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Detailed Information

Programs of Study

The Nicholas School has a commitment to education and research addressing an area of vital concern–the quality of the Earth’s environment and the sustainable use of its natural resources. The Nicholas School is built on the belief that finding workable solutions to environmental issues requires the viewpoints of more than one discipline.

With facilities at Duke’s Durham campus and the Duke Marine Laboratory within the Outer Banks on the North Carolina coast, the Nicholas School is organized around program areas and research centers rather than traditionally structured departments. The centers serve to focus interdisciplinary research and educational activity on a variety of national and international environmental issues.

The Nicholas School’s faculty members specialize in an array of disciplines, with particular strengths in global change, ecosystem science (forest and wetlands), coastal ecosystem processes, environmental health (responses to toxic pollutants), and environmental economics and policy. Through joint faculty appointments and research, the School is affiliated with Duke’s Departments of Biology, Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Economics, and Statistics; the School of Engineering; and Duke University Medical Center. Concurrent degree programs are offered with the School of Law, the Fuqua School of Business, the Sanford School of Public Policy, the Pratt School of Engineering, and the Master of Arts in Teaching program.

Students may earn a Master of Environmental Management (M.E.M.) or Master of Forestry (M.F.) degree through the Nicholas School of the Environment. These are two-year professional degrees that require 48 units of credit. A one-year, 30-unit M.F. program is available for students who have a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from an accredited forestry school. A reduced-credit option is also available through the Senior Professional Program for students who have at least five years of related professional experience; this option requires a minimum of 30 units and one semester in residence.

The Ph.D. is offered through the Graduate School of Duke University and is appropriate for students planning careers in teaching or research. The M.S. degree may be awarded as part of a Ph.D. program.

Course work and research for the School’s professional degrees are concentrated in eight program areas: coastal environmental management, ecotoxicology and environmental health, global environmental change, environmental economics and policy, energy and environment, ecosystem science and conservation, water and air resources, and forest resource management, leading to the SAF-accredited Master of Forestry degree. In addition, faculty members at the Nicholas School’s Marine Laboratory offer opportunities for course work and research in the basic ocean sciences, marine biology, environmental and human health sciences, and marine biotechnology.

Research Facilities

The Nicholas School is headquartered in the Levine Science Research Center, an interdisciplinary, state-of-the-art facility that is fully equipped to meet the technical demands of modern teaching and research. The center’s fiber-optic networking systems give students access to high-performance computing at Duke and around the world. Students also have access to an online reference network linking all libraries at Duke University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The 8,000-acre Duke Forest lies adjacent to the campus and in two neighboring counties. A phytotron with fifty controlled-growth chambers and greenhouses is available for plant research.

The Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina, is a complete residential research and teaching facility with modern laboratories, computer facilities, and an extensive library. It is the home port for the 135-foot oceanographic research vessel Cape Hatteras and the 57-foot coastal ocean research and training vessel Susan Hudson.

Financial Aid

Scholarships, fellowships, assistantships, and student loans are available from a variety of sources. Many students receive merit-based scholarships and/or assistantship awards.

The Nicholas School maintains its own career services office to assist students in finding paid internships between their first and second years of study and permanent employment after graduation.

Cost of Study

Tuition is $28,920 per year full-time and $1200 per unit part-time in 2009–10. A health fee of $580 is required.

Living and Housing Costs

Most graduate and professional students live off campus, and many share rent with 1 or 2 roommates. Rent for apartments and houses in Durham varies widely; students can expect to pay from $500 to $1000 monthly. Living costs in Beaufort are comparable. A limited amount of on-campus housing is also available on the Durham campus.

Student Group

Approximately 250 students are enrolled in the Nicholas School’s Master of Environmental Management and Master of Forestry professional degree programs, and 80 are in the Department of the Environment of the Graduate School. The ratio of men to women is approximately equal. The School draws students with undergraduate degrees from liberal arts colleges and research universities and from international locations. While prior work experience is not a requirement for admission, it is highly valued.

