Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Ph.D

Program Summary

The Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (AES) program links expertise in atmospheric science, biogeochemistry, geology, and hydrology to address regional and local issues that may also be nationally or globally significant. The program began at the School of Mines  as the Atmospheric, Environmental and Water Resources Program; AES is a reorganization of that program. The fundamental objective lies in developing the predictive capability to address linkages between earth system components and land management practices in a way that benefits decision-making at regional and national levels. We use the Black Hills of South Dakota and the surrounding Great Plains as a natural laboratory for the development of methodologies to link fundamental observations of the environment across a range of temporal and spatial scales, and integrate them with state-of-the-art modeling, visualization, and analysis.

Objectives

• Enhance interdisciplinary research at the School of Mines in atmospheric and environmental topics
• Combine theory, experiment, and applications to address regional and local issues (that may be globally significant)
• Link field and laboratory research with larger-scale observations, such as remote sensing
• Build predictive capabilities, useful in regional resource management and climate-sensitive economic development
• Generate marketable applications of regional and global significance<
• Create a nationally and internationally recognized research program that produces cutting-edge research
• Prepare its students well for a lifetime of scholarly and/or entrepreneurial activity with particular emphasis on building teams to solve complex problems.

Outcomes

• Students demonstrate a broad understanding of general scientific knowledge in physics, chemistry, and the geosciences.
• Students can utilize  tools available for measuring, monitoring, visualizing, modeling, and analyzing environmental systems.
• Students demonstrate specialized advanced knowledge in atmospheric and/or environmental studies.
• Students work effectively with teams to identify and develop solutions to problems requiring multidisciplinary approaches.
• Students achieve familiarity with scientific literature in their area of specialization, including an understanding of the main issues and advances under development. 
• Students demonstrate a scholarly understanding of the milestones and of the key contributors whose work marks the progression of knowledge in their area of focus.
• Students can frame a fundamental research problem and develop a technically sound research plan to address it.
• Students can communicate effectively in written standard scientific English.
• Students can communicate effectively in oral presentations.
• Students can identify weaknesses of written and oral presentations, and provide tactful constructive criticism.
• Students demonstrate intellectual honesty when working with data and ideas.    They understand the concepts of attribution and plagiarism, as well as the differences between opinion, consensus, hypothesis, theory, and fact.  
• Students have made an original contribution to science or engineering.  
• Students can define the scope of their contribution and defend the methodology employed based on an understanding of the underlying fundamental concepts.
• Students demonstrate critical thinking skills:  to sift through vast quantities of information, to assimilate knowledge and to identify errors, and to develop logical plans to solve problems. 

Program Description

Measuring, monitoring, and modeling earth and atmospheric systems increasingly demands an interdisciplinary approach, because problems in earth processes impacting society often cannot be solved by studying the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and/or biosphere in isolation.  Managing wildfire potential, for example, includes components of atmospheric dynamics, precipitation patterns, vegetation distribution and condition, topographic factors, and more.  The key to success lies in training scientists to form interdisciplinary teams that can simultaneously tackle the broad range of processes needed to achieve understanding and prediction of such complex phenomena. 

The Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences program links expertise in atmospheric science, biogeochemistry, geology, and hydrology to address regional and local issues that may also be nationally or globally significant. The fundamental objective lies in developing the predictive capability to address linkages between earth system components and land management practices in a way that benefits decision-making at regional and national levels. We use the Black Hills of South Dakota and the surrounding Great Plains as a natural laboratory for the development of methodologies to link fundamental observations of the environment across a range of temporal and spatial scales, and integrate them with state-of-the-art modeling, visualization, and analysis.

Key interrelated research themes drive the research and teaching program, building on ongoing research and disciplinary strengths already present at SDSMT, including meteorology, biogeochemistry, ecology, geology, climatology, hydrology, remote sensing, and geographic information systems.  

Specific examples include: 

1. Carbon cycling and the potential effects of local and regional climate change, including the frequency and severity of storms, drought cycles, and wildfire potential
2. Water quality and quantity as it impacts regional growth and environmental systems
3. Wildfire dynamics and associated issues related to fire prevention, suppression, and post-fire mitigation
4. Physical meteorology and storm processes, including impacts on hydrology and fire issues.
5. In situ atmospheric measurements of storms, aerosols, trace gas concentrations, etc. using specially adapted storm-penetrating aircraft

Many South Dakota School of Mines faculty members who are actively involved in the AES program have externally funded research projects. These projects provide research assistantship opportunities for AES students. In addition to graduate research assistantships, support is also possible through graduate teaching assistantships and various fellowships and scholarships. AES students are strongly encouraged to work with their advisors and faculty colleagues to apply for research funding or fellowships to support their studies after the first year.

Program Requirements

Degree candidates in AES are expected to complete an approved multidisciplinary program of course work and also perform original research in a focused area. A minimum total of eighty (80) semester credit hours beyond the Bachelor’s degree is required.  Students entering the AES program with a previous M.S. degree in a relevant discipline are allowed to apply a maximum of twenty-four (24) semester course credit hours in an appropriate field toward the course credit requirement and six (6) thesis research credits toward the research-credit requirement. There is no language requirement in the AES program. However, all AES students are expected to be proficient in speaking, understanding, and writing the English language.  Graduate students who are enrolled full time in the AES program should be able to complete their degree requirements and graduate within three (3) to four (4) years starting with a master’s degree, and four (4) to five (5) years starting from a bachelor’s degree. The time required to complete the degree will vary depending on the transfer of previously earned credits, course work recommendations specified by the student’s committee, and individual research requirements.

