Resources

Resources for Reference

ESGP Student Handbook
The Graduate School Handbook
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Information
Graduate Student Grievance Guidelines
Benefits for Graduate Associates, Fellows, and Trainees

ESGP Course Requirements

The aim of this requirement is to ensure that all ESGP PhD students graduate with experience engaging in interdisciplinary research and build the competencies needed to work with those outside their primary discipline to address complex environmental problems.

Requirement

ESGP PhD students must complete an interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with their advisor and at least one committee member or other collaborator from outside their advisor/co-advisors’ home department(s) or school(s). Students should conceptualize their primary research focus first and build their interdisciplinary project as an extension of this work. The interdisciplinary research project should ask questions that require the student to engage with their advisor as well as expert(s) outside their major field to narrow their objectives, develop hypotheses, devise methods for inquiry, analyze their findings and prepare their final document.

The question(s) asked by the interdisciplinary research project should combine at least two of the ESGP foundational knowledge areas (Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and Social Science and Policy). This work must be original research and could involve field or laboratory-based methods, modeling, or meta-analyses.

Timeline

During the first year of the PhD program, students should narrow down possible aims for their interdisciplinary project and build a team of committee members and/or other collaborators who will assist with this work. Before the end of the student’s second year, an Interdisciplinary Project Proposal Form must be submitted to Kelly Malone. This form will be reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee and must be approved prior to the initiation of the project.

Once approved, the student must enroll in ENVSCI 7899 and present their Interdisciplinary Project Seminar between their second and third year. This 20-minute seminar should provide: 1) relevant background, 2) goals, objectives, hypotheses (as appropriate), 3) proposed methods, and 4) the implications of their work, including expected advances in environmental science and management. Note that this seminar is in addition to the Entry and Exit seminar requirements and should be the second seminar presented following the Entry presentation.

Once the research is complete it should be written up and included as a chapter in the student’s dissertation. The chapter should be approved by the student’s advisor and student advisory committee prior to graduation. Prior to the deadline to submit their dissertation, the student must submit the completed Interdisciplinary Project Completion Form to Kelly Malone. Completing this project is a graduation requirement. If challenges arise throughout the process of envisioning, conducting and writing up the interdisciplinary project, it is critical to alert Mary Gardiner, ESGP Graduate Studies Chair. Mary will work with the student to devise a plan to meet this program requirement.

ENV SCI MS Required Courses (20 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr)
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and the Circular Economy (3 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Data Analysis Methods (3 crhrs) *Choose from approved courses on ESGP website. If you find a course you would like to take that is not on this list, please email Kelly Malone to get approval to take that course.

Agroecosystem Sciences MS Required Courses (8 credits)

Choose 2 of these 3 course:
Entomology 7890 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)
ENR 8890.03 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)
EEOB 8890.03 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)

Geography 5220 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (3 crhrs)

Elective (with advisor’s guidance and approval, select from the following list of ESGP courses) (3 crhrs):
AEDECON 6120    Applied Quantitative Methods II (4 crhrs)
AEDECON 7120    Adv Quantitative Methods II (3 crhrs)
AEDECON 7130     Adv Quantitative Methods III (3 crhrs)
CIVILEN 5420         Remote Sensing of Environment (3 crhrs)
ENVENG 7217        Applied Mathematical Ecology (3 crhrs)
FABENG 3510         Intro to Biological Engineering (4 crhrs)

Any remaining credits are a combination of research hours in your advisor’s home department and courses planned between you and your advisor. Total credit hours must be at least 30 to earn the MS.

In addition to the general Graduate School requirements of a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, students must meet specific college policies regarding grades in courses.

ENV SCI PhD Course Requirement Courses (21-24 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - INTERDISCIPLINARY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and the Circular Economy (3 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Grant Writing (1-4 crhrs) *Choose from approved courses on ESGP website. If you find a course you would like to take that is not on this list, please email Kelly Malone to get approval to take the course.