Location

Durham (population 198,000), Raleigh, and Chapel Hill form an urban area known as the Research Triangle of North Carolina. Area residents enjoy annual outdoor festivals and numerous other events in drama, music, dance, and the visual arts. The Atlantic Ocean and the Blue Ridge Mountains are each within several hours’ drive. The Marine Laboratory is located 180 miles east, on Pivers Island within North Carolina’s Outer Banks, adjacent to the historic town of Beaufort (population 5,000).

The University and The School

Noted for its magnificent Gothic architecture and its academic excellence, Duke is among the smallest of the nation’s leading universities, having a total enrollment of about 11,000. Its spacious campus is bounded on the east by residential sections of Durham and on the west by the Duke Forest.

The Nicholas School of the Environment was established in 1991, but its roots date back to 1938. Duke’s Department of Geology was added to the School in 1997. The Nicholas School is the only private graduate school of forestry, environmental studies, and marine sciences in the country. Its professional forestry program has been continuously accredited by the Society of American Foresters since 1938.

Applying

Students are admitted for fall matriculation. Applications must be received by February 1 for priority consideration. Those received after the priority deadline are considered if space is available. GRE scores are required. Applicants for federal financial aid must submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Applicants who are interested only in research or summer courses at the Marine Laboratory should direct their first inquiry to the Admissions Office, Duke University Marine Laboratory.

Individuals who are interested in M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in earth or ocean sciences through the School’s Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences should see the separate listing in the Geology section of this guide.

