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Hydrologic Sciences - Graduate Certificate
Program Overview
Overview of the Hydrologic Sciences Program
The hydrologic sciences graduate program focuses on quantitative studies of water in the environment, including its role in geologic and biogeochemical processes, ecosystem functions, and global elemental cycling. This interdisciplinary, interdepartmental program is designed for science and engineering graduate students, allowing them to obtain recognition for their accomplishments in hydrologic sciences and demonstrate the quantitative multidisciplinary education desired by many prospective employers.
Admission Requirements
All hydrologic sciences graduate program students are admitted through one of the participating departments: Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC), Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE), Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO), Environmental Studies (ENVS), Geography (GEOG), or Geological Sciences (GEOL). Graduate students may apply for admission to hydrologic sciences after admission to one of these departments.
Program Structure
The program offers a certificate in hydrologic sciences to research-oriented graduate students in the participating departments. PhD students in ATOC, ENVS, GEOG, and GEOL may enroll in the hydrologic sciences PhD subplan or the certificate. Course requirements are identical for the subplan and certificate.
Research Supervision
Primary supervision of the student's research may be provided by any faculty member approved by their department, though the hydrologic sciences program requires representation from program faculty on students' comprehensive exam and defense committees.
Requirements
- Completion of all hydrologic sciences program courses with a grade of B or better.
- Completion of degree requirements for graduate degree within the student's home department.
- For the graduate certificate: The thesis topic includes substantial use of hydrologic science and the thesis committee includes at least one Hydrologic Sciences Program faculty member.
- For the PhD subplan: The dissertation topic is approved by Hydrologic Sciences Program co-director and the dissertation committee includes at least two Hydrologic Sciences Program faculty members.
Course Prerequisites
All students entering the program are expected to have advanced-level knowledge of mathematics: a full year of college-level calculus including differential and integral calculus. (Linear algebra and differential equations are strongly encouraged.) Students are expected to have completed one semester of college-level physics (mechanics).
Required Courses and Credits
Five courses are required for the Hydrologic Sciences Certificate and PhD Subplan. The number of courses is intentionally kept low, so that the student is free to design an overall academic program that meets their needs in terms of specialized scholarly interests. Hydrologic sciences courses are included in the minimum semester hours required for all graduate students. The coursework is designed to assure competency in appropriate subject matter at the graduate level.
Course Lists
- One course from List A
- One course from List A or B
- Three elective courses
List A
| Course List Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ATOC 5050 | Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Dynamics | 3 |
| ATOC 5060 | Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Oceans | 3 |
| CVEN 5313 | Environmental Fluid Mechanics | 3 |
| CVEN 5353 | Groundwater Hydrology | 3 |
| GEOL 5110 | Geomechanics | 3 |
List B
| Course List Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ATOC 5051 | Introduction to Physical Oceanography | 3 |
| ATOC 5061 | Advanced Ocean Dynamics and Air-Sea Coupled ENSO Mechanisms | 3 |
| CVEN 5333 | Physical Hydrology | 3 |
| CVEN 5404 | Water Chemistry | 3 |
| GEOG 5321 | Snow Hydrology | 3-4 |
| GEOL 5080 | Advanced Hydrogeology and Modeling Concepts | 3 |
Electives
| Course List Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ATOC 5235 | Introduction to Atmospheric Radiative Transfer and Remote Sensing | 3 |
| ATOC 5500 | Special Topics in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (Field Observations and Measurements) | 1-3 |
| ATOC 5550 | Mountain Meteorology | 3 |
| ATOC 5600 | Physics and Chemistry of Clouds and Aerosols | 3 |
| ATOC 5730 | Physical Oceanography and Climate | 3 |
| ATOC 5750 | Desert Meteorology and Climate | 3 |
| ATOC 5780 | Ice Sheets and Climate | 3 |
| ATOC 5850 | Numerical Methods Laboratory | 3 |
| CHEM 5141 | Environmental Water and Soil Chemistry | 3 |
| CVEN 5323 | Applied Stream Ecology | 3 |
| CVEN 5343 | Transport and Dispersion in Surface Water | 3 |
| CVEN 5363 | Modeling of Hydrologic Systems | 3 |
| CVEN 5383 | Applied Groundwater Modeling | 3 |
| CVEN 5404 | Water Chemistry | 3 |
| CVEN 5454 | Statistical Methods for Natural and Engineered Systems | 3 |
| CVEN 5537 | Numerical Methods in Civil Engineering | 3 |
| CVEN 5833 | Special Topics (Analysis of Urban Water Systems) | 1-3 |
| CVEN 5833 | Special Topics (Environmental Transport and Dispersion Processes) | 1-3 |
| CVEN 6383 | Flow and Transport through Porous Media | 3 |
| CVEN 6414 | Aquatic Surfaces and Particles | 3 |
| EBIO 5030 | Limnology | 3 |
| ENVS 5840 | Global Biogeochemical Cycles | 3 |
| GEOG 5023 | Advanced Quantitative Methods for Spatial Data | 4 |
| GEOG 5093 | Remote Sensing of the Environment | 4 |
| GEOG 5241 | Topics in Physical Geography (Watershed Biogeochemistry) | 1-3 |
| GEOG 5241 | Topics in Physical Geography (Fluvial Geomorphology) | 1-3 |
| GEOG 5251 | River Processes and Forms: Fluvial Geomorphology | 4 |
| GEOG 5271 | The Arctic Climate System | 3 |
| GEOG 5303 | Geographic Information Science: Spatial Programming | 4 |
| GEOL 5060 | Oceanography | 4 |
| GEOL 5093 | Remote Sensing of the Environment | 4 |
| GEOL 5270 | Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry | 3 |
| GEOL 5280 | Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry | 3 |
| GEOL 5305 | Global Biogeochemical Cycles | 3 |
| GEOL 5430 | Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | 3 |
| GEOL 5700 | Geological Topics Seminar (Terrestrial Hydrology) | 3-4 |
| GEOL 5700 | Geological Topics Seminar (Sedimentary Modeling) | 1-4 |
