Environmental Studies

Academic Year:

2018-19

Address:

Guyot Hall

Phone:

609-258-4998

Website:

Princeton Environmental Institute

Program offerings:

Certificate

Director of Graduate Studies

Michael Celia

Graduate Program Administrator

Angela Petsis

Academic department detail

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.

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

Certificate Requirements:

Courses:

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).

Dissertation and FPO:

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.

Additional Requirements:

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

Michael Celia (CEE)

Executive Committee

Luc Deike (MAE)
William Gleason (ENG)
Amilcare Porporato (CEE)
David Wilcove (EEB/WWS)
Xinning Zhang (GEO)

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.

CEE 587 Ecohydrology (also

ENV 587

) A description of the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecological observations. The space-time dynamics of soil-plant-atmosphere is studied at different temporal and spatial scales. A review is done of the role of environmental fluctuations in the distribution of vegetation. Emphasis is made in the dynamics of soil moisture. The signatures revealing fractal structures in landscapes and vegetation are reviewed as result of self-organizing dynamics. Unifying concepts in the processes responsible for these signatures will be studied with examples from hydrology and ecology.

CHM 544 Metals in Biology: From Stardust to DNA (also

ENV 544

) A course in inorganic physiology and biochemistry, presenting the chemical principles adopted by nature to perform biological functions. Topics include metal ion function in protein and nucleic acid structure, metalloenzyme mechanisms, metal regulation of gene expression, biological energy conversion via ion pumping, storage and mobilization of the elements, and biomineralization.