Doctor of Philosophy in Environment and Resources
E-IPER's Ph.D. requirements, updated annually at http://e-iper.stanford.edu/requirements, lay out a scaffold of advising meetings, core courses, program activities, and milestones to guide students' progress. Each student works with a faculty advising team, comprising at least two faculty from different disciplines, to design a course of study that allows the student to develop and exhibit: a) familiarity with analytical tools and research approaches for interdisciplinary problem solving, and a mastery of those tools and approaches central to the student's thesis work; b) interdisciplinary breadth in each of four focal areas: culture and institutions; economics and policy analysis; engineering and technology; and natural sciences; and c) depth in at least two distinct fields of inquiry.
Program specific Ph.D. requirements are outlined in detail in the current year requirements and are summarized below:
- Completion of the Ph.D. core course sequence: IPER 310, Environmental Forum Seminar; IPER 315, Environmental Research Design Seminar; IPER 320, Designing Environmental Research; and IPER 330, Research Approaches for Environmental Problem Solving, each with a letter grade of 'B' or higher. E-IPER Ph.D. students are also required to take EARTHSCI 300, Earth Sciences Seminar, which is required of all incoming School of Earth Sciences graduate students.
- Completion of the breadth requirement in all four focal areas (culture and institutions; economics and policy analysis; engineering and technology; and natural sciences) through a sequence of courses, independent study, and/or demonstration of proficiency through prior course work or experience. Specific requirements and approved courses that satisfy breadth in each of the four focal areas as of July 2009 are listed below and in the current Ph.D. requirements document. Updated course lists are available at http://e-iper.stanford.edu/courses. Fulfillment of the breadth requirement must be certified by the student's two lead faculty advisers and the E-IPER faculty director.
- Fulfillment of depth in the student's chosen fields of inquiry through additional courses, research, and/or independent studies. The student's two lead faculty advisers must certify that a) the two fields of inquiry are sufficiently distinct such that work integrating the two is interdisciplinary; and b) the student's course work and independent study has provided the substantial depth of understanding normally expected at the Ph.D. level.
- Completion of quarterly meetings with advisers during the first year, culminating in the Spring Quarter first-year big picture advising meeting; and at minimum, annual meetings thereafter, including the Spring Quarter Second Year Meeting of the Minds, prior to which students must formally identify their two lead advisers and two distinct fields of inquiry.
- Submission of a candidacy plan by end of Spring Quarter of the second year, for review at the Second Year Meeting of the Minds and subject to the approval of E-IPER's faculty director. The candidacy plan should document how the student has fulfilled the program requirements to date and include a summary of research ideas and a list of faculty who might serve as qualifying exam committee members.
- Successful completion of the oral qualifying exam and completion of the requirements for candidacy, including at least 25 graded graduate course units (200 level and above) with at least a 'B' average, by the end of Winter Quarter of the third year. The oral qualifying exam committee should include the student's two lead advisers and 2-3 other faculty with expertise in the student's research area. The majority of the oral qualifying exam committee should be members of the Academic Council; the chair of the committee must be an Academic Council member and may not be one of the student's two lead advisers. In exceptional cases, the committee may include a member-at-large who is not a Stanford faculty member as a fourth or fifth member.
- Completion of a written dissertation, approved by the student's dissertation reading committee consisting of the student's lead advisers and at least one other member, and passage of the University oral examination in defense of the dissertation following the guidelines outlined in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin. The University oral examination committee comprises the student's two lead advisers, at least two additional members, and a chair who is outside of the departments of the lead advisers, all of whom are normally Academic Council members. Appointment of a non-Academic Council member must be justified and approved by the faculty director.
In addition to the requirements listed above, all Ph.D. students must:
- Serve as a teaching assistant for at least one quarter in a course with a discussion section or with an opportunity to lecture in at least two class sessions, in any department or program, including IPER 320 or IPER 330. Students should fulfill the teaching requirement by the end of the third year unless they obtain a firm commitment from a faculty member to TA a future course.
