Ohio State University, The

Program Information

Degree Offered

Ph.D.-Environmental Science

Format: Campus

Program Description:

The Environmental Science Graduate Program (ESGP) is a multi-college endeavor at The Ohio State University (OSU) and is comprised of faculty from many departments within the colleges of Biological Sciences; Engineering; Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Medicine; Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Veterinary Medicine. The ESGP office is located at 469 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road. on the Agriculture Campus.

The dominant problems of the next century - ecological, economic and political - will be those of an interconnected, interdependent world population. Ecological issues, such as environmental degradation and resource depletion, are often the ultimate cause of economic and political policies. It isimportant to understand the processes and principles of the environment - embodied in environmental science - to deal with these issues. Understanding will come from research on the problems themselves and on the basic science underlying the problems. Some environmental issues that will continue to beg solutions through the 21st century are acid precipitation, hazardous waste disposal, global climate change, water quality impairment of lakes and rivers, forest, grassland and wetland loss, toxic substances in our food chain, oil spills, loss of biodiversity, nonrenewable resource depletion, introduction and impact of non-indigenous species, and general deterioration of the biosphere.

Scientists and professionals are needed who, after achieving a solid disciplinary education in science-related fields as undergraduates, have integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to deal with these problems. Academic compartmentalization is ill-suited to learning about and solving the environmental problems of the 21st century. The Ohio State University's ESGP is designed to cut across traditional academic disciplines and colleges to provide sound and effective graduate education and research on these important environmental issues.

The ESGP's goal is the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of environmental science. This field includes studies in ecotoxicology, environmental impact, population and community ecology, ecological modeling, regional ecology, paleoecology, water, soil and air pollution, resource depletion, toxic and hazardous wasters, fate and effects (on humans and other organisms) of environmental pollutants, global and regional changes caused by humans, ecological engineering, ecological and environmental economics, and aquatic, terrestrial and wetland systems. The program emphasizes basic research on ecological processes and effects, and applied research and teaching that will contribute to solving the world's pressing environmental problems.

Accreditation:

.

Tuition & Financial Aid

Financial Aid Offered: No

Classification: Doctoral/Research Universities - Extensive

Institution Sector: Public

Locale: Large City

Size & Settings: 20,000 and above