Are you looking to the get a Ph.D. in an interdisciplinary graduate program that focuses on urban environmental challenges? Consider applying to the Boston University Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health (BU URBAN), an NSF-funded research traineeship (NRT) that trains Ph.D. students to address urban environmental challenges. This NRT program trains Ph.D. students using an interdisciplinary approach that fuses Biogeoscience and Environmental Health, with an emphasis on data analysis, field research methods, and engagement and communication with policy makers, the private sector, and the broader community. Trainees design research projects whose results are scientifically transformative and useful for decision-makers. Research topics include, but are not limited to, assessments of greenhouse gas fluxes, evaluation of air and water pollution, and understanding the threats to human health from urban heat waves or other extreme weather events. Trainees participate in workshops focused on science communication, research methods, and city governance and conduct internships with government offices, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and/or the private sector. Participating faculty from the Biogeoscience Program (Departments of Biology and Earth & Environment) have expertise in biogeochemistry in terrestrial and aquatic systems, microbial and plant ecology, hydrology, geomorphology, biogeophysics, and remote sensing. Participating faculty from the Department of Environmental Health have expertise in epidemiology, exposure science, risk assessment, and toxicology, with applications that span air pollution and climate change, chemicals in soil, water and food, as well as non-chemical hazards such as noise, heat, and social stressors. If you are interested in applying, apply to one of the participating departments: Biology, Earth and Environment, Environmental Health, or Mathematics and Statistics, and mention your interest in the BU URBAN program. Please see http://sites.bu.edu/urban/apply/ for more information.
Contact Laura Schifman (Program Manager; [email protected]) or Pamela Templer (Program Director) with any questions.
