The Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy Class of 2010 Begins Their Studies

A new cohort of students who want to tackle the complex problems of the environment and of sustainable development embarked on the 12-month Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy program, which began on May 26th.  The new group of students includes leaders in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.  Students this year come to us from organizations such as Booz Allen Hamilton, the Delegation of the European Commission in Mozambique, the U.S. Peace Corps, the New York City Department of Education, the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Urban Planning Council of Abu Dhabi. The sixty-eight students in this year's class represent Canada, China, Colombia, Georgia, Japan, Northern Ireland, South Korea, Portugal, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

At the May 26th Orientation Day, Steven Cohen, Director of the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy and Executive Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, outlined the program's intensive and practical professional curriculum. The Environmental Science and Policy program incorporates more science into its curriculum than any other MPA program currently offered at SIPA. Cohen observed, "As environment and sustainable development have finally become mainstream issues in our society, a program like ours has become more popular and more successful. Applications for admission continue to grow every year and the School of International and Public Affairs is increasingly committed to developing curriculum and faculty in our field."

At orientation, the program's faculty gave an overview of their teaching and research experiences and provided descriptions of the courses the students will be taking in the upcoming year. Included in the group of faculty are Kathy Callahan, who recently retired as Deputy Regional Administrator for EPA Region II, after over 30 years of experience with the EPA; Paula Wilson, former Vice President for Policy of the United Hospital Fund; Howard Apsan, who has twenty years of experience in environmental management and consulting and who is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety at City University of New York (CUNY); and Andrea Schmitz, the former Director of Environment, Health, and Safety at CUNY, now the Ombudsperson at ConEdison. The program also welcomes two new faculty members this year: Professor Satyajit Bose who will be teaching Microeconomics in the fall and spring semesters and Professor Michael Musso, who will be teaching Toxicology this summer.  Professor Bose has extensive expertise in investment banking, asset management and financial restructuring and has served previously on the MPA ESP faculty from 2006 to 2007. Professor Musso is a lecturer at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in Risk Assessment and is a licensed professional engineer, State of New York.

Much like the faculty in the program, students in this year's class represent a broad spectrum of academic and professional experience. New student Katie Wurden comes to the program with a BA in Urban Studies from the University of California San Diego and work experience at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Water Stewardship Program. Of her classmates and the program, Wurden said: "The caliber of my classmates has so far been the most impressive aspect of this program.  Although the academic benefits will likely be large, I can already tell that the professional relationships we're building with one another will be invaluable in our careers and lives." Nearly two thirds of the class has an undergraduate background in the sciences including: chemistry and biology, environmental science and ecology, physics engineering and mathematics, neuroscience, and geology.  Most of the remaining students come with social science and liberal arts backgrounds stemming from disciplines that include: political science and international affairs, economics, urban planning, English, and music.  Thirteen students in the current class have master's degrees covering the fields of global politics, financial mathematics, education, accounting, and international trade and transportation.

The professional profile of the group is also quite varied. Students in this class have professional experience with prestigious organizations including: The United States Army; The American Red Cross; The Natural Resources Council of Maine; JP Morgan Chase; British Petroleum Company; Bain and Company; Mendes and Mount LLP; NYC Department of Education; UBS; Defense Intelligence Agency; Goldman Sachs; the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan; and the United States Air Force, among others. The class has volunteered for organizations that range from AmeriCorps and the Riverhead Foundation to the American Red Cross, Volunteers for Wildlife and the UNESCO Youth and Cultural Exchange Team.

Throughout the three semesters of the program, the students will bring these experiences and knowledge to their coursework which will help them gain an understanding of environmental policy, management and the sciences. In addition, students will work collaboratively in hands-on workshop courses each semester to apply their coursework to real situations. Adam Batnick, another member of the new class, recently interned at Sustainable South Bronx after working at Community Impact at Columbia University.  Batnick stated: "I look forward to the continued integration of knowledge between all the classes to develop a strong understanding of environmental issues on all aspects. I find that each class has helped to develop my appreciation of the topics covered in other classes.   I feel confident that by the end of the year I will have a good sense of the issues and some of the complexities involved in delivering solutions."

In the summer and fall semesters, groups take a piece of legislation or an international agreement that has been proposed but not yet enacted and conduct a program implementation and management simulation. During the spring semester, groups conduct analytic projects for real-world clients from government and non-profit agencies. Some students are already thinking ahead.  Tamar Sanodze who has a BA in Political Science and an MS in International Trade and Transportation, hopes to gain an understanding of "the relationships at play behind the environmental challenges of today, and use knowledge of these hard sciences in cost-benefit and ethical considerations of managerial decision-making processes."

Said Director Cohen, "This is an intensive program well designed to equip students with the policy, management and scientific skills needed to become effective environmental managers."

Graduates of the program are using their skills in nonprofit, government and private fields. They are working in organizations such as the National Resource Defense Council, Department of Energy, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Evolution Markets, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, City of New York Office of Energy Conservation, TransFair USA, the International Operations Group at PepsiCo, United Nations Development Programme: Energy and Environment

Group, NASA, EnerNOC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NY Planning and Environmental Management Department, EcoSecurities and others.

Prospective students interested in learning about the program are encouraged to contact Louise Rosen at (212) 854-3142 or at lar46@columbia.edu for more information.