?

The sustainable bioproducts program at Michigan Tech provides you with hands-on experience applying renewable resource technology to grow the global sustainability movement.

Apply biology, chemistry, and math to understand nature and the applications of wood and lignocellulosic materials.
Build engineering, product design, process technology, project management, and leadership skills.
Use business practices, sustainability, and the role of the circular bioeconomy to develop a sustainable society.
Explore undergraduate research opportunities.
Build your resume and finish your first year of classes qualified to find a summer job in your field.
Network with forestry professionals visiting the Natural Resource Career Fair, or, in the classroom, connect with faculty leaders in the Society of American Foresters.

Specialize Your Degree

We offer three concentrations to help you choose a direction for your sustainable bioproducts career.

Bioproducts Business

Learn to develop business models that are critical to advancement and success in the industry. Become a leader in bio-based business and create a balance between natural resources, human needs, and economic aspirations.

Circular Economy

Complete courses that help you contribute to a more eco-friendly industrial model. Gain a deep understanding of balancing limited resources, economic activity, and life-cycle analysis. Understand the current industrial organization, supply chain, and tools for sustainability assessment.

Sustainable Structures

Study wood product innovation. Prepare yourself to create sustainable and innovative structures and buildings that can bring climate solutions, like zero-carbon impact, to fruition. Get hands-on constructing biomaterials.

Be a Leader and a Teammate

At Michigan Tech you can get hands-on experience through the Enterprise Program. Enterprise is a collaborative environment with a business-like feel, where MTU students of all majors work together on real projects for real clients. There are 26 teams to choose from. Many sustainable bioproducts students are involved in Circular Solutions, a circular bioeconomy-based Enterprise team.

"Circular Solutions Enterprise (formerly known as Hotforest) aims to innovate technologies and services that advance the circular bioeconomy. An alternative to the current make, use, and dispose practice of the linear economy, the circular bioeconomy is a model for renewable, regenerative practices where we extract maximum value from resources we use, keep them in use as long as possible, and recover and regenerate materials for additional service lives."

Be Career Ready

Graduates find opportunities in the bioproducts industry and government organizations such as the United States Department of Agriculture.

The College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science hosts its own Natural Resource Career Fair. Each year, around 20 companies from across the US travel to Michigan Tech in late fall to educate and recruit employees.

Career Opportunities for Sustainable Bioproducts

Production Manager
Sustainability Manager
Product Designer or Developer
Marketer
Industrial Engineer or Technologist
Project Leader
Furniture Designer/Producer
Environmental Public Educator
Field Engineer
Ecological Engineer
Resource Conservation Engineer
Natural Resources Engineer

Michigan Tech Sustainable Bioproducts Majors Have Been Hired By

Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Great Lakes Veneer
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Sauder
Shaw Floors
Stora Enso
Weyerhaeuser

What is Sustainable Bioproducts?

Sustainable bioproducts is the study of using renewable resources to create alternatives to materials that can only be used for a short period of time, are difficult to dispose of, or otherwise present hazards to the environment. Bioproducts come from trees, plants, or other natural resources. Bioproducts can be managed ethically and sustainably to replace items made of plastic, petroleum or other fossil fuels, and materials with limited use, availability, or lifespans.

For your BS in Sustainable Bioproducts degree, you will learn a combination of wood product innovation, engineering, business, and forestry. You'll know all about bio-based resources, what it means to put sustainable concepts into action, and how to use your passion for a clean future to help advance the circular bioeconomy.

Ready to take the next step?

Learn more about studying sustainable bioproducts at Michigan's flagship technological university.

8:1

student-to-faculty ratio
25

typical lab size
3.5K

acres to explore at our residential field camp

Preview image for Creating Materials to Build Sustainable Cities of the Future video

Stronger, cleaner, and less expensive than concrete or steel.

Learn from researchers like Munkaila Musah who create and test sustainable alternative construction materials from the abundant biomaterials forests—including the world's first cross-laminated timber, made from sugar maple. Imagine an environmentally friendly skyline that stores carbon instead of emitting it. Imagine the ways you'll learn to make tomorrow better—at Michigan Tech.

