Sustainable Cities Program
Practice Instructional Center 200
(213) 821-1325
Email: dsteiner@usc.edu
Co-Directors: Joseph Devinny (Environmental Engineering); Jennifer Wolch (Geography)
Graduate Certificate in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Engineering Sustainable Cities
The environmental sciences, policy and engineering sustainable cities program is a multidisciplinary doctoral certificate program open to USC students pursuing Ph.D. programs in many disciplines including engineering, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, economics, geography, international relations, political science, sociology, urban planning and others.Creating sustainable cities for the 21st century is a major challenge for society. The growth of cities, caused by natural population increase and massive rural-to-urban population flows, poses critical environmental problems that reach far beyond municipal boundaries and transcend national borders. Resolving such problems requires contributions from natural scientists, engineers, behavioral scientists and policy experts. To solve problems of national concern, such scientists must work productively with public administrators, political decision-makers and diverse interest groups. This program seeks to equip doctoral students with both the requisite knowledge of other fields and the political, interpersonal and communication skills necessary to succeed in practical contexts.
The sustainable cities program is designed to be integrated into each student's departmentally based course of doctoral study, with each department determining how individual sustainable cities program courses can be used to meet doctoral program requirements.
Required Courses
Sixteen units of graduate work are required.Core Courses (8 units) | units | |
---|---|---|
CE 564 | Methods for Assessment and Protection of Environmental Quality | 3 |
COMM 646 | Negotiating Boundaries in Environmental Research | 2 |
GEOG 611 | Sustainable Cities: Problems and Policies | 3 |
Research (8 units)
Students complete 8 units of directed research in their home departments over the course of three semesters (2 units in semesters two and three of the program and 4 units in the fourth semester).The first two directed research courses are devoted to an individual research project related to their dissertation, supervised by at least two faculty members from different fields.
The third directed research course is a semester-long collaborative project involving professors and students from at least three different disciplines.