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Sustainable Development
Degree Programs:
Full-Time: M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Department Chair:
Lisa
Anderson, Ph.D.
1414 International Affairs Building
Tel:
212.854.4604
Director of Graduate Studies:
Geoffrey
Heal,
Ph.D.
616 Uris Hall
The Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development in the School of International and Public Affairs was established in 2004 and has received N.Y. State accreditation. The purpose of this program is to create a generation of scholars and professionals equipped to deal with some of the most crucial problems in the world today. By combining elements of a traditional graduate education in social science, particularly economics, with a significant component of training in the natural sciences, the program’s graduates will be uniquely situated to undertake serious research and policy assessments with the goal of sustainable development. The program includes a set of rigorous core requirements, but also provides students with the flexibility to pursue in depth research in a broad variety of critical policy issue areas.
Sustainable Development is critically important because many of the most important policy challenges facing the planet require a central focus on the sustainability of development. These include: long-term climate change; industrial policy; extreme poverty; public health and infectious disease in a global economy (e.g. SARS, AIDS, etc.); science, technology, and education policy; global demographic change (aging, population growth in poor countries, urbanization, global migration); gender and development; urban growth; the threat of massive species extinction; ecosystem functions (e.g. extreme water stress in the Middle East, or the arsenic in the groundwater of South Asia).
There are a wide variety of potential employers for the program’s graduates. Graduates will find academic jobs in the standard social-science disciplines, in policy schools, in undergraduate and graduate environmental science programs. Many will choose nonacademic positions, however, taking leadership roles in government ministries in the United States and throughout the world working on environmental protection and sustainable development programs; international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank; and private firms engaged in large-scale development projects and consulting firms analyzing development issues for private and public clients.
Special Admission Requirements
In addition to the requirements listed below, all students must submit
1 official transcript showing courses and grades per school attended, a
Statement of Academic Purpose and 3 letters of evaluation, at least two of which are from academic sources. All
international students whose native language is not English or whose
undergraduate degree is from an institution in a country whose official
language is not English, must submit scores of the Test of English as a
Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS. For more information, refer to our Admissions Information and Frequently Asked Questions pages.
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DEGREE:
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Ph.D.
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Deadline for Fall Admission
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December 15
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Deadline for Spring Admission
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no spring admission
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Resume/CV
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yes
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Writing Sample
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no
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GRE General
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yes
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GRE Subject
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no
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Miscellaneous
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see below
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The following are also required:
(1) Transcripts of all previous post-secondary education.
(2) A summary sheet listing courses taken in Calculus and Economics, with grades (as appearing on transcripts).
Serious work in the natural and social sciences at a graduate level requires that students have some experience in mathematics and the natural sciences, as well as the social sciences and economics, before embarking on the Ph.D. program. For this reason (and in order to fulfill prerequisites for the required natural science course sequences) applicants should have outstanding undergraduate records. Generally, requirements include four semesters of college-level social science, including two semesters of economics, and six semesters of college-level math and science. Specifically, all applicants must have completed two semesters of college-level calculus and demonstrate competence in multivariate calculus and linear algebra.
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