Requirements for Specialization in Environmental and Geological Sciences (updated 9/10/07)

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The Environmental and Geological Sciences specialization provides interdisciplinary education and research from a variety of fields in geological and environmental sciences that are concerned with the ancient and modern environments of the earth and their impact on the health and well-being of human populations. The specialization is research and examination oriented. The two required courses are EES 70400 (Nature of Scientific Research) and EES 80200 (Advanced Research Seminar). From the first stages of matriculation, the student directs his/her program toward the desired research specialization. The major steps occur in the following order: First Examination, Second Examination, and Defense of the Dissertation.

I. First Examination: The examination is written and must be taken after the accumulation of 30 credits within the specialization. This includes all graduate course credits that were transferred from other institutions. The student who enters the Ph.D. program with an accepted M.A. degree must take the First Examination at the first scheduled opportunity. It is an individual examination designed for the student's intended research area. The student selects three of the areas closest to his/her research interests prior to the established date of the examination, from the following list:

Areas

• Stratigraphy and Sedimentology
• Environmental Geochemistry/Environmental Health
• Hydrology and Groundwater Geology
• Internal Processes/ Tectonics/Geophysics/Structural Geology
• Surficial Processes/ Soil Science Ecology/
• Paleoecology/Paleontology Meteoritics/Igneous/Metamorphic Petrology
• Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental and Geological Mapping
• Remote Sensing Geochemistry and Geochronology
• Mineralogy and Crystallography

Examination questions are prepared from the area choices selected by the student. Upon satisfactory completion of the First Examination, the student selects his/her dissertation committee. This committee sits with the student and selects those additional courses that are relevant to the area of dissertation research. The committee recommends whether or not the student must pass a specific foreign language examination. In consultation with the student, the committee selects an area to test the student's computer proficiency.

II. Second Examination: The Second Examination involves the submission and defense of a proposal describing the dissertation research planned by the student. (See Appendix A of Student Handbook: Format for Dissertation Proposals). A dissertation committee, comprising a minimum of three members of the doctoral faculty, is appointed to assist the student in preparing for the Second Examination.

The dissertation proposal must be written in an acceptable research-journal format, and presented to the student's Dissertation Committee for a critical review of content. The Dissertation Committee must receive the Proposal at least two weeks prior to the scheduled Second Examination. The Second Examination is an oral examination conducted by the Dissertation Committee during which the student describes and defends all aspects of his/her proposal. The student must be able to explain his/her research in the context of the historical development of the research discipline; relate his/her project to ongoing research in his/her field, and must demonstrate a thorough command of the literature relevant to the research. Normally, the Second Examination takes place upon completion of 60 credits, and requires approximately 2 hours.

The Dissertation Committee will require that the student rectify any errors in the research plan or address specific inadequacies in the literature review through a retake of all or a portion of the exam as specified by the Dissertation Committee no more than 12 months from the date of the first attempt.

III. Advancement to Candidacy: Before a student can be certified as a candidate for a doctoral degree (advancement to Level III of the process of earning the Ph.D.), he or she must have completed the following requirements: all required course work (of which at least 30 credits must be taken at the City University) with at least an overall B average; any language requirements; the First and Second Examinations; and any special program requirements for certification.

Human Subjects Certification All doctoral students advanced to Level III after September 1, 1999, need to submit a “Dissertation Proposal Clearance: Human Participants” form prior to the approval of their dissertation topic. This form is sent to all students by the Registrar when they advance to Level III. Students are required to submit this form to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs after the dissertation topic and methodology are approved by their committees and before research begins. If human participants are involved in a student’s research, a human subjects application must be submitted to a CUNY Institutional Review Board in accord with the CUNY Principal Investigator’s Manual for Submitting Proposals for Review by the CUNY Institutional Review Boards. (Available from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs: Room 8309 or at (http://inside.gc.cuny.edu/orup.) The Graduate Center Committee on the Protection of Human Subjects or other CUNY campus institutional review boards must approve the application prior to beginning the research and issue an approval letter that must be submitted to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs with the Dissertation Proposal Clearance form. If human participants are not involved in a student’s research, the completed Dissertation Proposal Clearance form is submitted with the dissertation project abstract and methodology to The Graduate Center’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (Room 8309, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016).

Dissertation The student must complete a dissertation that embodies original research. The dissertation must be defended at an oral Final Examination and be deposited in The Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library before the degree is granted. To defend the dissertation, the student must have been advanced to candidacy. The dissertation must be microfilmed or published. Instructions for preparing the dissertation may be secured from the Registrar’s Office at The Graduate Center.

The preparation of a dissertation and a defense of it form the final evaluation of a candidate’s qualification for the Ph.D. degree within the academic program. Approval by the program is typically confirmed by action of the Graduate Council and the City University’s Board of Trustees. Dissertation committees consist of at least three members of the CUNY doctoral faculty and are approved according to procedures detailed in the governance document of each program. The program will announce to the Provost, and, by posting and/or other means, to the general public and the members of the committee, the time and the date of the defense.

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