Welcome from the Director

The interdisciplinary PhD degree program in Environmental Science and Management takes an holistic approach to research and education, integrating key elements of physical, chemical, biological, social, and management practices into the study of natural and human environments. It provides an intellectual platform that promotes the philosophy of a sustainable world. Students in the program examine a broad spectrum of environmental problems at a wide range of scales, from local through global. Students have conducted research in areas including:

• reconstructions of ice-sheets and their impact on sea level
• remediation of inorganic and organic contaminants in coastal waterways
• the economics of biofuels and other renewable energy sources
• mapping shrubs in Arctic tundra using satellite remote sensing
• human impacts on wetlands and aquatic ecosystems such as turtle harvesting
• establishing safe migratory routes for species affected by habitat fragmentation
• restoring seagrass habitats
• understanding and managing blooms of jellyfish
• modeling the geomorphology of the coastline in response to rising sea levels and increasing storm frequency
• numerical modeling of the spatial diffusion of diseases

See the People section to see the research areas that current students are pursuing. Here are a few words from a student who recently defended her dissertation:

As a result of the success of this, and other graduate programs, Montclair State University is now recognized nationally by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a research doctoral university, and by the State of New Jersey as a public research university. The campus is situated on a beautiful, 252-acre suburban campus just 12 miles from New York City. The University also hosts a number of highly dynamic institutes and centers with interests related to the environment, including the Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center (CESAC), the New Jersey Center for Water Science and Technology, the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Science (ISS), among others. Most PhD students are stationed in the new Center for Environmental and Life Sciences building; see the photographs below.

The campus environment here at Montclair State University is very pleasant, with our Center for Environmental and Life Sciences (CELS) building overlooking Manhattan (New York City); and there are also two rail stations adjacent to campus allowing easy access to New York City.