Doctor of Philosophy in Environment and Resources

IPER's Ph.D. requirements, updated annually at http://iper.stanford.edu/study/requirements.html#phd, lay out a scaffold of advising meetings, core courses, program activities, and milestones to guide students' progress. Each student works with a faculty advising team, comprising at least two faculty from different disciplines, to design a course of study that allows the student to develop and exhibit: a) familiarity with analytical tools and research approaches for interdisciplinary problem solving, and a mastery of those tools and approaches central to the student's thesis work; b) interdisciplinary breadth in each of four focal areas: culture and institutions; economics and policy analysis; engineering and technology; and natural sciences; and c) depth in at least two distinct fields of inquiry.

Program specific Ph.D. requirements are outlined in detail in the current year requirements and are summarized below:

Completion of the Ph.D. core course sequence: IPER 310, Environmental Forum Seminar (two quarters); IPER 320, Designing Environmental Research; and IPER 330, Research Approaches for Environmental Problem Solving, each with a letter grade of 'B' or higher. IPER Ph.D. students are also required to take IPER 300, Earth Sciences Seminar, which is required of all incoming School of Earth Sciences graduate students.
Completion of the breadth requirement in all four focal areas (culture and institutions; economics and policy analysis; engineering and technology; and natural sciences) through a sequence of courses, independent study, and/or demonstration of proficiency through prior course work or experience. Specific requirements and approved courses that satisfy breadth in each of the four focal areas are listed below; updates can be found at http://iper/study/requirements.html. Fulfillment of the breadth requirement must be certified by the student's two lead faculty advisers and the IPER faculty director.
Fulfillment of depth in the student's chosen fields of inquiry through additional courses, research, and/or independent studies. The student's two lead faculty advisers must certify that a) the two fields of inquiry are sufficiently distinct such that work integrating the two is interdisciplinary; and b) the student's course work and independent study has provided the substantial depth of understanding normally expected at the Ph.D. level.
Completion of quarterly meetings with advisers during the first year, culminating in the Spring Quarter first-year big picture advising meeting; and at minimum, annual meetings thereafter, including the Spring Quarter Second Year Meeting of the Minds, prior to which students must formally identify their two lead advisers and two distinct fields of inquiry.
Submission of a candidacy plan by end of Spring Quarter of the second year, for review at the Second Year Meeting of the Minds and approval by IPER's faculty director. The candidacy plan should document how the student has fulfilled the program requirements to date and include a summary of research ideas and a list of faculty who might serve as qualifying exam committee members.
Successful completion of the oral qualifying exam and completion of the requirements for candidacy, including at least 25 graded graduate course units (200 level and above) with at least a 'B' average, by the end of Winter Quarter of the third year. The oral qualifying exam committee should include the student's two lead advisers and 2-3 other faculty with expertise in the student's research area. The majority of the oral qualifying exam committee should be members of the Academic Council; the chair of the committee must be an Academic Council member and may not be one of the student's two lead advisers. In exceptional cases, the committee may include a member-at-large who is not a Stanford faculty member as a fourth or fifth member.
Completion of a written dissertation, approved by the student's dissertation reading committee consisting of the student's lead advisers and at least one other member, and passage of the University oral examination in defense of the dissertation following the guidelines outlined in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin. The University oral examination committee comprises the student's two lead advisers, at least two additional members, and a chair who is outside of the departments of the lead advisers, all of whom are normally Academic Council members. Appointment of a non-Academic Council member must be justified and approved by the faculty director.

In addition to the requirements listed above, all Ph.D. students must:

Serve as a teaching assistant for at least one quarter in a course with a discussion section or with an opportunity to lecture in at least two class sessions, in any department or program, including IPER 320 or IPER 330. Students should fulfill the teaching requirement by the end of the third year unless they obtain a firm commitment from a faculty member to TA a future course.
Submit at least one grant proposal for external funding, defined as fellowship and/or research funds provided by a government agency, a private foundation, or a University entity other than IPER or the School of Earth Sciences.

Participate each year in a Spring Quarter annual review in which the student and lead advisers submit progress reports to the IPER executive committee.

The following courses may be taken to satisfy the breadth requirement in IPER's four focal areas. Students should consult the current year's bulletin and time schedule to determine which courses are available this year.

CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS BREADTH COURSES

At least two courses are required. Students may choose a course not listed below provided it meets the criteria for this breadth area's subject knowledge. Students are advised to seek approval from their lead advisers in advance and are required to obtain their advisers' signatures on the breadth certification form as verification that they have met this requirement.

ANTHRO 247. Nature, Culture, Heritage

ANTHRO 262. Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Problems

EARTHSYS 224. Environmental Justice: Local, National, and International Dimensions

