Environmental Health Sciences Doctoral Degree Program

Program | Faculty | Master's | Doctoral | Courses

The goal of the Ph.D. program is to prepare professionals to assume leadership positions in teaching, research, and public service.

The Curriculum

The Environmental Health Sciences program considers for admission qualified candidates only after they have found a departmental faculty member willing to mentor them on a funded research project. For further information, call Professor Edward Calabrese, tel. (413) 545-3164 or email: edwardc@schoolph.umass.edu. Applicants must have a background in natural sciences, engineering, or a closely related field. Minimal expectations are 24 credit hours of study in the ETRA concentration, and participation in a research seminar. Most candidates will be involved in additional elective courses and/or individual studies. Students also complete 18 hours in dissertation credits.

Before or soon after matriculation, the candidate and dissertation adviser outline a course of study in both major and minor areas. This specifies any deficiences in background that must be made up without credit toward the degree. The proposal is reviewed and approved by the Academic Policy and Curriculum Committee. This, in essence, becomes the candidate's individual contract with the faculty.

Each candidate takes a comprehensive examination, after completing course work, usual-ly after the fourth semester of full-time study. It must be completed before beginning the sixth semester. The examination is coordinated by the ETRA Graduate Program Director.

The dissertation is conducted under the guidance of a dissertation committee comprising at least three members of the Graduate Faculty.

A candidate who enters the program with a satisfactory background may expect to complete the program in three to four years.

Prospective applicants should consult the program website for the latest information concerning admission and degree requirements.