The Master of Environmental Data Science (MEDS) program at the Bren School was launched five years ago to address a growing need in the environmental field: applying data science to environmental problems. The program aims to equip students with technical skills in programming that can be applicable to all sectors from research and academia to corporate and consulting. And for five years now, the program has been doing just that.
Graduates with a MEDS degree leave Bren knowing how to code in R, Python, and SQL, how to perform analyses spanning ecology, policy, and geography, and with professional experience – in the form of a capstone project – under their belts. These skills help our alumni find positions across domains and industries, and five years out we can start asking: where are our graduates now?
The 2026 Update
The MEDS Class of 2026 – the fifth cohort to finish the program – walked across the stage at graduation just this past June. With less than three full months on the job hunt, many are currently figuring out their place in the environmental data science field. A few have landed full-time positions, while others are taking the summer to pursue research with Bren faculty or travel.
As for the graduates who have a bit more time in the job market, including those in the class of 2026 that have settled into career roles, the sectors they’re in break down as follows:
Figure 1 Distribution of MEDS alumni across sectors. Only individuals with available current placement data (from all cohorts) are included (n = 117). In 2026, Research/Education is the sector with the most MEDS alumni.
We have alumni publishing coral reef research, working to help finance wildfire reduction projects, quantifying carbon emissions, and mapping locations for federal renewable energy expansion – among many, many other things. 43% of alumni are currently serving the public, through work in government and the nonprofit space. A list of initial employers (representing a graduate's first placement after MEDS) can be found on the Bren Student Data Explorer.
MEDS also prepares students to hold a variety of different job titles, from scientists to analysts to managers. The relative proportions of these positions have stayed consistent through time; the most common titles include “scientist”, “analyst”, and “associate” (data for the 2026 calendar year is depicted below).
Figure 2 The number of MEDS alumni (from all cohorts) who held position titles including the words “specialist”, “scientist”, “manager”. “engineer”, “associate”, and “analyst” in 2026 (n = 84). Scientist and analyst are the most common position titles.
Over the Years
As new opportunities arise, MEDS graduates switch between roles and sectors to find their perfect fit. 38% of all graduates start out in Research and Education. This makes sense: whether it be a fellowship at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), continuing work at Bren, or a new institution entirely, some grads take the opportunity to gain more practical, professional skills before committing to a full-time career position.
Initial placement salaries of our graduates have ranged from $51,000 to $150,000 over the years, with a median salary of $82,050 for the class of 2025, the most recent cohort with complete data.
As for the job search, the average length across all years is 61 days after graduation. This does not take into consideration individuals who were intentionally taking time off, those who had secured roles during the academic year, or any that were continuing their employment from before the program.
In Summary
The MEDS program has seen a total of 143 graduates, and the program is only growing. Bren recently welcomed 34 new students into the class of 2027. We know how much they will accomplish throughout the school year and can only imagine the continued positive impact they will have as MEDS alumni in their careers.
The cohort model of MEDS has shown to create strong bonds between peers, which often continue after the program’s end – it is not uncommon for alumni to reach out to each other for career advice or domain insight. Many graduates have been willing to share their experiences for MEDS Alumni feature stories, and many more are traveling back to beautiful Santa Barbara in October for the five-year reunion.
Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing Alumni Spotlights featuring MEDS graduates and their work, so keep an eye out as we celebrate five years of the program.
Class of 2023 MEDS students on a field trip to the Dangermond Preserve.
