Archive for water

MPA in Environmental Science and Policy

In total SIPA offers 7 degrees.  A full listing of our degrees can be found by clicking here.  Applicants are welcome to apply to multiple degree programs at SIPA.  There is only one thing SIPA does not allow – we do not allow applicants to apply to the two-year full-time MIA program and the two-year full-time MPA program.  Other than this, there are no restrictions.  If an applicant does want to apply to more than one degree program it does require a different application for each program and each application requires the application fee.

All of our programs use the same application system except for the PhD program.  PhD applicants must use a different application site (details available here).  If applying to more than one program at SIPA please make sure to create a different PIN for each application.  Applicants may not use the same PIN for multiple applications to SIPA.

One SIPA program, the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy, has three different deadlines.  The first deadline, November 1st, is quickly approaching.   There are many opportunities to speak with representatives of the program and details are below.

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Campus Recruiting Across the U.S.

by Earth Institute | 9.21.2011 at 10:00am

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Environmental Science and Policy program will be traveling across the country this fall to talk to prospective students at graduate fairs and college campuses.

The program was jointly developed by Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Earth Institute, and it trains sophisticated managers and policymakers to apply innovative, interdisciplinary and sustainable solutions to environmental issues. Our approach reflects the system-level thinking that is needed to understand ecological interactions and maintain the health of Earth’s interconnected systems.

Graduates are working in diverse organizations domestically and globally as consultants, environmental protection and restoration specialists, project managers, policy analysts, directors of environmental services, environmental and public health advisors, teachers, researchers, and environmental biologists and engineers.

Please come visit us at one of the following information sessions to learn more about our program. If we will not be in your area and you would like to set up a session, or if you have any questions, please contact Sarah Tweedie at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-3142.

October 7, 2011, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Princeton University Graduate School Fair, Princeton, NJ
Princeton University Dillon Gym

October 10, 2011, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Chicago, IL Idealist Fair
University of Illinois, Chicago
UIC Forum, Hall A and B
725 W Roosevelt Road
Chicago, IL, 60608

October 11, 2011, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Michigan State University Graduate School Fair, East Lansing, MI
MSU Union, 2nd Floor

October 18, 2011, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Columbia University Morningside Campus
Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive (between West 116th St. and West 118th St.)
New York, New York 10027

October 21, 2011, 11:15 am
Pitzer College Information Session, Claremont, CA
McConnell Center – Dining Hall

October 24, 2011, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
University of California Irvine Graduate School Fair, Irvine, CA
Location: TBD

October 24, 2011, 7:00pm
Pomona College Information Session, Claremont, CA
Smith Campus Center, Room 208

October 25, 2011, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
UC Santa Barbara Graduate School Fair, Santa Barbara, CA
UCSB’s Arbor Mall

October 25, 2011, 3:30 – 5:00 pm
Colby College Graduate School Fair, Waterville, ME
Location: TBD

October 26, 2011, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Bates College Graduate School Fair, Lewiston, ME
Location: TBD

October 26, 2011, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Bowdoin College Graduate School Fair, Brunswick, ME
Location: TBD

October 27, 2011, 6:00pm
UC Davis Information Session, Davis, CA
Location: TBD

December 8, 2011, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Columbia University Morningside Campus
Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive (between West 116th St. and West 118th St.)
New York, New York 10027

SIPA News – The Water Issue

The latest issue of SIPA News is now available.  The magazine is published twice per year and features articles written by students and faculty at SIPA.   The topic for this issue is water.  The importance of such a simple substance is underscored in the Dean’s introduction:

With more than 6 billion people on the planet today and the combined effects of global warming and industrial and urban pollution, the supply of water safe enough for drinking, recreation, production, and other uses is becoming scarce. In some parts of the globe, prolonged droughts and other weather events (like the freeze that burst pipes in Ireland last December) or humanitarian crises and refugee camps have already created emergencies that threaten entire populations.

The following are just a few of the articles in this edition:

  • As Waters Rise, Environmental Migration Surfaces
  • El Niño Drought Leads to Blackouts, Power Rationing, and Political Fallout in Venezuela
  • In Cambodia, Development Pushes Ahead at the Expense of a Lake
  • A Beachgoer’s Duty: A Surfer and a Fisherman Lead the Way to Curb Runoff Pollution on the JerseyShore
  • Mass Freshwater Exports: Alaska’s Latest Cash Crop Heads to India

The full magazine is available for viewing as a PDF by clicking here.  All previous issues of SIPA News can also be viewed on line by clicking here.

