M.S. in Climate Science & Policy, Bard College
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Colleagues and friends,
We have extended the application deadline for our new fall program, MS in Climate Science & Policy; scholarships remain available for next year. Please pass along to interested prospective students. Thanks–
Eban Goodstein
Director, Bard Center for Environmental Policy
Climate Science & Policy at Bard
The Bard Center for Environmental Policy is offering a new MS Degree in Climate Science and Policy, beginning this Fall 2010. This new degree helps to provide the trained workforce critical for businesses, non-profit organizations, and governments at all levels as they face the increasing challenges posed by climate change.
Program Description
The international community has set a consensus goal of holding global warming to the low end of 2 degrees C above 1990 levels. Meeting this target will require dramatic transformations of energy, forest, agricultural, transportation and urban systems, transformations of unprecedented scale and speed. These initiatives will require a large workforce with comprehensive training in both climate science and policy. Yet, relative to this need, the number of students with an interest in climate solutions who are also receiving rigorous, in-depth graduate level education in climate science is very small.
While retaining the policy strength of our existing Masters in Environmental Policy degree, the new Masters in Climate Science and Policy program has a focus on climate science, specializing in the interactions between climate change, ecosystems and agriculture. This focus addresses the critical need for policy-makers in the areas of offset markets; biofuels; ecosystem services; forest and soil sequestration; agricultural and livestock life-cycle emissions; ecosystem and agricultural adaptation; crop, livestock and human diseases; and crop, livestock and forest management.
Bard College has developed a collaborative partnership with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. The Cary Institute is one of the world’s premier research institutions focused on applying ecosystem analysis to policy challenges. Cary’s scientists, combined with the strengths of the faculty at Bard CEP, provide students in our new degree program with access to world-class scientific research opportunities, classroom education, and field experiences related to agricultural and ecosystem impacts of climate change.. At the same time, building off our existing policy expertise, and on our signature close collaboration between natural and social scientists in curriculum design, students also gain the sophisticated graduate level training in policy solutions demanded by employers.
In the private, non-profit and public sectors, there is fast growing demand for workers with both strong climate science training, and the skills to design and implement policy solutions. The Bard CEP, in partnership with the Cary Institute, offers our new degree program to help close this gap.
CS&P: Year One
§ One-year sequence in general climate science.
§ One-year sequence in the science of climate, ecosystems and agriculture.
§ One-year sequence in environmental and natural resource economics.
§ The National Climate Seminar, ongoing participation.
§ One-term statistics class.
§ One-term Geographic Information Systems class.
§ Three-month internship (summer)
CS&P: Year Two
§ One-term, advanced seminar on the science of climate, ecosystems and agriculture.
§ One-term seminar on Climate Law and Policy.
§ Science-based masters thesis.
§ Communications seminar.
§ Capstone Leadership seminar.
How to Apply
LAST DAY TO APPLY: May 15th, 2010.
All application materials, including transcripts, GRE Scores, and FAFSA forms must be submitted/postmarked by the deadline above to be considered. Prerequisites to the program include courses in science and calculus. For more information and to apply on-line, VISIT OUR WEBSITE, or contact Molly Williams, Admission Coordinator at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, by phone (845) 758-7071 or email .
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- Delivering GHG Reductions under Various Climate Policy Options
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