Agroecosystem Sciences PhD Required Courses (8 credits)

Choose 2 of these 3 course:
Entomology 7890 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)
ENR 8890.03 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)
EEOB 8890.03 Agrosystems Special Topic (1 crhr)

Geography 5220 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (3 crhrs)

Elective (with advisor’s guidance and approval, select from the following list of ESGP courses) (6 crhrs):
AEDECON 6120    Applied Quantitative Methods II (4 crhrs)
AEDECON 7120    Adv Quantitative Methods II (3 crhrs)
AEDECON 7130     Adv Quantitative Methods III (3 crhrs)
CIVILEN 5420         Remote Sensing of Environment (3 crhrs)
ENVENG 7217        Applied Mathematical Ecology (3 crhrs)
FABENG 3510         Intro to Biological Engineering (4 crhrs)

Research Hours in Advisor’s home department (43-48 credits without a Master’s degree; 13-18 credits with a 30 credit hour Master’s degree)

Remaining credits are a combination of research hours in your advisor’s home department and courses planned between you and your advisor. Total credit hours must be 80 to earn the PhD.

In addition to the general Graduate School requirements of a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, students must meet specific college policies regarding grades in courses.

ENV SCI MS Required Courses (20 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr)
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and the Circular Economy (3 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Climate Change Science and Policy MS Required Courses (5 credits)

Special Topic Climate Change special topic or an independent study with a climate change affiliated supervisor (2 crhrs)

Elective (with advisor’s guidance and approval, select from the following list of ESGP courses) (3 crhrs):
AEDECON 4320/ INTSTDS 4320       Energy, Environment, and the Economy (3 crhrs)
ATMOSSC 5901                                   Climate System Modeling: Basics and Applications (3 crhrs)
ATMOSSC 5950                                   Atmospheric Thermodynamics (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663                                    Global Biogeochemical Cycles (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5650                                    Paleoclimatology (4 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663/ PUBHLTH 5203       Geo-environment and Human Health (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663                                     Global Change and Sustainability in the Earth System (4 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5650                                     Glaciology (4 crhrs)
EEOB 5470                                            Community and Ecosystem Ecology (3 crhrs)
ENR 5600                                     Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (3 crhrs)
GEOG 8902                                            Applied Climatology (3 crhrs)
GEOG 5802                                            Globalization and Environment (3 crhrs)
PUBAFRS 7500                                     Energy Policy and the Environment (3 crhrs)
PUBAFRS 7504                                      Science and Technology Policy (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 5320                                     Climate Change and Human Health (3 crhrs)

Remaining credits are a combination of research hours in your advisor’s home department and courses planned between you and your advisor. Total credit hours must be 30 to earn the MS

In addition to the general Graduate School requirements of a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, students must meet specific college policies regarding grades in courses.

ENV SCI PhD Course Requirement Courses (21-24 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - INTERDISCIPLINARY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and the Circular Economy (3 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Climate Change Science and Policy PhD Required Courses (8 credits)

Special Topic Climate Change special topic or an independent study with a climate change affiliated supervisor (2 crhrs)

Elective (with advisor’s guidance and approval, select from the following list of ESGP courses) (6 crhrs):
AEDECON 4320/ INTSTDS 4320       Energy, Environment, and the Economy (3 crhrs)
ATMOSSC 5901                                   Climate System Modeling: Basics and Applications (3 crhrs)
ATMOSSC 5950                                   Atmospheric Thermodynamics (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663                                    Global Biogeochemical Cycles (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5650                                    Paleoclimatology (4 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663/ PUBHLTH 5203       Geo-environment and Human Health (3 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5663                                     Global Change and Sustainability in the Earth System (4 crhrs)
EARTHSC 5650                                     Glaciology (4 crhrs)
EEOB 5470                                            Community and Ecosystem Ecology (3 crhrs)
ENR 5600                                     Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (3 crhrs)
GEOG 8902                                            Applied Climatology (3 crhrs)
GEOG 5802                                            Globalization and Environment (3 crhrs)
PUBAFRS 7500                                     Energy Policy and the Environment (3 crhrs)
PUBAFRS 7504                                      Science and Technology Policy (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 5320                                     Climate Change and Human Health (3 crhrs)

Research Hours in Advisor’s home department (43-48 credits without a Master’s degree; 13-18 credits with a 30 credit hour Master’s degree)

Remaining credits are a combination of research hours in your advisor’s home department and courses planned between you and your advisor. Total credit hours must be at least 80 to earn the PhD.

