Note: The School of Sustainability will only be accepting/processing Ph.D. applications for Fall 2013 under two specific circumstances: 1) applicants are also applying for the IGERT SUN program or 2) applicants have made prior arrangements with the department regarding identification and commitment of a Ph.D. dissertation committee advisor and a long-term funding source (at least three years). For more information on the IGERT SUN program visit http://graduate.asu.edu/igert-sun. If you have any questions regarding the IGERT SUN program or the conditions for application, please contact us at (480) 727-6963.
The Ph.D. in Sustainability engages scientists and leaders in research to investigate the urgent sustainability challenges of the 21st century. The flexible, interdisciplinary nature of the program allows students to focus on problems of interest to them, drawing upon relevant knowledge from a variety of disciplines.
Ph.D. graduates will have an advanced understanding of the dynamics of coupled socioecological systems and will be able to lead others in research and providing adaptive solutions to specific sustainability challenges. In addition to the common learning outcomes, Ph.D. students will be able to:
Students may be admitted to the Ph.D. program with either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution or the equivalent of a US bachelor’s degree from an international institution officially recognized by that country.
If admitted with a bachelor’s degree, students must complete a minimum of 84 semester hours. If admitted with a master’s degree, they must complete a minimum of 54 hours.
With a Bachelor’s Degree |
Semester Hours |
|
Required Core Courses: |
15 |
|
Required Seminars: |
6 |
|
Required Solutions Workshops: |
6 |
|
Required Research: |
12 |
|
Required Dissertation: |
12 |
|
Electives (400-level or 500-level) Of which, a maximum of 6 hours can be at the 400-level: |
33 |
|
Total Semester Hours Required: |
84 |
With a Master’s Degree |
Semester Hours |
|
Required Core Courses: |
12 |
|
Required Seminars: |
3 |
|
Required Solutions Workshops: |
3 |
|
Required Research: |
12 |
|
Required Dissertation: |
12 |
|
Electives (500-level or higher): |
12 |
|
Total Semester Hours Required: |
54 |
The required core courses will bring students together in an integrated learning environment to form a cadre of diverse backgrounds. The core courses are designed to provide students with methods and theory appropriate to the study of sustainability. They will explore the link between concepts of sustainability and systems approaches to knowledge, and will develop the integrative methods needed to work across the disciplines on sustainability problems.
Challenge area seminars are designed to provide students with a strong substantive foundation (content knowledge, big theory, and big studies) of the main themes of the School.
Subject to satisfying pre-requisites and co-requisites, students enrolling
with a bachelor’s degree will be able to select a minimum of 33 semester hours
from the Graduate Electives List, of which a maximum of 6 hours can
be at the 400-level. Students enrolling with a master’s degree will be able to
select a minimum of 12 semester hours at the 500-level from the list of
electives. With permission from the student’s supervisory committee, other
electives (not included in this list) may be selected.
Download Graduate Electives List, which is located at the end of the Graduate Handbook.
When students have completed or are close to completing the coursework in an approved program of study, they may request permission to take the comprehensive examinations. Ph.D. comprehensive examinations are administered by the student’s supervisory committee. Ph.D. students achieve candidacy status in a letter from the Dean of the Graduate College after passing the comprehensive examinations and successfully defending the dissertation prospectus.
At least 12 hours of the approved Ph.D. program must be SOS 792 Research and at least 12 hours must be SOS 799 Dissertation. Students may not apply semester hours earned for a Ph.D. previously awarded at ASU or another institution. At least 30 hours (which may include research credit) of the approved Ph.D. program and 12 dissertation hours must be completed after admission to a Ph.D. program at ASU. A maximum of 12 dissertation hours is permitted on the Program of Study. After completion of the dissertation, the student must pass an oral examination in defense of the dissertation.
Sustainability doctoral students can choose to pursue the Complex Adaptive Systems Science concentration, which is designed to train the next generation of scientists in advanced concepts and methods needed for approaching diverse phenomena in the social and life sciences. Students' career opportunities will be enhanced by combining fluency in the common language of complexity with a solid foundation in the domain knowledge of existing academic disciplines. There is a growing need for scientists to be able to work and collaborate in an increasingly interdisciplinary context.
The concentration is integrated with diverse university-wide research and emphasizes the value of a complex adaptive systems perspective when seeking solutions to critical societal issues. Complex adaptive systems science is the study of interactive and dynamic systems that learn and change over time.
Complex system behaviors are often said to be emergent and subject to self-organization, which makes them more difficult to predict. Such examples can include studying the long-term changes in epidemics, land degradation, urban growth, and natural disasters and their resulting impacts. The concentration is open to students who have been accepted to doctoral programs in the School of Sustainability, the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and the School of Life Sciences.
Fill out the supplemental application when applying.
The complex adaptive systems concentration is available in the following degree programs:
For more information, please contact cass-advising@asu.edu.
Established in 2007, the School of Sustainability brings together multiple disciplines and leaders to create and share knowledge, train a new generation of scholars and practitioners, and develop practical solutions to the most pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges of sustainability - especially as they relate to urban areas.
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