Diverse Ecosystem of Environmental Stewardship

If you have a love for the woods and a desire to sustain resources for the future, you will feel at home in Michigan Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (CFRES). Our College is a community on a first-name basis, connected by a shared passion for study, research, and work centered on forest health and ecosystem integrity.

Similar to the Keweenaw Peninsula’s biodiverse ecosystems, CFRES is a community of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and alumni who learn, lead, and thrive in the College's unique environment. You’ll notice flags from countries around the world when you step through the doors of our atrium. We are a safe space for all who love natural resources, with a strong commitment to a sense of community.

5,850+ Acres of University Forestland

Our forests are your living lab—and playground. The University owns 5,866 acres of forestland. Undergraduate students in forestry, wildlife, ecology, and soils perform a minimum of 714 hours of outdoor coursework to fulfill degree requirements.

Learn how to navigate among the trees, count board feet, identify forest pests and diseases, and explore ways to mitigate them. Take a swim in the Sturgeon River while taking water samples, quantify woody and herbaceous plants, design maps, and learn to mark timber. Work closely with your peers and professors to create management plans that best suit the environment for the changing climate. Tap maple trees, learn the history of syrup-making, and process your own maple syrup at the Nara Family Maple Center.

Integrated Field Practicum at the Ford Center

The Integrated Field Practicum (IFP) is the cornerstone of natural resource management at Michigan Tech, and stands out as the only off-campus, semester-long field practicum in the United States. Offered in the fall and summer, students in their junior year get to live, learn, and play in our 3,700-acre research forest for a whole semester. Spend a few hours in the classroom and the rest of the day outdoors at Michigan Tech’s Ford Center, just over 40 miles from our main campus.

Take waypoints and design maps. Get your hands dirty and your feet wet exploring soil, geology, and climate. Collect fungi or insects for a specimen collection. Hug trees as you measure stand basal area. Learn to determine canopy health. Collect photos from camera traps. Mental and physical challenges prepare students for careers in our four land management degree programs.

4+1 Accelerated Master of Forestry

Earn an accelerated master’s degree with just one additional year of study beyond your bachelor’s degree in forestry. Start your Master of Forestry degree your senior year, saving time and money on the graduate degree. This professional degree expands your qualifications and experience in mapping, analyzing, managing, and communicating forest and environmental resources issues. A master’s degree provides greater opportunity for career advancement and a higher starting salary.

Tomorrow Needs Sustainable Forest Management

Healthy, intact, functioning ecosystems support both human health and the health and well-being of other species, from trees to birds, fish and insects. Join a community that believes in renewable resources, sustainability, and multiple-use forests in a sustainably driven society at an R1 flagship public research university powered by science, technology, sustainability, and passion. Graduate with a foundation of knowledge and real-world experience in natural resource management.

Undergraduate Majors

Documenting knapweed in dunes. Analyzing northern peatlands. Growing woody mass for biofuels. Conserving the California condor. As the largest forestry program in Michigan, we offer students access to far-reaching ecological programs with global impact (like the longest-running predator-prey study in the world).

Or, start with our General Forestry option and give yourself time to decide.

Student Learning Goals

Students in the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science can expect to achieve the following learning goals—which also align with the University's Undergraduate Student Learning Goals. Upon completion of this degree, students will be able to:

Explain wood anatomy and the physical and chemical properties of lignocellulosic plants relevant to bio-based materials, energy production, and engineered solid wood products. (USLG 1,2,7)
Apply knowledge in biology, chemistry, statistics, and math to understand the nature and application of wood and other lignocellulosic materials. (USLG 2,4,7)
Apply developed project management and leadership skills gained from experiential learning through the MTU Enterprise Program. (USLG 4,5,6)
Utilize business practices and communicate effectively. (USLG 4,5,8)
Infer the relevant contexts of sustainability and the role of the circular bioeconomy in the development of a sustainable society. (USLG 3,4,6,8)