Rutgers Earth System Science Graduate Programs


The Graduate Program in Atmospheric Sciences (GPAS) through the Department of Environmental Sciences offers research opportunities in atmospheric modeling and model evaluation, storm structure and dynamics, tropical climate dynamics, physical climatology, remote sensing, atmospheric chemistry and composition, the impacts of volcanism on climate, and paleoclimate. Candidates with a baccalaureate degree may apply for either the Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree program.

The program facilitates access to a full suite of research platforms through its affiliation with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the US Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program. Close affiliations with the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan provide collaborative research experiences for GPAS students. Additionally, students of the program are able to deploy field instrumentation and utilize the data produced from two permanent field stations near campus: the Rutgers Gardens Weather Station and the Photochemical Assessment Monitoring (PAM) Site. The PAM Site houses a full range of trace gas and aerosol sampling, a 20 meter tower measuring turbulent fluxes, a wind profiler radar, and a state-of-the-art solar radiation monitoring system.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.



The Graduate Program in Earth and Planetary Sciences through the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences offers research opportunities in Quaternary Studies and Engineering Geophysics as well as graduate certificate programs in these areas. Candidates with a bachelor's degree may apply for either the either the Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree program. Graduate student research projects can take full advantage of the region’s diverse geology as well as be part of numerous ongoing research projects worldwide.

Shared faculty, research, and facilities with Rutgers’ Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Anthropology, Environmental Sciences, and the Rutgers Energy Institute offer additional means of study and research possibilities, along with ties to the Departments of Geography, Chemistry, Physics, and Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources. Facilities and resources at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Princeton University, and the American Museum of Natural History, are a few of the many nearby northeast research resources.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.



The Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution through the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources offers research opportunities in conservation biology, ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, marine biology, microbial ecology, population and community ecology, population genetics, and restoration ecology. Candidates with a bachelor's degree may apply for either the either the Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree program. The graduate program is interdisciplinary in nature and offers graduate education and training in microbial, plant, animal, and human ecology under the direction of outstanding faculty located at three campuses (New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden); two marine stations (in Tuckerton and Bivalve); the Pinelands Field Station in New Lisbon; and the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.



The Graduate Program in Oceanography (GPO) through the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences offers research opportunities in real-time studies in the coastal ocean using advanced underwater instrumentation; biological and geological processes at deep-sea hydrothermal vents; remote sensing and ocean modeling; advanced underwater optics and fish behavior; biodiversity and marine molecular biology; coastal geomorphology; organism-sediment interactions; cycling of organic and inorganic materials in the ocean; watershed ecosystems. Candidates with a bachelor's degree may apply for either the Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree program.

The program is housed in a state-of the-art Marine Sciences Building on the Rutgers Cook Campus and includes seawater, morphometrics, molecular biology, remote sensing, ocean modeling and cartography laboratories. Major equipment includes seawater flumes, a satellite receiving station, state-of-the-art computing facilities, and electron microscopes.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.



The Graduate Program in Geography through the Department of Geography offers research opportunities in physical geography (climate; snow-cover dynamics; land use and land cover change; invasive species; coastal geomorphology and process response modeling of beaches and dunes; groundwater and water supply; and environmental geography); human responses to environmental hazards; megacity disasters; human dimensions of global environmental changes; public health and risk communication; institutional and cross-cultural aspects of environmental management; political ecology; environmental justice; forest, fisheries, wildlife, and agro-ecologies.

Each of these core areas may be enhanced through training in advanced geographical techniques—remote sensing, geographic information science and spatial analysis. Student research and educational opportunities are facilitated through the Geography faculty’s close collaborative links with a number of interdisciplinary research institutes and curricular programs including: the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Office of the State Climatologist, Water Resources Research Institute, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and the Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.



The Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences through the Department of Environmental Sciences offers research opportunities in air pollution science and technology, environmental chemistry, environmental engineering, environmental microbiology, exposure science, and pollution prevention and control. The backgrounds of successful applicants vary greatly. All are expected to have earned an bachelor’s degree in a science or engineering discipline with appropriate backgrounds in biology, chemistry, mathematics and/or physics. Otherwise highly qualified applicants who lack any of the above requirements may be allowed to correct this after admission. Selected applicants from non-scientific fields are sometimes admitted and have a good record of accomplishment.

Graduates have been highly successful in a wide range of professional pursuits in both the public and private sector. This includes careers in academia, business, consulting, government, health care, industry, and the media. Our alumni work in classrooms, courtrooms, hospitals, industrial plants, laboratories, offices, and the outdoors. If you like science and have an interest in the environment - we may be the program you are looking for.

More Information and Contact information for the Program Director can be found here.