Climate, Copenhagen, and Columbia

The following was prepared by SIPA Student Joshua Huneycutt, a second year MIA student concentrating in Energy and Environmental Policy.

381634787_f52e84a5afImage Courtesy of suburbanbloke via Flickr

As the world prepares for the upcoming global climate summit in Copenhagen this December, there’s a flurry of activity here at SIPA and Columbia.   Following British climate economist Lord Stern (link here) and controversial Danish environment minister Connie Hedegaard’s (link here) visits to the 15th floor of SIPA last month, there have been a number lively debates, lectures, and events surrounding the question of whether or not the US and the rest of the world can forge agreements and pass legislation to prevent a global climate catastrophe.

Columbia’s establishment of the Columbia Climate Center (link: http://climate.columbia.edu/) this past spring reaffirmed the university’s commitment to comprehensively tackling the issue.  With Columbia Law School’s hiring of leading climate law expert Michael Gerrard and SIPA’s appointment of Scott Barrett, a lead author of the IPPC’s second assessment report, to the SIPA faculty, climate policy issues have been put in the spotlight on campus.

On top of stellar new faculty and engaging events, SIPA gives students the opportunities to engage directly with agenda-setting organizations on matters related to climate change.  For example, I participated in a consulting workshop group that advised the World Bank on incorporating climate adaptation considerations into their lending mechanisms and helped to overhaul a computer-based climate risk analysis tool.

Regardless of what happens in Copenhagen, SIPA and the Columbia community will continue to expand their offerings to help those dedicated to finding viable solutions to these great challenges.  Check out a few climate-related events that took place:

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10/29 What is the Global Warming Intensity of a Vehicle Fuel?  Uncertainty, Life Cycle Analysis, and Time in the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Beyond.

We have the pleasure of welcoming Michael O’Hare, Professor of Public Policy in the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC-Berkeley, for an informational lecture and discussion on his research regarding the use of alternative fuels. A few months ago, the Air Resources Board of the State of California adopted a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), a 10% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2020, and Professor O’Hare’s team at Berkeley was responsible for a large amount of the policy’s supporting research.

This groundbreaking legislation was passed with the notable inclusion of “indirect land use change” (LUC), the conversion of land used to grow food into land used to grow corn specifically for ethanol, as a source of emissions, overcoming the intense lobbying efforts of the ethanol biofuel industry with indisputable research on the effects of LUC. Professor O’Hare will share many of his team’s discoveries, as well as comment on their potential and actual impacts on local, state, and national climate change policy.  Join us for a lively discussion of an important facet of the current climate change debate.

Thursday, Oct. 29th at 3 pm

Location: 1512 International Affairs Building

This event is being co-sponsored by The Earth Institute, the Columbia Climate Center, the Master in Public Administration program in Environmental Science and Policy, and the Master in Public Administration in Environmental Policy Studies Energy and Environment Concentration program.

10/30 LDEO Earth Science Colloquium: Assessing Resilience of Past Societies to Climatic Change: the Case of Angkor’s 15th Century Collapse and Reorganization

Speaker: Dan Penny, Australian Research Council (ARC) Fellow, University of Sidney

Friday October 30 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Monell Building Auditorium

Web Site: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/news-events/earth-science-colloquium/2009-2010

This Past Week at SIPA: Will China Run out of Water?

The Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center Seminar Series this past week presented “Will China Run Out Of Water?” with Chunmiao Zheng, Professor of Hydrogeology; SSPA Faculty Fellow; 2009 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer, University of Alabama.

The following comes from the Earth Institute’s Web site:

The American agricultural expert and environmentalist Lester Brown published a provocative book in 1995 called “Who Will Feed China: Wake-Up Call for a Small Planet.” Today, however, of a greater concern may be the question of whether the unprecedented economic growth in China over the past two decades can be sustained as the environmental pollution and water shortage continue to worsen. Some people have asked, “Will China run out of water?” This question is not merely academic: China has to nourish a fifth of the global population with about seven percent of the planet’s water resources.

Ample evidence suggests that China faces a daunting water resource crisis. The country has been battling water shortages in its northern and western provinces for more than a decade. The presentation draws on the presenter’s recent research work in the North China Plain and the Ordos Basin in western China.

Chunmiao Zheng received the B.S. degree in geology from Chengdu University of Technology (China) in 1983, and the Ph.D. degree in hydrogeology with a minor in civil & environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. From 1988 to 1993, he was a hydrogeologist at the environmental consulting firm S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc. Since 1993, he has been a professor of hydrogeology in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama.

For a profile of Chunmiao Zheng click here.

"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

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