The twelve-month Master's Program in Climate and Society trains professionals and academics to understand climate scienc and policy and to manage climate risk.
Advances in climate modeling and prediction - with regard to both climate variability (El Nino) and longer-term climate change - have changed the landscape of human knowledge. For drought-stricken farmers of the developing world, for shantytown dwellers at the mercy of hurricanes and mud slides, for governments trying to make the most of limited resources as they strive for development, and
for multibillion dollar insurance, energy, transportation, and food corporations, this new scientific knowledge can offer better ways to respond to the problems and opportunities created by a varying climate. But decision makers must understand how to make effective use of this new knowledge.
Consequently, an acute need exists for professionals who understand the links between climate and society and who can to understand and manage climate risk. However, this is not easy to do. Columbia University's new Masters Program in Climate Science and Policy (officially known as the M.A. Program in Climate and Society) is attempting to provide the knowledge and skills to meet this need and
its extant successes and problems yield some lessons (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/climatesociety/).
This rigorous, innovative and very interdisciplinary one-year program utilizes and builds upon leading climate, global change and sustainable development resources from across Columbia University, including: the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Institute, various regional institutes, and the departments of Earth & Environmental Science, Earth Engineering, Economics, International Affairs, Sociology, and Political Science. A unique set of interdisciplinary core courses, electives and research opportunities have been specially designed for the program. Topics in these courses include the dynamics of climate variability and change; climate impacts; climate-sensitive natural and human systems; managing and adapting to climate change and climate
variability; policy-making under uncertainty; national and international environmental policy; environmental economics; and research internships.
Applications are now open for entry in September 2006. The program lasts 12 months, from September 2006-August 2007, including a research or policy internship during the summer term.
Visit the program website
Online application: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=COL-GAS
To receive a printed viewbook, or to learn more, contact us: climatesociety@ei.columbia.edu
Columbia University M.A. Program in Climate and Society
554 Schermerhorn Extension
1200 Amsterdam Avenue
Mail Code 5505
New York, NY 10027, USA
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