Kroon Hall, 203.432.5100
http://environment.yale.edu
M.S., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Dean
Ingrid Burke (Kroon, 203.432.5109)

Director of Doctoral Studies
Peter Raymond (Kroon 205, 203.432-0817, peter.raymond@yale.edu)

Professors Mark Ashton, Michelle Bell, Gaboury Benoit, Graeme Berlyn, Mark Bradford, Craig Brodersen, Marian Chertow, Liza Comita, Michael Dove, Daniel Esty, Justin Farrell, Eli Fenichel, Kenneth Gillingham, Timothy Gregoire, Matthew Kotchen, William Lauenroth, Xuhui Lee, Robert Mendelsohn, Peter Raymond, James Saiers, Oswald Schmitz, Karen Seto, David Skelly, Dorceta Taylor, Gerald Torres, John Wargo, Julie Zimmerman

Associate Professors Paulo Brando, Nyeema Harris, Narasimha Rao

Assistant Professors Sparkle Malone, Luke Sanford, Yuan Yao

Fields of Study

Fields include agroforestry; biodiversity conservation; biostatistics and biometry; community ecology; ecosystems ecology; ecosystems management; energy and the environment; environmental and resource policy; environmental anthropology and sociology; environmental biophysics and meteorology; environmental chemistry; environmental ethics; environmental governance; environmental health risk assessment; environmental history; environmental justice; environmental law and politics; environmental management and social ecology in developing countries; forest ecology; green chemistry and engineering; hydrology; industrial ecology; industrial environmental management; plant physiology and anatomy; pollution management; population ecology; resource economics; silviculture; social ecology; stand development, tropical ecology, and conservation; sustainable development; urban ecology; urban geography; urban land cover change; urban planning; and water resource management.

Students admitted in 2020 or earlier have the option of receiving a degree in either Forestry & Environmental Studies or Environment. Students admitted in 2021 and subsequent years will receive a degree in Environment.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Students are required to take ENV 900, Doctoral Student Seminar and Responsible Conduct of Research, in the first year of their program. Aside from this requirement, there is no required curriculum of credit courses and no formal language requirement. Courses of study are individually designated through consultation between degree candidates and their advisers and dissertation committees. The amount of course work required will depend on the previous training of the student, but the normal requirement for a student with no previous graduate training is three or four courses per term for four terms. The program of each student will be evaluated at the end of the first year of residence. At least two term grades of Honors are required in the first two years of study; however, it is anticipated that grades of Honors or High Pass will be achieved in two-thirds of all courses taken. A written and oral qualifying examination is required upon completion of the course requirements. Students are expected to take the examination by the end of their second year, although this can be extended to the third year in cases with appropriate extenuating circumstances. At the time of the qualifying examination, the student must present a prospectus of the research work proposed for the dissertation. Successful completion of the qualifying examination and submission of the prospectus will result in admission to candidacy. Upon completion of the dissertation, the candidate must make unbound copies of the dissertation available to the faculty and appear for an oral examination at a time and place designated by the director of doctoral studies. Copies of the approved dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate School. Depending upon the nature of the dissertation topic, completion of the Ph.D. degree normally requires four years.

Teaching and research experiences are regarded as integral parts of the doctoral training program in Environment. All students are required to serve as teaching fellows (10 hours per week) for four terms. The nature of the teaching assignment is determined in cooperation with the student’s major adviser and the director of doctoral studies. With the permission of the director of doctoral studies, the total teaching requirement may be reduced for students who are awarded fellowships supported by outside funding. Regardless of outside funding, all doctoral students must serve as teaching fellows for a minimum of two terms.

Combined Ph.D. Program

The Graduate School offers a combined doctoral degree between the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) and the Department of Anthropology. The purpose of the degree is threefold: it combines (1) the disciplinary identity and strengths of the Anthropology department with the interdisciplinary character and possibilities of YSE, especially in terms of bridging the social and natural sciences; (2) the strengths in ecological and environmental studies of YSE with the social science strengths of the Anthropology department; and (3) the Anthropology department’s strengths in theory with the emphasis within YSE on linking theory with policy and practice. The combined degree offers its graduates great flexibility when entering the marketplace. They can represent themselves as anthropologists and/or environmental scientists, as theoreticians and/or practitioners. Combined-degree recipients have the credentials to apply for policy-oriented positions with international institutions, as well as academic positions. The academic program of each student in the combined-degree program is tailored specifically to that student’s particular history, interests, and needs, but all combined-degree students are expected to follow the program’s general guidelines.

Prospective combined-degree students must initially apply either to Anthropology or to the doctoral program in Environment (not both) and check the combined-degree box on the application form. Students should communicate with faculty in both programs during the year prior to application, and they should apply to the program where their credentials and faculty contacts offer the greatest chance of admission. The program is extremely competitive, accepting one or two students per year out of dozens who apply. (Note: Most successful applicants to the combined program through YSE hold a prior master’s degree.)

Once a student is accepted in either Environment or Anthropology, the application file is sent to the second department for consideration. A positive decision at this point amounts to acceptance into the combined-degree program. (A negative decision, which is rare in any case, does not affect the student’s prior admission into the first program.) Students admitted into the combined-degree program will be allocated to the department to which they initially applied as their primary administrative home, but they will enter Yale as members of the combined-degree program. A student who does not apply to the combined-degree program at the time of their initial application may still apply after matriculating at Yale, but this should be done as soon as possible in their first term on campus. Detailed guidelines for the combined-degree program can be found on the YSE website at http://environment.yale.edu/doctoral/degrees/combined-anthropology. The program coordinators are Michael Dove (YSE) and Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan (Anthropology).

Master’s Degrees

M.Phil. (en route to the Ph.D.) Students may petition for this degree after they have passed the qualifying exam and advanced to candidacy. Applications for this master’s degree are not accepted.

M.S. (en route to the Ph.D.) This degree is normally granted only to students who are withdrawing from the Ph.D. program. Applications for this master’s degree are not accepted. Requirements that must be met for award of the M.S. are (1) successful completion of two years of course work in residence with two grades of Honors; (2) a written prospectus; (3) fulfillment of one term of the teaching requirement. Students who are eligible for or who have already received the M.Phil. will not be awarded the M.S.

For information on the terminal master’s degrees offered by the Yale School of the Environment (the Master of Forestry, Master of Forest Science, Master of Environmental Management, and Master of Environmental Science degrees), visit the School’s website, http://environment.yale.edu, or contact Admissions Director, Yale School of the Environment, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven CT 06511.

required Course

All Ph.D. students are required to take the following course in the fall term of their first year. For a complete list of ENV courses, see the School of the Environment bulletin, available online at https://bulletin.yale.edu; and Yale Course Search at https://courses.yale.edu.