DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment is introducing a new certificate program in Climate Change Science and Applications.

The 12-credit program, which starts this fall, is open to all Master of Environmental Management (MEM) and Master of Forestry (MF) students.

To earn the certificate, students must complete required coursework in physical or natural science, social science, and integrated assessment modeling, as well as a climate-related elective specific to their individual concentration area.  

They also must demonstrate mastery of skills learned through these courses by applying them in their Master’s project or another equally substantive faculty-supervised capstone research project.

“All students planning careers in energy or the environment could benefit from a solid grounding in climate change. It affects forests, oceans, water, biodiversity, agriculture, air quality, human health, economic development, energy production, political stability, international security and a wide range of other resources, processes and systems vital to our species’ and planet’s survival,” says Drew Shindell, Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences, who serves as faculty coordinator of the new program.

“To give students the broad but in-depth training they need, our new certificate brings together courses taught by many of the top experts on climate change science, policy and law at the Nicholas School and from across Duke’s campus,” Shindell says.

A partial list of these courses includes:
* “The Climate System,” taught by Wenhong Li;
* “Climate and Society,” taught by Shindell;
* “Climate Change Economics and Policy,” taught by Billy Pizer;
* “Climate Change Law,” taught by Jonathan Wiener;
* “Integrated Assessment Modeling,” a new course slated for spring 2019, taught by Shindell;
* “Global Environmental Change,” taught by Paul Baker;
* “Introduction to Coastal Environmental Change Processes,” taught by A. Brad Murray;
* “Marine Climate Change,” taught by David Johnston;
* “Air Quality Management,” taught by Junfeng Zhang and John Vandenburg;
* “Ecological Diversity and Climate Change,” taught by James Clark;
* “Landscape Analysis and Management,” taught by Dean Urban; and
* “Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry,” taught by Prasad Kasibhatla.

Certificate coursework will be augmented with workshops and panel discussions on current topics in climate science, co-hosted by Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Duke Energy Initiative.

Students can also select courses taught at North Carolina State University or the University of North Carolina to fulfill their elective requirement, further expanding the available pool of faculty expertise they have access to, Shindell says.

For more information about the new certificate program, contact Shindell at drew.shindelll@duke.edu.

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