The Faculty and Their Research

• William L. Chameides, Dean, Nicholas School of the Environment; Ph.D., Yale. Global, regional, and urban-scale environmental change; causes, impacts, and paths toward sustainable development.
• Core Faculty/Durham
• Richard M. Anderson, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 2002. Environmental systems analysis, decision analysis, watershed management.
• Paul A. Baker, Ph.D., California, San Diego (Scripps), 1981. Geochemistry and diagenesis of marine sediments and sedimentary rocks and their depositional history.
• Lori Snyder Bennear, Ph.D., Harvard. Environmental economics, evaluation of effectiveness of environmental regulations.
• Alan E. Boudreau, Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1986. Understanding the crystallization of large layered intrusions, with particular attention on the Archean Stillwater complex in Montana.
• Norman L. Christensen, Ph.D., California, Santa Barbara, 1973. Effects of disturbance on plant populations and communities, patterns of forest development, remote sensing of forest change, fire ecology.
• James S. Clark, Ph.D., Minnesota, 1988. Factors responsible for ecosystem patterns and how they respond to long-term changes in the physical environment, especially fire.
• Bruce Hayward Corliss, Ph.D., Rhode Island, 1978. Cenozoic paleoceanography and studies of marine microfossils and deep-sea sediments.
• Richard T. Di Giulio, Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1982. Aquatic toxicology; metabolism, modes of action, and genotoxicity in aquatic animals; development of biochemical responses as biomarkers of environmental quality.
• Dalia Patino Echeverri, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon. Policy analysis for energy systems, decision making under uncertainty, risk management, systems modeling.
• Peter K. Haff, Ph.D., Virginia, 1970. Quantitative modeling techniques, including computer simulation, to describe and predict the course of natural geological processes that occur on the surface of the Earth.
• Patrick N. Halpin, Ph.D., Virginia, 1995. Landscape ecology, GIS and remote sensing, international conservation management.
• Gary S. Hartshorn, Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1972. Tropical forest dynamics, biodiversity conservation, dominance-diversity patterns, sustainable forest management.
• Robert G. Healy, Ph.D., UCLA, 1972. Natural resource, land-use, and environmental policy; reconciling Third World development with environmental quality and sustainable use of natural resources; tourism policy.
• David E. Hinton, Ph.D., Mississippi, 1969. Environmental toxicology and effects assessment in aquatic organisms.
• Robert B. Jackson, Ph.D., Utah State, 1992. Ecosystem functioning and feedbacks between global change and the biosphere.
• Jeffrey A. Karson, Ph.D., SUNY at Albany, 1977. Structural and tectonic analysis of rift and transform plate boundaries.
• Prasad S. Kasibhatla, Ph.D., Kentucky, 1988. Anthropogenic emissions on atmospheric composition and reactivity on marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
• Gabriel G. Katul, Ph.D., California, Davis, 1993. Hydrology and fluid mechanisms in the environment.
• Richard F. Kay, Ph.D., Yale, 1973. Evolutionary history of the order primates, including further documenting the fossil history of Neotropical monkeys.
• Emily M. Klein, Ph.D., Columbia, 1989. Geochemistry of ocean ridge basalts using diverse tools of major- and trace-element and isotropic analysis.
• Randall A. Kramer, Ph.D., California, Davis, 1980. Environmental economics, economic valuation of environmental quality, quantitative analysis of environmental policies.
• Seth W. Kullman, Ph.D., California, Davis, 1996. Molecular toxicology, with an emphasis on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of cellular response to environmental pollutants.
• Michael L. Lavine, Ph.D., Minnesota, 1987. Sensitivity and robustness of Bayesian analyses, statistical issues in energy and environmental studies, Bayesian nonparametrics, spatial statistics.
• Edward D. Levin, Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1984. Basic neurobiology of learning and memory, neurobehavioral toxicology, development of novel therapeutic treatments for cognitive dysfunction.
• Elwood A. Linney, Ph.D., California, San Diego, 1973. Signal transduction during embryogenesis.
• Daniel A. Livingstone, Ph.D., Yale, 1953. Circulation and chemical composition of lakes, particularly in Africa, and how the distribution and abundance of organisms are affected by them.
• M. Susan Lozier, Ph.D., Washington (Seattle), 1989. Mesoscale and large-scale ocean dynamics; research approach ranges from the application of numerical models to the analysis of observational data, with a focus on the testing and development of theory.
• Lynn A. Maguire, Ph.D., Utah State, 1980. Application of simulation modeling and decision analysis in natural resource management, endangered species, conservation biology, conflict resolution.
• Peter E. Malin, Ph.D., Princeton, 1978. Tectonics; seismic wave propagation and earthquakes, with current focus on central California.
• Marie Lynn Miranda, Ph.D., Harvard, 1990. Natural resource and environmental economics with interdisciplinary, policy-oriented perspectives.
