University of Arizona
AC-4: Graduate Program

Graduate students in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs work with a faculty advisory committee during their first semester to develop an individual plan of study including choosing a research topic, identifying appropriate coursework and transfer credit, and selecting potential thesis committee members. Graduates can choose from five emphasis areas: Ecology, Management, and Restoration of Rangelands; Fisheries Conservation and Management; Natural Resources Studies; Watershed Management and Ecohydrology; or Wildlife Conservation and Management.

Water sustainability has emerged as perhaps the most critical natural resource issue in the western United States as well as in other semi-arid regions around the world. More recently, even wet regions have come to face similar problems of water scarcity and conflict, due to growing demands and competition for water. To meet the demands imposed by water scarcity, the University of Arizona offers a Master of Science in Water, Society and Policy (WSP).

The purpose of this degree is to provide opportunities for students to pursue professionally oriented study in a multi-disciplinary degree program that focuses on water science, society, and policy. The WSP degree combines graduate coursework in social sciences, policy, and hydrology with professional skill-development activities. Students are exposed to human and environmental processes as they affect water and watersheds. They gain familiarity with quantitative and qualitative techniques for observation, monitoring, and modeling of processes relevant to the management of water from regional to global scales. They develop skills to communicate with decision-makers; conduct and understand scientific research; write cogent research reports, proposals, and policy evaluations; and make effective public presentations. Graduates of the program are able to understand the basic principles of hydrology, management, law, and policy and are able to contribute to making informed decisions regarding water resources.

The Arid Lands Resource Sciences Graduate Interdisciplinary Program at The University of Arizona leads to the Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in Arid Lands Resource Sciences (ALRS). The program prepares students for careers in both academic and non-academic settings. Located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, The University of Arizona provides a unique interdisciplinary environment as well as a natural living laboratory for the study of arid and semi-arid lands. These dynamic lands encompass nearly one-third of the Earth’s total land surface and embody one-fifth of its total population. Increasing pressures on these considerable and important regions demand increased attention be given to the ecological, economic, and socio-cultural factors that affect them.

ALRS is a unique interdisciplinary doctoral program aimed at addressing the complex problems of sustainability of arid lands. The breadth of research opportunities ALRS PhD program provides can be recognized through the research performed by its graduates and current students. Some of these areas include international development; famine, famine early warning systems, and food security; land use, history, change, degradation, desertification, management, and policy; sustainable agriculture and farming systems; remote sensing and spatial analysis; carbon sequestration; political-ecology of natural resources; ethnoecology and other ethno-sciences; economic and agricultural policy and development; economic botany; borderlands issues; globalization; civil conflict; and urban development as they relate to the arid and semi-arid lands of the world."

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The Indige-FEWS GIDP PhD Minor integrates engineering and science disciplines with humanities to fully prepare students for the interdisciplinary collaboration required to tackle the FEWS challenges of Indigenous communities with skill, respect, and fellowship. The purpose of the Indigenous Food, Energy, and Water Systems (Indige-FEWS) GIDP PhD Minor is to prepare students through research and scholarship to develop novel and sustainable solutions to real-world Food, Energy, and Water Systems (FEWS) challenges facing Indigenous communities.

The GIDP PhD Minor coursework integrates fundamentals of systems thinking with cross-disciplinary pedagogy to support the discovery and development of materials, technologies, and unit operations for fit-for-purpose water systems and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. Solutions will be fully integrated with the policies, decision-making, and public acceptance of Indigenous communities, and will be grounded by an understanding of Indigenous societies, their governance and culture, and the ability to work effectively in these contexts.

The School of Natural Resources and the Environment is a world leader in pursuing science that informs how environmental change impacts arid and semi-arid systems and how best to adapt to environmental challenges. It is a cohort of students, faculty, and staff who take great pride in our focus on problem-driven research, teaching, and extension encompassing all aspects of environmental stewardship. Our research answers important questions about how ecosystems respond to environmental or human pressures. We develop strategies to help mitigate the effects of these pressures, helping to create and maintain healthy and sustainable ecological systems.

The interdisciplinary doctoral minor in Global Change aims to broaden the perspective of students interested in Global Change across the natural science and human dimensions of environmental change. It requires three core classes a) the physical and biological aspects of global change, b) human dimensions and social science approaches, emphasizing vulnerability and adaptation, and c) a 1-unit professional skills class that emphasizes communication. Additional breadth comes from electives outside the major, chosen individually to best suit each student. Students also select an academic committee member who is outside their major department from the Global Change faculty. 

The Global Change faculty includes over 70 members from at least 8 colleges, and participation from all interested faculty is encouraged. The Global Change curriculum is supplemented by research and educational activities of The University of Arizona's Institute of the Environment (IE). IE also sponsors Global Change visitors, workshops, graduate fellowships, and curriculum activities. Students taking a Global Change minor typically have a major in science, engineering, or social science, along with an interest in acquiring a broader environmental earth system perspective.

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Data was sourced from the following: University of Arizona Graduate Catalog - https://grad.arizona.edu/catalog/.