Graduate Students

Specific fields for graduate study include, but are not limited to, such areas as atmospheric science, oceanography, climate physics and chemistry, environmental fluid dynamics, aquatic science, and hydrology. Several recommended graduate degree pathways are in the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC), which is in the department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). Other suggested graduate programs are found within the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). There are several graduate degree options in these areas, including doctoral (Ph.D. & Sc.D.), and master's (S.M., M.Engr.) degrees. Degree programs in many other departments can also be tailored to involve CGCS participation and to match individual interests.

Graduate study in atmospheric science, oceanography, and climate physics & chemistry is overseen by PAOC. The physical oceanography program is conducted in cooperation with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Degree programs in hydrology, environmental chemistry & biology, and environmental fluid mechanics & coastal engineering are offered in CEE.

Recognizing the need to encourage more students to pursue interdisciplinary training, the CGCS provides several students with financial support in the form of research fellowships. The CGCS helps support several graduate fellows participating in the modeling of the physical and aerobiogeochemical processes involved in climate change, through the Center's Climate Modeling Initiative. Gradute student support is also provided in the form of research fellowships from the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, and an environmental sustainability program.

Among the numerous graduate level courses relevant to global change science, suggested subjects include:

  • Climate Physics (12.841)
  • Climate Physics and Chemistry (12.842)
  • Global Climate Change: Economics, Science and Policy (12.848J/ESD.128J)
  • Land-Atmosphere Interaction (1.713J/12.826J)
  • Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry I and II (12.806, 12.807)
  • Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Ocean (12.800)
  • Steady Circulations of the Oceans (12.801)
  • Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere (12.802)
  • Quasi-balanced Circulations in Oceans and Atmospheres (12.803)
  • Large-Scale Flow Dynamics Laboratory (12.804)
  • Laboratory in Physical Oceanography (12.805)
  • Introduction to Observational Physical Oceanography (12.808)
  • Dynamics of the Atmosphere (12.810)
  • Tropical Meteorology (12.811)
  • General Circulation of the Earth's Atmosphere (12.812)
  • Introduction to Atmospheric Data and Synoptic Meteorology (12.818)
  • Turbulence in Geophysical Systems (12.820)
  • Nonlinear Waves and Vortices (12.822)
  • Topics in Waves and Instability (12.830)
  • Dynamics of the Middle Atmosphere (12.831)
  • Inference from Data and Models (12.864)
  • Theory of the General Circulation of the Ocean (12.866)
  • Air-Sea Interactions: Boundary Layers (12.870)
  • Paleoceanography (12.740)
  • Pre-Pleistocene Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology (12.707)
  • Surface Hydrology (1.714)
  • Groundwater Hydrology (1.72)
  • Surface Processes and Landscape Evolution (12.463)
  • Chemicals in the Environment: Fate and Transport (1.725J/ESD.151J)
  • Physical Limnology (1.64)
  • Aquatic Chemistry (1.76)
  • Environmental Organic Chemistry (1.83)
  • Environmental Microbiology (1.89)
  • Environmental Data Analysis (1.715)
  • Marine Chemistry (12.742)
  • Geochemistry of Marine Sediments (12.743)
  • Marine Isotope Chemistry (12.744)
  • Marine Organic Chemistry (12.746)
  • Fluid Dynamics of the Environment (1.63)
  • Biological Oceanography (7.47)
  • Analysis of Transport Phenomena (10.50)
  • Radiative Transfer (10.74J/2.58J)
  • Data and Models (12.515)
  • Dynamics Complex Systems (12.517)
  • Geosystems I and II (12.550, 12.551)
  • Techniques in Remote Sensing (12.565)
  • Physical Principles of Remote Sensing (12.621)
  • Receivers, Antennas, and Signals (6.661)
  • Acoustics Sensing (13.810)
  • Principles of Oceanographic Instrument Systems -- Sensors and Measurements (13.998)
    Other graduate subjects that might be of interest:
  • Civil Society and the Environmental (11.363)
  • Sustainable Energy (1.818J/10.391J/ESD.166J)
  • Science, Politics and Environmental Justice (11.368)
  • International Environmental Negotiation (11.364)
  • Introduction to Environmental Policy and Regulation (11.601)
  • Environmental Law and Policy: Pollution Prevention and Control (1.811J/11.603J)
  • Global Change and International Relations (17.410)
  • Policy Choice and Global Environmental Issues (17.414)