- On an ongoing basis, submit grant proposals for external funding, defined as fellowship and/or research funds provided by a government agency, a private foundation, or a University entity other than E-IPER or the School of Earth Sciences.
- Participate each year in a Spring Quarter annual review in which the student and lead advisers submit progress reports to the E-IPER executive committee.
The following courses may be taken to satisfy the breadth requirement in E-IPER's four focal areas. Updated lists are available at http://e-iper.stanford.edu/courses. Students should consult the Stanford Bulletin's Explore Courses web site to determine the course schedule, location, eligibility, and prerequisites.
CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS BREADTH COURSES
At least two courses are required. Students may choose a course not listed below provided it meets the criteria for this breadth area's subject knowledge. Students are advised to seek approval from their lead advisers in advance and are required to obtain their advisers' signatures on the breadth certification form as verification that they have met this requirement.
ANTHRO 247. Nature, Culture, Heritage
ANTHRO 262. Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems
CEE 275 A. Law and Science of California Coastal Policy
CEE 277C. Environmental Governance
EARTHSYS 224. Environmental Justice: Local, National, and International Dimensions
ECON 228. Institutions and Organizations in Historical Perspective
EDUC 332X. Theory and Practice of Environmental Education
HISTORY 281A. Environmental History of the Americas
HISTORY 276. Modern Brazil
LAW 280. Toxic Harms
LAW 281. Natural Resources Law and Policy
LAW 285. International Trade Regulation
LAW 338. Land Use
LAW 437. Water Law and Policy
LAW 455. Energy Law and Policy
LAW 603. Environmental Law and Policy
LAW 604. Environmental Law Workshop
LAW 605. International Environmental Law and Policy
LAW 667. Marine Resources
MS&E 252. Decision Analysis I
POLISCI 351A. Foundations of Political Economy
POLISCI 362. New Economics of Organizations
POLISCI 364. Theories of Political Institutions
POLISCI 424. Introduction to Political Psychology
POLISCI 435. Topics in the Philosophy of Social Science
POLISCI 436. Rational Choice
POLISCI 440A. Theories in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 440B. Comparative Political Economy
POLISCI 440C. Methods in Comparative Politics
POLISCI 442. Qualitative and Field Methods
PSYCH 223. Social Norms
PUBLPOL 102. Organizations and Public Policy
PUBLPOL 166. Organizational Theory and Design
PUBLPOL 194. Technology Policy
PUBPOL 202. Organizations and Public Policy
SOC 116. Understanding Social Change in China: A Global Perspective
SOC 260. Formal Organizations
SOC 314. Economic Sociology
SOC 318. Social Movement and Collective Action
SOC 320. Foundations of Social Psychology
SOC 360. Foundations of Organizational Sociology
SOC 362. Organization and Environment
SOC 363. Social and Political Processes in Organizations
SOC 363A. Seminar on Organizational Theory
SOC 363B. Seminar on Organizational Theory: Institutional Analysis
SOC 364. Social Psychology of Organizations
SOC 366. Organization Studies: Theories and Analysis
SOC 377. Comparing Institutional Forms: Public, Private, and Nonprofit
ECONOMICS AND POLICY ANALYSIS BREADTH COURSES
One of the alternative course sequences listed below, culminating in IPER 243 (same as MS&E 243), satisfies the minimum breadth requirement:
ECON 50 and 51. Economic Analysis I and II; and MS&E/IPER 243
ECON 50. Economic Analysis I and ECON 155. Environmental Economics and Policy; and MS&E/IPER 243
ECON 202 or ECON 202N and ECON 203 or ECON 203N. Core Economics; and MS&E/IPER 243
ECON 106. World Food Economy; and MS&E/IPER 243
MS&E 241. Economic Analysis; and MS&E/IPER 243
MS&E 248. Economics of Natural Resources; and MS&E/IPER 243
PUBLPOL 201A. Microeconomics; and MS&E/IPER 243
Possible substitutes for IPER 243:
ECON 250. Environmental Economics
ECON 251. Natural Resources and Energy
PUBLPOL 201B. Cost-Benefit Analysis and Evaluation
The same alternative prerequisites listed above apply to PUBLPOL 201B, ECON 250, and ECON 251. PUBLPOL 201B focuses less on environmental issues than IPER 243. Ph.D. students choosing economics and policy analysis as one of their fields of inquiry are encouraged to take ECON 202 or ECON 202N and ECON 203 or ECON 203N, in addition to IPER 243, ECON 250, and/or ECON 251.
