<p>I am very conscious of the havoc we are wreaking on our beloved planet and all the animals and plants that live here.
I think about it everyday and it often make me feel very sad.</p>
<p>I want to major in Chemical Engineering so that I can do research on environmental topics like carbon capture, ocean de-toxification, and even green energy. I also love science and math.</p>
<p>I also want to be a mathematician because I love math and quantum physics and theoretical computer science and I would love to be a math researcher. If I worked in this field, I would be feel like I'm doing nothing to help the environment.</p>
<p>I think Chem. Eng. connects more to my passion, but I'm not sure if the coursework will interest me as much as math.</p>
<p>In summary, Math looks cool to me, while Chem. Eng looks less cool, but more important.
Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Math is universal, there are plenty of applications for math and computer science that are related to the environment. Why not major in math/computer science and then look for jobs in the environmental field?</p>
<p>Math is no less applicable to that topic than ChemE is, for the simple reason that there is always a need for a mathematician to make sense of the mathematical details of any problem.</p>
<p>You could also consider chemistry, which definitely does more research-type work than ChemE. Most ChemE work, academic or industry, involves solving practical problems for those that give you money (i.e. either the government or oil companies). </p>
<p>Absolutely. In both mathematics and physics, there are research areas that focus on the environment. In physics, you can focus on atmospheric or geological physics and how the earth is impacted by humans and objects in space.</p>
<p>In mathematics, you can focus more on modeling these phenomena.</p>
<p>It should be considered that you will most likely have to do some graduate work if you major in math and physics as an undergrad and want to work in an environmental occupation.</p>