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The Departments of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics jointly offer a graduate program in atmospheric and planetary science leading to the Ph.D. degree. Four to six years are generally required to complete the Ph.D., including the earning of M.A. and M.Phil. degrees. Applicants should have a strong background in physics and mathematics, including advanced undergraduate courses in mechanics, electromagnetism, advanced calculus, and differential equations.
The program is conducted in cooperation with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Institute for Space Studies, which is adjacent to Columbia University. Members of the Institute hold adjunct faculty appointments, offer courses, and supervise the research of graduate students in the program. The Institute holds colloquia and scientific conferences in which the University community participates. Opportunities for visiting scientists to conduct research at the Institute are provided by postdoctoral research programs administered by the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council and Columbia and supported by NASA.
Research at the Institute focuses on broad studies of natural and anthropogenic global changes. Areas of study include global climate, earth observations, biogeochemical cycles, planetary atmospheres, and related interdisciplinary studies. The global climate involves basic research on climatic variations and climate processes, including the development of global numerical models to study the climate effects of increasing carbon dioxide and other trace gases, aerosols, solar variability, and changing surface conditions. The earth observations program entails research in the retrieval of cloud, aerosol, and surface radiative properties from global satellite radiance data to further understanding of their effects on climate. Biogeochemical cycles research utilizes three-dimensional models to study in the distribution of trace gases in the troposphere and stratosphere and to examine the role of the biosphere in the global carbon cycle. The planetary atmospheres program focuses on studies of the dynamics of Titan and the Jovian planets, using Cassini spacecraft data. Interdisciplinary research includes studies of turbulence and astrobiology.
The Institute operates a modern general-purpose scientific computing facility consisting of a Compaq ES45 with 32 processors operating on Tru 64 UNIX; a 96-processor SGI Origin 3000 server; an 8-processor SGI Power Challenge development server; eighty workstations, including sixty IBM RS/6000 and twenty SGI IRIX; and PCs, Macs, and peripheral equipment. Spyglass, AVS, IDL, NCAR graphics, and in-house software permit interactive processing, display, and analysis of satellite imagery and other digital data. The Institute is the Global Processing Center for the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, which uses satellite observations to create a multidecadal record of cloud and surface variations. Institute personnel frequently collaborate with scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Close research ties also exist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, especially in the areas of geochemistry, oceanography, and paleoclimate studies. All facilities, including the Institute's library containing approximately 17,000 volumes, are made available to students in the program.
Research assistantships are available to most students in the program. Graduate assistantships in 2007-08 carry a twelve-month stipend of approximately $2270 per month and include a tuition waiver and payment of fees.
Tuition and fees for 2007-08 are estimated at $36,525. As noted in the Financial Aid section, tuition and fees are paid for graduate students holding research assistantships.
Limited on-campus housing is available for single and married graduate students on 350-day contracts. Rates range from $11,490 for an unfurnished shared-unit apartment to $9960 for a furnished dormitory-style private room and $7560 for a furnished dormitory-style semiprivate room. Studios average $15,630 and one-bedroom apartments range from $13,500 to $17,796. Most students live off campus, many of them in apartments owned and operated by the University within a few blocks of the campus.
Of the 23,000 students at Columbia, 3,500 are students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Currently, there are 8 Columbia students at the Institute for Space Studies, all of whom are Ph.D. candidates in the Atmospheric and Planetary Science Program. There are also 22 University research appointments at the Institute.
Columbia University is located in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan in New York City. New York's climate is moderate, with average maximum and minimum temperatures of 85°F and 69°F in July and 40°F and 28°F in January. New York is one of the top cultural centers in the United States and, as such, provides unrivaled opportunities for attending concerts, operas, and plays and for visiting world-renowned art, scientific, and historical museums. Student discount tickets for many musical and dramatic performances are available in the Graduate Student Lounge. A comprehensive network of public transportation alleviates the need for keeping an automobile in the city. The superb beaches of Long Island, including the Fire Island National Seashore, are within easy driving distance, as are the numerous ski slopes, state parks, and other recreational areas of upstate New York and southern New England.
Columbia University, founded in 1754 by royal charter of King George II of England, is a member of the Ivy League. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in New York State and the fifth-oldest in the United States. It consists of sixteen separate schools and colleges with over 3,200 full-time faculty members.
To enter the program, an application must be submitted to one of the participating departments. For students applying for September admission, completed forms should be received by December 1 for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and by December 15 for the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics.
Dr. Anthony D. Del Genio
Atmospheric and Planetary Science Program
Armstrong Hall — GISS
Columbia University
2880 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
Telephone: 212-678-5588
E-mail:
adelgenio@giss.nasa.gov
For additional information about graduate study at Columbia University, please consult Peterson's Virtual Campus or the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences homepage.
Updated 2007-02-02
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