Student Living: Housing

Those who reside on campus can choose from among one-bedroom apartments or share two-, three-, four-, and five-bedroom suites with full kitchens and baths. Free laundry facilities are available 24 hours a day. Housing on campus is plentiful and low cost. We encourage students to live on campus because of the intense schedule of studies, the importance of group work, and out-of-class learning. Students will find that living at the Biosphere campus significantly enhances their learning opportunities in the program.

Student Living: Board

Students in on-campus housing share a fully equipped kitchen with their roommates and can prepare their own meals. A full service, 365-day-a-year restaurant on campus serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner until 7:00 p.m. There is also a concession bar with snacks that operates from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The cost of meals is additional and is not included in the semester billing. The Biosphere 2 Center also provides weekly trips to the grocery store for purchasing food.

Libraries

The Columbia University Libraries system is among the country's ten largest academic libraries, with 7.5 million volumes, 84,000 serials, as well as extensive collections of electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms and other non-print formats. The collections are organized into twenty-two libraries, each generally supporting a specific academic or professional discipline.

The newest of Columbia University's libraries is the Learning Resource Center located in the center of the student village at The Biosphere 2 Center.

The library utilizes e-journals and e-books accessed through the campus network using the library's 9 public computer as well as the more then 50 data ports for personal lap tops. In addition, there are approximately 1,000 books currently in the growing collection with room for up to 10,000 print volumes in the 5,100 square feet library space. The collection has core monographs in the history and natural history of the southwest region, astronomy, ecology, environmental policy, geology, physical sciences, math and statistics texts, and general reference tools in print. Moreover, the students have access to all of the University's online library resources, which are available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/.

The library also maintains a classroom equipped for computer-generated presentations, a small group meeting room and a room for quiet study. The facility is open for study and research Sunday through Friday. The LRC provides the students a choice study environment at the Biosphere 2 complex.

Lehman Library on Columbia's Morningside Campus is the primary library associated with SIPA. Students of the Master of Public Administration Program in Earth Systems Science, Policy, and Management can electronically request that any book in the University's collection be sent to them at the Biosphere 2 campus.

Computing Facilities

Two computer labs and three classrooms on campus are equipped with iMac 333Mhz G3 computers. These computers are available for student use 24 hours a day and offer Internet access, assorted software programs, and full printer and projection resources. All residential units are wired to allow links with the Biosphere 2 Center computer network. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop computers when possible. Macintosh, Windows 9x, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and NT 4.0 are supported by the Biosphere 2 Center ITS department for local network access.

Recreation

An exercise room with treadmills, weight-lifting machines, and stationary bicycles is available for students in the new Martin Foundation Student Center. Tennis courts, basketball courts, a sand volleyball court, and a small swimming pool are also available year-round (weather permitting). Students often jog, hike, and bicycle on campus. A short drive to Tucson offers many private and public recreation facilities including horseback riding and world-class golf.