In addition to the general Graduate School requirements of a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, students must meet specific college policies regarding grades in courses.

ENV SCI PhD Course Requirement Courses (21-24 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - INTERDISCIPLINARY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and the Circular Economy (3 crhrs)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge
PUBHEHS 6320 Global Health and Environmental Microbiology (3 crhrs)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Data Analysis Methods
PUBHBIO 6210 Applied Biostatistics I (3 crhrs)

Public Health Required Courses (24 credits)

PUBHLTH 6010 Essentials of Public Health (3 crhrs)
PUBHEPI 6410 Principles of Epidemiology (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 6310 Principles of Environmental Health Science (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 5315 Principles of Toxicology (3 crhrs)

Select One:
PUBHEHS 6330 Molecular Techniques for Environmental Health Sciences (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 7365 Environmental and Human Health Risk Assessment (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 7380 Exposure Science Monitoring Techniques I (3 crhrs)

Research Methods Cources:
PUBHBIO 6211 Applied Biostatistics II (3 crhrs)
PUBHEPI 7411 Environmental Epidemiology (3 crhrs)

Select One:
PUBHBIO 7220 Applied Generalized Linear Models in Public Health (3 crhrs)
PUBHBIO 7225 Survey Sampling Methods (3 crhrs)
PUBHBIO 7240 Applied Statistical Analysis of Missing Data (3 crhrs)

Electives (9 credits)

With advisor’s guidance and approval, select from the list of approved ESGP Public Health courses in Appendix II and/or from list of CPH-EPH course in Appendix I.

Dissertation Research (27 credits)

PUBHLTH 8998 Pre-Candidacy Research Hours
PUBHLTH 8999 Post-Candidacy Research Hours

In addition to the general Graduate School requirements of a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, students must meet specific college policies regarding grades in courses.

ENV SCI MS Required Courses (20 credits)

ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - ENTRY Presentation
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr)
ENV SCI 7899 ESGP Seminar (1 crhr) - EXIT Presentation

ENV SCI 5170 Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Practices (3 crhrs)

Biological Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Physical Sciences Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Social Sciences/Policy Foundational Knowledge (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)

Entomology 7920 Presentation Skills for Interdisciplinary Scientists (2 crhrs)

Data Analysis Methods (3 crhrs) (choose from approved courses on ESGP website)
*(if you find a course you would like to take that is not on this list, please email Kelly Malone to get approval to take the course)

Microbiome Sciences Specialization Required Courses (8-12 credits)

MICRO 5155 Environmental Microbiology (3 crhrs)
MICRO 8161 Microbiome Informatics (3 crhrs)

Electives (1-3 credits)

With advisor’s guidance and approval, select 2 courses from the list of approved ESGP core courses below.

ANIMSCI 5090 Gut Microbiology (2 crhrs)
BGSP 7030 Intro to Data Science in Biomedical Science Research (2 crhrs)
EEOB 5510 Interdisciplinary Team Science (3 crhrs)
HCS 7600 Metabolomics, Principles and Practices (3 crhrs)
MICRO 5161 Bioinformatics and molecular microbiology (3 crhrs)
MICRO 6155 Topics in Microbiome Science (3 crhrs)
MICRO 5270/PHR 5270 Antibiotics and Microbial Natural Products (3 crhrs)
MOLGEN 5650 Analysis and Interpretation of Biological Data (3 crhrs)
PLNTPTH 5003 Principles of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2 crhrs)
PLNTPTH 5004 Current Topics Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2 crhrs)
PLNTPTH 5005 Beneficial Plant-Associated Microbiomes and Plant Pathology Research (2 crhrs)
PLNTPTH 5006 Practical Computing Skills for Omics Data (3 crhrs)
PUBHBIO 6210 Applied Biostatistics I (3 crhrs)
PUBHBIO 6211 Applied Biostatistics II (3 crhrs)
PUBHEHS 7375 Quantitative Microbial Risk Analysis Modeling (3 crhrs)
STAT 8810 Advanced Topics in Statistics I (1-3 crhrs)
VETPREV 7719/MICRO 7719 Microbiome in Health and Disease (3crhrs)

Remaining credits are a combination of research hours in your advisor’s home department and courses planned between you and your advisor. Total credit hours must be 30 to earn the MS.