Environmental Studies
Overview
The Environmental Studies graduate certificate is offered by the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), which is the center for environmental research, education, and outreach at Princeton University. The graduate certificate is highly interdisciplinary and allows students from all disciplines to add an environmental dimension to their studies. This provides graduate students an opportunity to complement their disciplinary studies with coordinated interdisciplinary training in the broad field of Environmental Studies. Requirements for the certificate include formal course work as well as a research effort focused on an environmental topic.
Students wishing to pursue a graduate certificate in Environmental Studies are encouraged to consult with the Director of the Program to discuss their interests. Because courses must be taken in multiple disciplines, planning of individual programs should take place as early as possible.
Upon completion of the requirements, the Program Director awards a letter of certification in Environmental Studies. The certificate does not appear on the official transcript.
It should be noted that PEI does not offer graduate degrees. For this reason, students must first gain formal admission to a degree-granting program or department.
Certificate
Individual programs of study that lead to the Certificate in Environmental Studies should be determined in consultation with the student’s home department adviser(s) and the Director of the Graduate Program in Environmental Studies. The final program must be approved by the Program Director.
Each certificate student must complete four courses related to the environment. Those four courses must be from at least three of the four divisions of the University (the four divisions are defined as: Humanities, Social Sciences (including policy), Natural Sciences, and Engineering).
Specific course selection should be discussed with the PEI Director of Graduate Studies. Example courses from across the four divisions of the university include the following:
ARC 527: Provisioning: Food, Architecture and Urbanization in the Global 20th Century (also ENV 527)
ARC 519: Climate Change, Adaptation and Urban Design
CEE 516: Coastal Flood Hazards and Mitigation
CEE 571: Environmental Chemistry
CEE 587: Ecohydrology
CHM 544: Metals in Biology: From Stardust to DNA
EEB 528: Topics in Conservation (Half-Term): Sustainable Development
ENG 574: Literature and Society: Global Perspectives on Environmental Justice in Literature and Film
ENG 575: Conflict Shorelines II: Conflict, Settlement, & Environmental Violence
GEO 561: Earth’s Atmosphere
HIS 507: Environmental History
POL 562: Theorizing Climate Change (Half-Term)
SOC 581: Urban Sociology: Changing Cities in the Global Age (Half-Term)
WWS 581C: Topics in Economics – Energy Economics
WWS 586D: Global Environmental Governance
WWS 594S: Climate Change: Science and Policy
A more complete list of acceptable courses is maintained by the Program Director and the Program Administrator. Interested students should consult with the Program Director to discuss course selection and individual programs.
Each student must complete independent research related to an environmental issue. This work most typically is incorporated as part of the student’s dissertation, although a stand-alone report or paper is also acceptable.
Students enrolled in the Environmental Studies Certificate Program are expected to participate in a graduate colloquium or seminar focused on issues related to the environment.
Faculty
Director
- Corina E. Tarnita
Executive Committee
- Ian C. Bourg, Civil and Environmental Eng
- Michael A. Celia, Civil and Environmental Eng
- Jacob S. Dlamini, History
- William A. Gleason, English
- Lars O. Hedin, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Melissa Lane, Politics
- Erika L. Milam, History
- Robert Nixon, English
- Laure Resplandy, Geosciences
- Daniel I. Rubenstein, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- Gabriel A. Vecchi, Geosciences
- Jeffrey Whetstone, Lewis Center for the Arts
Courses
Permanent Courses
Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.