• A. Brad Murray, Ph.D., Minnesota, 1995. Surficial processes and patterns, including rivers and a range of desert, Arctic, and alpine phenomena.
• Richard G. Newell, Ph.D., Harvard. Economics of climate-change policy, energy policy, energy technologies and energy efficiency, and market-based environmental policy.
• Ram Oren, Ph.D., Oregon State, 1984. Physiological ecology and its application to quantifying water, nutrient, and carbon dynamics in forest ecosystems.
• Orrin H. Pilkey, Ph.D., Florida State, 1962. Basic and applied coastal geology, focusing primarily on barrier island coasts.
• Stuart L. Pimm, Ph.D., New Mexico State, 1974. Conservation biology and the impact of human interactions on the survival of species.
• Lincoln F. Pratson, Ph.D., Columbia, 1993. Role of sedimentary processes in shaping continental margins.
• Kenneth H. Reckhow, Ph.D., Harvard, 1977. Water-quality modeling and applied statistics, decision and risk analysis for water-quality management, uncertainty analysis and parameter estimation in water-quality models.
• James F. Reynolds, Ph.D., New Mexico State, 1974. International efforts on land degradation in arid and semiarid regions of the world.
• Curtis J. Richardson, Ph.D., Tennessee, 1972. Wetland ecology, ecosystem analysis, soil chemistry/plant nutrition relationships, phosphorus cycling, effects of pollutants on biogeochemical cycling in ecosystems.
• Daniel D. Richter, Ph.D., Duke, 1980. Forest ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry of acid soils, soil and watershed management in the humid temperate zone and the tropics.
• Erika Sasser, Ph.D., Duke, 1999. The evolving shape of environmental regulation of business; the impact of private, voluntary governance mechanisms on environmental outcomes.
• Martin D. Smith, Ph.D., California, Davis, 2001. Natural resource economics, modeling linkages between economic behavior and biophysical processes.
• Heather M. Stapleton, Ph.D., Maryland, 2003. Fate and biotransformation of organic contaminants in aquatic systems, focusing on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).
• John W. Terborgh, Ph.D., Harvard, 1963. Tropical ecology and biogeography, adaptive strategies of plants and animals, conservation biology.
• Jerry J. Tulis, Ph.D., Illinois, 1965. Occupational and environmental biohazards, indoor air quality, waste management.
• Dean L. Urban, Ph.D., Tennessee, 1986. Landscape ecology, forest ecosystem dynamics, application of simulation models to assess forest response to land-use practice and climatic change.
• Avner Vengosh, Ph.D., Australian National. Environmental and aqueous geochemistry, isotope hydrology, water quality, salinization of water resources.
• Jeff R. Vincent, Ph.D., Yale. Economics of natural resource management and policy in developing countries, with an emphasis on forests, agriculture, and water in Asia.
• Erika Weinthal, Ph.D., Columbia, 1998. Environmental policy, international environmental institutions, political economy of the resource curse, water cooperation and conflict, environmental security.
• Jonathan B. Wiener, J.D., Harvard, 1987. Interplay of science, economics, and law in addressing environmental and human health risks.
• Core Faculty/Beaufort
• Richard T. Barber, Ph.D., Stanford, 1967. Thermal dynamics and ocean basin productivity.
• Celia Bonaventura, Ph.D., Texas, 1968. Structure-function relationships of macromolecules, biotechnology.
• Joseph Bonaventura, Ph.D., Texas, 1968. Marine biomedicine, protein structure-function relationships.
• Lisa Campbell, Ph.D., Cambridge. Environmental policy, coastal zone management, environmental sociology and anthropology.
• Jens A. Carlsson, Ph.D., Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2000. Aquatic organisms, conservation and population genetics, kin selection and behavior, fish and shellfish fisheries.
• Larry B. Crowder, Ph.D., Michigan State, 1978. Marine ecology and fisheries oceanography.
• Richard B. Forward Jr., Ph.D., California, Santa Barbara, 1969. Physiological ecology of marine animals.
• David W. Johnston, Ph.D., Duke. Marine conservation and ecology, focusing on oceanography, climate change, marine protected areas, and population assessments.
• William W. Kirby-Smith, Ph.D., Duke, 1970. Ecology of marine-freshwater systems.
• Douglas Nowacek, Ph.D. Conservation technology, oceanography.
• Michael K. Orbach, Ph.D., California, San Diego, 1975. Application of social and policy sciences to coastal and ocean policy and management.
• Joseph S. Ramus, Ph.D., Berkeley, 1968. Algal ecological physiology, estuarine dynamics, biotechnology.
• Andrew J. Read, Ph.D., Guelph, 1989. Biology and conservation of small cetaceans.
• Daniel Rittschof, Ph.D., Michigan, 1975. Chemical ecology of marine organisms.
• Thomas F. Schultz, Ph.D., North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Molecular biology and the application of molecular techniques for marine conservation and biodiversity.

Correspondence and Information

Duke University
Enrollment Services Office
Nicholas School of the Environment
Box 90330
Durham, North Carolina 27708-0330
Telephone: 919-613-8070
Email: admissions@nicholas.duke.edu


Duke University
Admissions Office
Duke University Marine Laboratory
Nicholas School of the Environment
135 Duke Marine Lab Road
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516-9721
Telephone: 252-504-7502
Email: ml_admissions@nicholas.duke.edu