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY BREADTH COURSES
At least one course is required; this list represents examples of appropriate courses only. Students may choose a course not listed below provided it meets the criteria for this breadth area's subject knowledge. Students are advised to seek approval from their lead advisers in advance and are required to obtain their advisers' signatures on the breadth certification form as verification that they have met this requirement.
CEE 101B. Mechanics of Fluids
CEE 161A, Rivers, Streams, and Canals
CEE 172. Air Quality Management
CEE 176A. Energy Efficient Buildings
CEE 176B. Electric Power: Renewables and Efficiency
CEE 177. Aquatic Chemistry and Biology
CEE 201D. Computations in Civil and Environmental Engineering
CEE 207A. Energy Resources
CEE 215. Goals and Methods of Sustainable Building Projects
CEE 260A. Physical Hydrogeology
CEE 262B. Transport and Mixing in Surface Water Flows
CEE 263A. Air Pollution Modeling
CEE 264A. Rivers, Streams, and Canals
CEE 266A. Watersheds and Wetlands
CEE 266B. Floods and Droughts, Dams and Aqueducts
CEE 270. Movement and Fate of Organic Contaminants in Surface Waters and Groundwater
CEE 275A. Law and Science of California Coastal Policy
EE 293A. Fundamentals of Energy Processes
EE 293B. Fundamentals of Energy Processes
MS&E 250A. Engineering Risk Analysis
NATURAL SCIENCES BREADTH COURSES
At least two courses are required. Students may choose a course not listed below provided it meets the criteria for this breadth area's subject knowledge. Students are advised to seek approval from their lead advisors in advanced and are required to obtain their adviser's signatures on the breadth certification form as verification that they have met this requirement.
BIO 101. Ecology
BIO 102. Demography: Health, Development, Environment
BIO 106. Human Origins
BIO 117. Biology and Global Change
BIO 121. Biogeography
BIO 136. Evolutionary Paleobiology
BIO 139. Biology of Birds
BIO 144. Conservation Biology
BIO 175. Tropical Ecology and Conservation
BIO 216. Terrestrial Biogeochemistry
BIO 247. Controlling Climate Change in the 21st Century
BIO 264. Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions
BIO 280. Fundamentals of Sustainable Agriculture
BIOHOPK 263H. Oceanic Biology
BIOHOPK 266H. Molecular Ecology
BIOHOPK 272H. Marine Ecology
CEE 164. Introduction to Physical Oceanography
CEE 266A. Watersheds and Wetlands
CEE 272. Coastal Contaminants
CEE 274A,B. Environmental Microbiology I,II
CEE 274P. Environmental Health Microbiology
CEE 275A. Law and Science of California Coastal Policy
EARTHSYS. 208. Coastal Wetlands
EESS 141. Remote Sensing of the Oceans
EESS 143. Marine Biogeochemistry
EESS 155. Science of Soils
EESS 162. Remote Sensing of Land Use and Land Cover
EESS 164. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science (GIS)
EESS 220. Physical Hydrogeology
EESS 240. Advanced Oceanography
EESS 258. Geomicrobiology
EESS 259. Environmental Microbial Genomics
EESS 266. Soil Chemistry
ENERGY 260. Groundwater Pollution and Oil Slicks
GEOPHYS 104. The Water Course
GEOPHYS 130. Biological Oceanography
GES 170. Environmental Geochemistry
GES 259. Marine Chemistry