ECON 228. Institutions and Organizations in Historical Perspective

HISTORY 281A. Environmental History of the Americas

HISTORY 276. Modern Brazil

LAW 280. Toxic Harms

LAW 281. Natural Resources Law and Policy

LAW 437. Water Law and Policy

LAW 455. Energy Law and Policy

LAW 603. Environmental Law and Policy

LAW 604. Environmental Law Workshop

LAW 605. International Environmental Law and Policy

LAW 667. Marine Resources

MS&E 252. Decision Analysis I

POLISCI 351A. Foundations of Political Economy

POLISCI 362. New Economics of Organizations

POLISCI 364. Theories of Political Institutions

POLISCI 424. Introduction to Political Psychology

POLISCI 435. Topics in the Philosophy of Social Science

POLISCI 436. Rational Choice

POLISCI 440A. Theories in Comparative Politics

POLISCI 440B. Comparative Political Economy

POLISCI 440C. Methods in Comparative Politics

POLISCI 442. Qualitative and Field Methods

PSYCH 223. Social Norms

PUBLPOL 102. Organizations and Public Policy

PUBLPOL 166. Organizational Theory and Design

PUBLPOL 194. Technology Policy

SOC 116. Globalization and Organizations

SOC 260. Formal Organizations

SOC 264. Firms, Markets, and States

SOC 314. Economic Sociology

SOC 318. Social Movement and Collective Action

SOC 320. Foundations of Social Psychology

SOC 360. Foundations of Organizational Sociology

SOC 362. Organization and Environment

SOC 363. Social and Political Processes in Organizations

SOC 363A. Seminar on Organizational Theory

SOC 364. Organizations as Governance Structures

SOC 367. Institutional Analysis of Organizations

SOC 377. Comparing Institutional Forms: Public, Private, and Nonprofit

ECONOMICS AND POLICY ANALYSIS BREADTH COURSES

One of the alternative course sequences listed below, culminating in IPER 243 (same as MS&E 243), satisfies the minimum breadth requirement:

ECON 50 and 51. Economic Analysis I and II

ECON 50. Economic Analysis I and ECON 155. Environmental Economics and Policy

ECON 202 or ECON 202N and ECON 203 or ECON 203N. Core Economics

ECON 206. World Food Economy

MS&E 241. Economic Analysis

MS&E 248. Economics of Natural Resources

PUBLPOL 201A. Microeconomics

Possible substitutes for IPER 243:

ECON 250. Environmental Economics

ECON 251. Natural Resources and Energy

PUBLPOL 201B. Cost-Benefit Analysis and Evaluation

The same alternative prerequisites listed above apply to PUBLPOL 201B, ECON 250, and ECON 251. PUBLPOL 201B focuses less on environmental issues than IPER 243. Ph.D. students choosing economics and policy analysis as one of their fields of inquiry are encouraged to take ECON 202 or ECON 202N and ECON 203 or ECON 203N, in addition to IPER 243, ECON 250, and/or ECON 251.

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY BREADTH COURSES

At least one course is required; this list represents examples of appropriate courses only. Students may choose a course not listed below provided it meets the criteria for this breadth area's subject knowledge. Students are advised to seek approval from their lead advisers in advance and are required to obtain their advisers' signatures on the breadth certification form as verification that they have met this requirement.

CEE 101B. Mechanics of Fluids

CEE 215. Goals and Methods of Sustainable Building Projects

CEE 161A, Rivers, Streams, and Canals

CEE 166B. Floods and Droughts, Dams and Aqueducts

CEE 172. Air Quality Management

CEE 207A. Energy Resources

CEE 176A. Energy Efficient Buildings

CEE 176B. Electric Power: Renewables and Efficiency

CEE 177. Aquatic Chemistry and Biology

CEE 201D. Computations in Civil and Environmental Engineering

CEE 260A. Physical Hydrogeology

CEE 262B. Transport and Mixing in Surface Water Flows

CEE 263A. Air Pollution Modeling

CEE 270. Movement and Fate of Organic Contaminants in Surface Waters and Groundwater

CEE 274E. Pathogens in the Environment

EE 293A. Fundamentals of Energy Processes

EE 293B. Fundamentals of Energy Processes

ENERGY 101. Energy and the Environment

ENERGY 102. Renewable Energy Sources and Greener Energy Processes

ENERGY 104. Technology in the Greenhouse

MS&E 250A. Engineering Risk Analysis

NATURAL SCIENCES BREADTH COURSES

At least two courses are required; alternative courses may be proposed through IPER's exception process.

IPER 250. Ecological Principles for Environmental Problem Solving

BIO 101. Ecology

BIO 102. Demography: Health, Development, Environment

BIO 106. Human Origins

BIO 117. Biology and Global Change

BIO 121. Biogeography

BIO 136. Evolutionary Paleobiology

BIO 139. Biology of Birds

BIO 143. Evolution

BIO 144. Conservation Biology

BIO 175. Tropical Ecology and Conservation

BIO 247. Controlling Climate Change in the 21st Century

BIO 264. Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions

BIO 216. Terrestrial Biogeochemistry

BIOHOPK 263H. Oceanic Biology

BIOHOPK 265H. Air and Water

BIOHOPK 266H. Molecular Ecology

BIOHOPK 272H. Marine Ecology

CEE 164. Introduction to Physical Oceanography

CEE 274A,B. Environmental Microbiology I,II

EARTHSYS. 208. Coastal Wetlands

EESS 141. Remote Sensing of the Oceans

EESS 143/231. Marine Biogeochemistry

EESS 155. Science of Soils

EESS 266. Soil Chemistry

EESS 162. Remote Sensing of Land Use and Land Cover

EESS 164. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science (GIS)

EESS 220. Physical Hydrogeology

EESS 240. Advanced Oceanography

EESS 258. Geomicrobiology

EESS 259. Environmental Microbial Genomics

ENERGY 260. Groundwater Pollution and Oil Slicks

GEOPHYS 104. The Water Course

GEOPHYS 130. Biological Oceanography

GES 170. Environmental Geochemistry

GES 259. Marine Chemistry

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Stanford Bulletin, Archive 2008-09