Environment PhD
Program Code: G-ENV-PHD
Degree Designation: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Nicholas School of Environment
Website: nicholas.duke.edu/academics/doctoral-programs/environment-env
Program Summary
Major and minor work for the environment graduate program is offered through the environmental sciences division of the Nicholas School of the Environment. The research emphasis of the environmental sciences and policy division is in the areas of ecosystem science and management, environmental chemistry and toxicology, aquatic and atmospheric sciences, and environmental social sciences.
College graduates who have a bachelor’s degree in one of the natural or social sciences, forestry, engineering, business, or environmental science will be considered for admission to a degree program. Students will be restricted to the particular fields of specialization for which they are qualified academically. The Graduate School programs usually concentrate on some area of natural resource and environmental science/ecology, systems science, or economics/policy, while study in resource and environmental management is more commonly followed in one of the professional master’s degree programs of the Nicholas School of the Environment. For more complete program descriptions and information on professional training in forestry or environmental studies, the Bulletin of Duke University: Nicholas School of the Environment should be consulted.
Nicholas School of the Environment faculty normally accept to the academic degree program only those students who wish to pursue a PhD. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the individual faculty member under whose supervision they are interested in pursuing graduate study. Information about each faculty member’s area of research interest can be found in the Nicholas School of the Environment bulletin and on the school’s website. The degree is available for students enrolled in the joint law program, and the MS degree may be awarded as part of the doctoral program. Students generally are not admitted to the and MS tracks as standalone programs in the Nicholas School with the exception of the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, which accepts students to a MS track.