The following key learning outcomes will be developed in all students:

1. A core of basic and specialized scientific and technical knowledge;
2. An understanding of the basic scientific tools of measuring, monitoring, and modeling;
3. The ability to apply these tools to understand atmospheric and land-surface interactions;
4. The professional skills crucial to research, including obtaining and reviewing research literature, proposing research problems, critically evaluating their own work and the work of others, and communicating in writing and orally with their colleagues;
5. The understanding and application of professional methods and ethics in their work, and
6. The ability to form interdisciplinary teams to solve complex problems

Students entering the program will normally already possess a foundational degree (typically the M.S. degree) in atmospheric sciences, meteorology, geology, hydrology, or environmental sciences/engineering.  Students will build on this foundation by pursuing elective courses that prepare them for advanced work in their chosen specialty.  The student and his/her committee are charged to prepare a course of study that will help the student become proficient in a specific research area.  Great emphasis is placed on the independent origination of a research problem that will yield a new, original scientific insight.

Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Environmental Studies                 Credit Hours

M.S. academic core (24cr)  and research (6 cr)	30
Required academic courses	10
Elective academic courses	13
Research credits	27
Total required for the degree	80

The required academic courses include:

AES 790 Seminar
This course builds professional communication skills, including writing and oral presentation, while exposing students to examples of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research.  (1 credit)

AES 808  Fundamental Problems in Engineering and Science
This course trains students to identify and tackle fundamental research problems; it combines literature review, proposal development, critical thinking, and professional ethics, and leads to an actual proposal in the student’s specialty for submission to a funding agency. (3 credits)

AES 792 Topics (Interdiscplinary Problems)
This innovative course brings together faculty and students to create a working group which selects a research problem, studies the literature, and develops a research plan that integrates the multiple disciplines of all the participants.  Students participate in this course for 1 credit in their first year, and repeat the course in the second year for two credits, taking a correspondingly greater role in the work of the group.  This course is modeled after traditional disciplinary research working groups, but is intended to facilitate the emergence of cohesive interdisciplinary teams, and to provide an incubator for new research plans and funding proposals. (3 credits)

XXX  Measuring/Modeling of Earth Systems
Students must complete at least one course in measuring and/or modeling techniques, to be selected by the student’s committee.  A selection of existing courses at the School of Mines is available to fulfill this requirement.  (3 credits)

A wide variety of courses are offered at School of Mines to fulfill the elective course requirement. These courses are offered by the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology and Geological Engineering, Atmospheric Sciences, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Mathematics and Computer Sciences, and by other departments on campus as well. Listed below are examples of courses that might be included as electives in an AES program of study. These lists are intended as examples and are not at all intended to limit a student and committee as they construct an individual program.

Potential elective courses for AES:
ATM 501 Atmospheric Physics
ATM 502 The Global Carbon Cycle
ATM 503 Biogeochemistry
ATM 505 Air Quality
ATM 510 Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing
ATM 515 Earth Systems Modeling
ATM 520 Remote Sensing for Research I
ATM 530 Radar Meteorology
ATM 540 Atmospheric Electricity
ATM 560 Atmospheric Dynamics
ATM 603 Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions
ATM 612 Atmospheric Chemistry
ATM 620 Remote Sensing for Research II
ATM 625 Scaling in Geosciences
ATM 642 Physics and Dynamics of Clouds
ATM 643 Precipitation Physics and Cloud Modification
ATM 644 Numerical Dynamics and Prediction
ATM 660 Atmospheric Dynamics II
ATM 670 Boundary Layer Processes
ATM 673 Mesometeorology
CEE 521 Environmental Systems Analysis
CEE 526/526L Environmental Engineering Physical/Chemical Process Design
CEE 527/527L Environmental Engineering Biological Process Design
CEE 528 Advanced Treatment Plant Design
CEE 533 Open Channel Flow
CEE 628 Environmental Engineering Measurements
CEE 634 Surface Water Hydrology
CEE/GEOE 692  Environmental Remediation Processes
CEE 723 Environmental Contaminant Fate and Transport
CEE 721 Principles of Environmental Engineering
CEE 733 Techniques of Surface Water Resource and Water Quality Investigations CEE 784 Modeling and Computation in Civil Engineering
CEE 785 Applications of Finite Element Methods in Civil Engineering
GEOL 516/517/519 GIS I/II/III
GEOL 633 Sedimentation
GEOE 663 Ground-water Geochemistry
GEOE 682 Fluvial Processes

Student progress and mastery will be measured using the usual instruments in a doctoral program.  A written or oral qualifying exam is used to assess the student’s mastery of the M.S. coursework.  A comprehensive examination is given to evaluate the student’s ability to formulate a research problem based on substantive literature review, and to test the student’s knowledge in the area of specialty.  It is given in two parts:  1) a written examination consisting of a review paper in the student’s field of study and a research proposal, and 2) an oral examination to evaluate the research proposal and verify the student’s understanding of the basic sciences and specialized field of study.  The dissertation forms the final test of the student’s ability to perform and communicate research.  The student must prepare a doctoral dissertation and successfully complete a public defense covering the scientific validity of the work, as well as the student’s basic and specialized knowledge in the field of study.

Management of the AES Program

The AES program is managed by the Office of Graduate Education.  A Program Committee composed of 3-5 faculty representing different disciplines oversees the program, including setting policies and reviewing the curriculum.  The Program Committee will also take measures to facilitate interaction by all faculty and students participating in the program.  A Program Coordinator chairs the Program committee, and provides oversight of student affairs, including meeting with new and exiting students, tracking student progress, and conducting orientations for new students. The preceding committee is distinct from the graduate student advisory committees that provide guidance to individual AES students during the course of their academic studies. The graduate student’s major advisor serves as the chair of this advisory committee.

Additional information 

Discovering the Atmospheric Sciences: A Guide for Prospective Students