Why choose Lehigh for graduate study?

You might be interested in...

If so, consider joining us for your M.S. or Ph.D. Read on, and then explore this web site.

Whether to attend graduate school, what to study, and where to go are important questions. You should make a careful decision and tailor your choice to your needs, goals, and interests. You really do have lots of options available to you, and they can seem overwhelming, but the good news is that you can probably find a program that's a good fit.

We have a small, focused, field-oriented graduate program linked to nationally prominent research in some of the key areas of Earth-systems science. In this time of increased focus on multidisciplinary science, we think our program is a great way for you to get your graduate training and credentials. Our well-funded, well-connected faculty tend to work closely with a few students at a time on their research, so we can offer the personal attention that is sometimes lacking in larger programs. And, if you look through this web site you'll see that we've got some really interesting work going on in many areas of ecology, environmental science, and geology.

Degrees We Offer

EES offers both the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Under a broad Earth-systems framework, students do basic research in many of the subdisciplines of environmental biology, ecology, environmental science, geology, geochemistry, and geophysics. The M.S. requires at least 24 credit hours of coursework, a total of 30 credits, and a thesis that we expect to be of publishable quality. The Ph.D. requires additional credit hours (depending on your entry level), and of course a dissertation, on the road to which there are two exams designed to assess, respectively, your overall training, and your specialized expertise relevant to your dissertation proposal. Most Ph.D. theses in recent years have used a format in which the thesis chapters amount to papers submitted to or published in the peer-reviewed literature. More details about degree and program requirements can be found by peeking into our graduate handbook.

Next Steps

Considerably more information about our programs and our research, is available on these pages. We invite you to have a look around and contact us if you have questions and want to know more. More than anything, we really encourage you to email or phone any of our faculty who are doing something of interest to you. We'd love to have a talk.

Now, here's an overview of our admissions process and information about how to apply:

Graduate Admission

If you are a graduate of an accredited college or university, you may be considered for admission to our graduate program. Typically, applicants to the EES graduate program have earned science baccalaureate degrees (eg. Geological Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Science, Physics or Chemistry), but we encourage students with work experience and other types of training to talk with us.

Application for admission requires official academic transcripts, letters of recommendation from academic contacts, results from GRE general exams, and statements of research and career interests. Results from a TOEFL exam is required of all applicants whose native language is not English.

Admission to our graduate programs is decided by the EES faculty. We base our decisions on:

As you can see, an important part of the application process is to contact the faculty member or members you are interested in working with. We also encourage you to pay us a visit so that we can get to know you and you can meet faculty and grad students.

Applications for admission as a regular graduate student are accepted until July 15 for the fall term, December 1 for the spring term, April 30 for the first summer term and May 30 for the second summer term. To be considered for financial aid, completed applications must be received by the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Programs Office by Jan. 15 for the following academic year. Send all admission forms to: CAS Graduate Programs, Maginnes Hall, Lehigh University, 9 W. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, Pa. 18015.

Correspondence and Information

For general information about graduate study at Lehigh, and to download application forms, visit the College of Arts and Sciences' graduate web pages.

Further information about graduate study in EES may be obtained by contacting:

Dr. Zicheng Yu, Graduate Coordinator
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lehigh University
31 Williams Drive
Bethlehem, Pa. 18105-3188
Phone: 610-758-3660
Fax: 610-758-3677

Financial Aid

Financial assistance in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, scholarships, and university and departmental fellowships is awarded to applicants on a competitive basis. Teaching assistant stipends begin at $15,700 for the 9-month academic year. In addition, teaching assistants receive tuition remission for up to 9 credits per semester and 3 credits during the summer. Fellowship and research assistantship stipends are comparable to the stipends for teaching assistants; Ph.D. students who have met their candidacy requirements receive a higher pay rate. Students making satisfactory progress are normally supported until the completion of their degree program.

Cost of Study

Graduate tuition for the 2009-2010 academic year is $1150 per credit. Tuition expenses are paid for teaching assistants and research assistants.

Living and Housing Costs

A wide variety of rental accommodations is available in the Lehigh Valley around Bethlehem, ranging in flavor from urban to rural. Expenses can be reasonable, especially if shared. Also, Lehigh operates a 135-unit garden apartment complex for single and married students located in nearby Saucon Valley; day care is available nearby and hourly bus service is provided. Residential Services maintains a web page with information about the rental market and campus housing for graduate students.

More information

For more information about the EES department and our programs, please explore our web pages. You might be particuarly interested in overviews of our degree programs and our research activities (including work in tectonics, aquatic ecology, geochemistry, geophysics, environmental change, and Earth surface processes). You may also want to review some of the more detailed information about our graduate culture and procedures found in our graduate handbook. And, you might be interested in a list of recent M.S. and Ph.D. theses.

Finally, to reiterate, we're interested in talking with you and we strongly encourage you to contact any faculty member whose work is of interest to you.

Thanks for your interest!

 

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