Princeton graduate students interested in environmental research have the opportunity to participate in one of several multidisciplinary projects administered by PEI. These projects, which are described below, bring together the expertise of faculty and students from departments across the campus to address environmental problems of critical importance. These centers receive long-term support from government agencies, foundations and industry and offer opportunities for exciting thesis projects. Participating graduate students thus help bring about solutions to real-world problems while furthering their scientific training.

Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI)
Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI), initiated in fall 2000, is a long-term partnership with BP, p.l.c. and Ford Motor Company, to find a solution to the greenhouse gas problem. The goal is to identify the most credible paths to capture and sequester a large fraction of the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, and to establish which, if any, of these paths: 1) will have the desired effect on atmospheric carbon and climate; 2) will be safe and reliable with limited environmental impact; and 3) will involve neither prohibitive economic costs nor prohibitive disruption of patterns of energy consumption. CMI’s focus is on the fundamental scientific, environmental, and technological issues that ultimately will determine public acceptance of CO2 sequestration.

Graduate students from various engineering, science and social science departments have the opportunity to become involved in one of the three principal research themes of CMI: 1) the establishment of a hydrogen economy; 2) the sequestration of CO2 in deep aquifers; and 3) the understanding and enhancing of natural carbon sinks. This project involves both fundamental and applied research, ranging from improvements in the technology for making hydrogen out of fossil fuels to the understanding of the processes that control CO2 variations during glacial/interglacial cycles.

Contacts: Professor Steve Pacala, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 101 Eno Hall, Princeton University, pacala@princeton.edu and Professor Robert Socolow, PEI and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 139 Guyot Hall, Princeton University, socolow@princeton.edu

Center for BioComplexity (CBC)
The Center for BioComplexity (CBC), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), seeks to understand the mechanisms responsible for the homeostatic processes that regulate climate and maintain the physical and chemical environment that sustains our life support systems. Through a collaboration among ecologists, biogeochemists and hydrologists, the CBC aims to understand how macroscopic properties at scales of ocean basins and forested regions emerge from the interactions between organisms and their environments.

Graduate students in the departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geosciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as in the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics have the opportunity to participate in this project. Topics include development of toy models to examine the variations in the ratios of essential elements (including trace elements) in primary producers or experimental studies of carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus ratios in terrestrial or oceanic biomass.

Contact: Professor Simon Levin, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 203 Eno Hall, Princeton University, slevin@princeton.edu

Center for Environmental BioInorganic Chemistry (CEBIC)
The Center for Environmental BioInorganic Chemistry is an Environmental Molecular Science Institute funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It brings together the complementary expertise of bioinorganic chemists, geochemists, oceanographers and environmental microbiologists (principally at Princeton, Rutgers and the University of California), to explain the molecular mechanisms that determine the function, fate, and effect of trace metals in the environment. The central scientific objective of CEBIC is to elucidate the structure and function of important natural metalloenzymes and metal binding compounds that catalyze key processes in the global cycles of carbon and nitrogen.

Graduate students mainly in the departments of Chemistry and Geosciences collaborate on projects dealing with the uptake of inorganic carbon by marine phytoplankton, the transformation of nitrogen by marine bacteria and the microbial degradation of petroleum compounds. This research involves laboratory experiments with cultures of microorganisms and/or key metalloenzymes as well as oceanographic cruises.

Contact: Professor François M. M. Morel, Department of Geosciences, 153 Guyot Hall, Princeton University, morel@princeton.edu

Princeton Climate Center (PCC)/Cooperative Institute for Climate Science (CICS)
The Princeton Climate Center (PCC), funded by the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), was established as part of the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science (CICS) to facilitate collaborations between scientists from Princeton and those at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory on Princeton’s Forrestal Campus. Investigators are seeking a better understanding of climate and human impacts on it, including biogeochemical cycles and climate prediction. The center also considers the co-evolution of society and the environment, including studies of climate impacts, and implications for public policy and management. Jorge Sarmiento directs both the PCC and CICS. The PCC evolved out of the former Carbon Modeling Consortium (CMC), which focused on the development of an integrated carbon system model capable of providing assessments of the seasonally and regionally resolved carbon dioxide sources and sinks that control atmospheric CO2 concentration.

Graduate students in the departments of Geosciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as well as in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences program contribute to this research. Many research projects focus on estimating present and future changes in the CO2 sinks in the oceans or land biosphere.

Contact: Professor Jorge Sarmiento, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, 306A Sayre Hall, Princeton University, Forrestal Campus, jls@princeton.edu

PEI/STEP Fellowship Program
A novel component of Princeton’s graduate environmental program is the PEI Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy program, known as PEI-STEP. This two-year fellowship program (half-support per year) enables participating graduate students to add a policy dimension to their basic science or technology work. PEI-STEP students write an independent paper on their policy research, which is the equivalent of a chapter in the thesis. In addition to the departmental thesis advisor, students will choose a PEI-STEP advisor, typically from the Woodrow Wilson School’s Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program (STEP). Students who complete PEI-STEP are awarded the Graduate Certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Contact: Professor Michael Oppenheimer, Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Geosciences, 448 Robertson Hall, Princeton University, omichael@princeton.edu or Professor David Wilcove, Woodrow Wilson School and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 403 Robertson Hall, Princeton University, dwilcove@princeton.edu

Admissions

Candidates for admission should apply to a regular department and list PEI as the interdepartmental program of choice on the Graduate School application. The degree granted will be from the department in which the student is enrolled. To apply to the PEI-STEP program, candidates will develop a policy proposal with the assistance of the PEI-STEP advisor at the end of the first or second year. Candidates must also fulfill the requirements of the home department. Applications are available on this website.

Financial Aid

Through the PEI-STEP program, PEI offers half financial support for two years, normally the second and third years. Graduate students will also have the opportunity to obtain research assistantships or teaching assistantships in the undergraduate Program in Environmental Studies.

Course Work

PEI students are encouraged to include in their program of study graduate courses in environmental topics from among those offered by the affiliated programs listed above, and other departments or programs, as well as PEI graduate program courses. In particular, PEI-STEP students will take WWS584, "The Use of Science in Environmental Policy," and 2 STEP-approved electives.

Seminars and Colloquia

In addition to courses, students attend colloquia related to their interests. Students may attend a weekly faculty session (PEI Faculty Forum, held on Tuesdays at lunchtime during the academic year), a monthly graduate seminar series (ENV/GEO 524) and a yearly poster session to foster interdisciplinary exchanges and encourage a spirit of cohesiveness among program students. The seminar series is conducted by Princeton faculty, students and outside speakers. Other departments also sponsor seminars on environmentally-related topics over the course of the academic year.

Dissertation Committee and Advisors

It is suggested that the dissertation committee includes at least one PEI faculty member from a department other than the student’s home department.